CFP – Phenomenological Perspectives on Negation

Call for Abstracts
The North American Society for Early Phenomenology, in association with the Philosophy Department at IPFW, invites submissions to a Spring Workshop:

Phenomenological Perspectives on Negation

21-22 April, 2017
Indiana University-Purdue University, Fort Wayne (Fort Wayne, IN)

Keynote Speaker:
Robin D. Rollinger
Institute of Philosophy of the Czech Academy of Sciences

The Philosophy Department at IPFW, in association with the North American Society for Early Phenomenology, will host a workshop on phenomenological perspectives on negation. We invite abstract submissions on the topic of negation as approached through the phenomenological method, either with regard to scholarship on negation in the history of phenomenology or with regard to the topic of negation addressed from a phenomenological perspective in the context of problems such as consciousness, language, expression, socio-political philosophy, feminist theory, and axiology in general.

The workshop will take place in conjunction with the Indiana Philosophical Association’s workshop on Negation. Papers accepted as part of the IPA Workshop will be presented on Friday, while papers accepted to the NASEP workshop will be presented Saturday.

Abstracts should be 400-600 words, and include a short bibliography. Abstracts must be prepared for blind review and sent to Charlene Elsby (elsbyc@ipfw.edu).

Deadline for submissions is February 15th, 2017.
Decisions will be sent out no later than March 7st, 2017.

Organizers: Charlene Elsby, IPFW
Host: Indiana University-Purdue University, Fort Wayne

CFP – Interactions: Phenomenology, Gestalt Psychology, and Embodied Cognitive Science

Interactions: Phenomenology, Gestalt Psychology, and Embodied Cognitive Science
University of Edinburgh, 3 December 2016

 

CALL FOR ABSTRACTS

This conference aims to explore the relationship between Gestalt Psychology and Phenomenology, with a particular focus on the way interactions between these two traditions may inform contemporary trends in Embodied and Embedded Cognitive Science.

In the early 20th century, gestalt psychology—partly inspired by the phenomenological philosophy of Husserl—discovered a number of empirical phenomena that seemed to indicate that experience is structured, and that this structure cannot be reduced to any simple function of the properties of its atomic components. Phenomenologists such as Merleau-Ponty and Aron Gurwitsch, partly inspired by these results, developed a non-reductive metaphysics of experience.  These intertwined research programs have a renewed importance for 21st century cognitive science.  A number of recent approaches in both neuroscience and philosophy of mind (for instance, dynamical, embodied, and enactive approaches) draw on both gestalt results and phenomenological insights.  Nevertheless, this work seldom engages in detail with the methodological underpinnings of these traditions, nor the metaphysical commitments that might come from working within them.  This conference aims to address this lacuna, with a special emphasis on the importance of structural analysis for understanding experience, and its implications for a non-reductive metaphysics of mind.

This conference is part of the project Gestalt Structure and Phenomenology, a subproject of the Cambridge New Directions in the Study of Mind Project, supported by the John Templeton Foundation.

Keynote Speaker: 

Dr. Komarine Romdenh-Romluc (University of Sheffield)

Paper proposals are invited in the form of extended abstracts (500–750 words), and should be emailed directly to the conference organizer.  Complete papers may also be submitted, but are not required.

Submissions should make a contribution to understanding the relationship between two or more of the following topics: Gestalt psychology; Phenomenology; Contemporary trends in embodied cognitive science; Non-reductive metaphysics of cognitive processes.

Limited funds will be available to offset the travel and accommodation costs of those presenting papers at the workshop. Early career researchers and postgraduate students are particularly encouraged to submit.

Submission deadline is 7 November.

Send all abstracts and inquiries to Alistair Isaac at a.m.c.isaac@ed.ac.uk

 

CFP – NASEP 2017, Seattle. At the Origins of Phenomenology. Logic, Psychology, Ontology.

Call for Abstracts

The North American Society for Early Phenomenology

At the Origins of Phenomenology.

Logic, Psychology, Ontology.

1-3 June, 2017
Seattle University, Seattle (WA)
Keynote Speakers:

Frederick Beiser (Syracuse University)
Stefania Centrone (Carl von Ossietzky Universität Oldenburg)

While the “phenomenological movement” is to be counted among the 20th century’s most influential traditions of thought, its roots lie in the late 19th century’s debates and discussions on both the nature and foundation of logic, psychology, and ontology, and of their mutual relations. This can be easily surmised by skimming the titles of the articles found in the Jahrbuch. During the early years of the phenomenological movement, many of Husserl’s students also studied with the psychologist G.E. Müller and the mathematician David Hilbert. Though Richard Courant refers to this time period as “Hilbert’s Göttingen”, it might be more accurately referred to as Hilbert-Husserl’s Göttingen. For there existed in Göttingen a cross section of interdisciplinary research that fueled discussions within both the Philosophische and Mathematische Gesellschaften, informed the work carried out in Müller’s experimental psychology laboratory, and which drew students from across Europe to Göttingen. Similar conceptual partnerships informed the phenomenological philosophy of the Munich Circle, as well as the projects of the Graz, Berlin, and Lwów–Warsaw Schools. The theme of this conference will be the role and position of phenomenology within the development of logic, psychology, and ontology, as well as its contributions to addressing, and eventually clarifying those disciplines. Topics would include the psychologism/logicism debate, the foundations of mathematics and logic, the nature of intentionality and of intentional objects, mereology, the relationships between psychology and phenomenology, logic and ontology, psychology and logic, and phenomenology and mathematics. In addition to those mentioned, we encourage papers addressing and discussing thinkers like Herbart, Bolzano, Lotze, Brentano, and Frege, as well as the impact of phenomenology on 20th century thinkers such as Kazimierz Ajdukiewicz, Hermann Weyl, Ludwig Binswanger, and others. As always, we welcome papers that deal with the full spectrum of early phenomenologists.

