Call for Abstracts: The Return of Speculative Philosophy (University of Ottawa)

Alex Liepins, formerly of MUN, now doing his PhD at Ottawa, sent me a CFA that should be of interest to lots of folks. I’ll be submitting something so long as I can afford to go!

Call for Abstracts
The Return of Speculative Philosophy
9th Annual De Philosophia Graduate Student Conference
University of Ottawa
5 – 6 April 2013
Keynote Speaker:
Rebecca Comay, University of Toronto

In many ways twentieth century philosophy, analytical and continental, exhibited a real desire to abandon metaphysical speculation. Despite this desire, disparate movements in contemporary philosophy are contributing to the return of speculative philosophy. For example, analytical thought has shown signs of (re-)approaching metaphysical speculation (Molnar); similarly, continental thinkers have begun to move away from strictly phenomenological/linguistic investigations (Meillassoux). In light of these developments, the conference organizers and the Graduate Philosophy Student Association at the University of Ottawa invite submissions relating to any aspect of the long historical tradition of speculative philosophy and its concern with posing properly ontological questions. We are particularly interested in projects that connect the rich history of speculative thought to the contemporary resurgence of the speculative spirit. Our overarching goal is to clear a space for creative engagement with the myriad of issues surrounding the history and current status of speculative philosophy from a wide array of critical (and potentially divergent) perspectives.

Possible topics include (but are not limited to):
o Ancient ontologies
o Medieval metaphysics
o Substance in early Modernism
o The Absolute in German Idealism
o Marxian critiques of Hegel
o British Idealism
o Pragmatist, naturalist, and anti-metaphysical responses
o The Frankfurt School critique of ontology
o Post-structuralism
o Philosophies of the event
o Realism vs. Anti-realism
o Speculative realism
o Developments in recent analytical metaphysics

– French and English submissions are welcome.
– Abstracts should be no longer than 350 words, prepared for blind review in .DOC or .PDF format.
– In a separate document, authors must include their name, institutional affiliation, e-mail address and the title of their submission.
-Successful applicants must provide their completed essays (12-15 double-spaced pages for a 25-30 minute presentation) no later than 6 March 2013.

Deadline for Abstracts: 30 January 2013. Please send abstracts/inquiries to: dephilosophia@gmail.com