Engaging the Contemporary is an annual seminar that encourages participation from postgraduates and academics from different departments and backgrounds. The focus of this year鈥檚 seminar will be Phenomenology and Speculative Realism. This seminar, which will be held on Thursday 17 November 2016 at the University of Malta, presents an opportunity to challenge and be challenged by work done in these fields, and to support postgraduate work that draws upon their ideas.
In the history of western philosophy, Phenomenology (together with its variations) ranks as one of the traditions that has contributed to some of the most interesting insights into the resolution of philosophical issues. The relatively newer phenomenon of Speculative Realism (again, with its variations) provides a challenge to the claims of phenomenology as well as offering an alternative to contemporary philosophy in general.
To this end, a call for papers is being issued for those who are interested in presenting a 20-minute paper (3,000 words max.). Speakers are invited to discuss any issue related to Phenomenology and/or Speculative Realism, some of which might include:
- The Phenomenological Tradition (Brentano, Husserl, Heidegger, Merleau-Ponty, Schutz, Zahavi)
- Speculative Realism (Meillassoux, Grant, Harman, Malabou, Gratton, Bogost, Bryant, Brassier)
- Correlationism and its Critique
- The End of Phenomenology? The Phenomenology鈥揝peculative Realism Debate
- New Materialism
- Speculative Realism, Phenomenology and their relation to other Disciplines (Literature, Physics, Biology, Cognitive Science, Neuroscience, Mathematics)
- Speculative Realism and its Relationship to Analytic and/or Continental Philosophy
- Feminism and Phenomenology and/or Speculative Realism
Those interested in participating are asked to submit an abstract of a paper (c. 300 words) by email to the seminar organising team by Thursday 22 September. Notification on acceptance of papers will be sent by Friday 30 September. The deadline for submission of papers is Friday 11 November.
