CFP: Translating Realism: The Nature and Emergence of Contemporary French Thought (Notre Dame)

Another conference on contemporary philosophy:

Translating Realism: The Nature and Emergence of Contemporary French Thought

An Interdisciplinary Conference

Keynote Speakers:
Adrian Johnston (University of New Mexico)
Dorothea Olkowski (UCCS/Rotman Institute)
Michael Naas (Depaul)

May 10-11 2013, University of Notre Dame.

 

In the last decade, the cutting edge of French thought appears to have changed radically. Questions of metaphysics, of realism, science, and objectivity, of the end of critique, which might have been proscribed a generation ago, seem to take pride of place. Our aim is to provide a genealogy of the present moment in French thought. We intend to improve our understanding of the non-discursive, material agents that have jointly made the present moment in French thought possible. We would also like to gain a firm grasp on the strictly conceptual issues at stake, and start charting both dead ends and new ways forward.

In the interests of fostering as intensive and wide-ranging discussion as possible, as well as future collaboration, we hope to organize panels of consisting of both graduate students and faculty.

 

With all of this in mind, we have decided to orient our conference along two axes:

 

1) Realist philosophy in French context: We are confronted with the “irreductive” reflections of Latour and Serres, the rationalist materialism of Badiou and Meillassoux, and the speculative philosophies of Malabou, Stengers, Laruelle and Deleuze. We find similar themes in, e.g., the speculative philosophies of life in the phenomenology of Renaud Barbaras and Michel Henry. We hope to specify the varieties of French realism, their convergences and divergences, the theoretical problems to which they respond and, perhaps most importantly, their conceptual, argumentative supports and limitations.

 

2) Translation: contemporary French thought is thoroughly engaged in translation in a broad sense, transmitting into new contexts and transforming the concepts of thinkers from Hume to William James and A. N. Whitehead to Bloor and Pickering. Thought never emerges in a vacuum, and the work of translation does not take place in a void. We are interested in discussions of the specific sorts of media through which these translations and transformations have taken place, from cyberspace to international conferences to collaborative research programmes, and their effects on the development of French realism.

 

We encourage submissions that relate broadly to either of these axes. High-quality submissions on other dimensions of contemporary French thought are also welcome.

 

Presenters will be provided first-class lodging and most meals. Some funding may be available to subsidize graduate student travel.

 

Papers should be prepared for blind-review, and should be suitable for a 25 minute presentation.

 

Deadline for submission is January 15 2012.

Submissions can be sent to translatingrealismconference@gmail.com.

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