Abstracts should be 400-600 words, and include a short bibliography. Abstracts must be prepared for blind review and sent to Rodney Parker (rodney.k.b.parker@gmail.com)

Deadline for submissions is February 1st, 2017.

Decisions will be sent out no later than March 1st, 2017

Organizers: Rodney Parker, Wai-Shun Hung, Daniele De Santis
Host: Philosophy Department, Seattle University.

CFP: Phenomenology of Religious Experience

Call for abstracts

Phenomenology of

Religious Experience

4-5 November, 2016

Patriarch Athenagoras Orthodox Institute
2311 Hearst Avenue, Berkeley, California

Organizers

Susi Ferrarello (University of San Francisco & California State University)
Olga Louchakova-Schwartz (UC Davis & Sophia University)

The conference is hosted by the Patriarch Athenagoras Orthodox Institute (His Eminence Metropolitan Nikitas) and the Graduate Theological Union (GTU), and sponsored by Sofia University and California State University of East Bay.

Call for Papers

The conference is divided into two main sections: (1) The theologies and philosophies of religious experience, and (2) the descriptive psychology and phenomenological method, with examples and case studies (in people and texts).

In the first section, we welcome all valuable contributions that focus on the relationship between phenomenology and metaphysics. These contributions can come from philosophical perspectives as well as from traditional religious scholarship, but the speakers are asked to self-identify their stance. In particular, we are interested in reading papers that examine the existential status of religious experience. Recent writings on the philosophy of religion questions if religious experience actually exist (e.g. constructivist perspectives such as e.g. Penner, or recent debates in cognitive science of religion). In addition, we welcome contributions on the views of religious experience in the works of Husserl, Heidegger, Walther, Hering, Stein, Henry, Levinas, Marion, Conrad-Martius, Ricoeur and other phenomenological philosophers.

The second section is focused on descriptive phenomenological psychology. In this section we are accepting papers that discuss how phenomenology can increase our actual knowledge of religious experience. In this section we will be expanding from philosophy to phenomenological psychology, mysticism, and psychology of religion. In particular, we welcome papers that develop two directions of inquiries: The phenomenological method through which it is possible to pursue the study of religious experience and the descriptive phenomenology of experience itself, which has been pitifully, insufficiently pursued. Accepted papers will be considered for further publication in the De Gruyter Open Access topical issue.

Abstracts of 300 words can be submitted to  olouch@ucdavis.edu  or s.ferrarello@gmail.com by September 15, 2016. Authors will be notified of acceptance by September 20, 2016.

Conference website

http://xn--expriencereligieuse-dzb.com/

Space is limited so advance registration is required. To attend, email susi.ferrarello@gmail.com.

GTU and Sofia University students attend at no charge (donations welcome) but have to register in advance.

Why we support the Open Commons, and your society should too!

Many of you have probably already seen on your social media feeds that the Open Commons of Phenomenology (who just happens to host our blog) has launched a crowdfunding campaign through Indiegogo. Their goal is to raise $35,000.00 USD over the next month in order to support their projects through to the end of 2017. If this model is successful, they can continue to provide their services in open access with the ongoing help of backers.

Yesterday, NASEP contributed $600.00 to the campaign. And we think other phenomenological societies should do the same.

For the average grad student or post-doc, a contribution of $20-40 is reasonable when they can afford it. For the average tenured professor, $85-100 seems to be the going rate for contributions. That also seems reasonable.

But learned societies can play a much bigger role. And they ought to.

NASEP is a young(ish) society with a tight budget and just a handful of dues paying members. But the decision to use some of our funds to support the Open Commons was an easy one. All of the executive members agreed that this was a worthy cause, and since we know our members use the Open Commons for their research, we decided to step up and give more than moral support. This is exactly what our resources should be going toward – promoting phenomenology and phenomenological research.

The $600 contribution allows us to choose an author whose complete bibliography will be added to the Open Commons database. We chose Adolf Reinach for a couple of reasons. First, he was a member of both the Munich and Göttingen Circles of phenomenology, and was a central figure in the early phenomenological movement. Second, because of his untimely death, all of his works are in the public domain, which means that in addition to having his bibliography on the Open Commons, scans of all of his works will be added.

We truly hope that this will inspire other societies that focus on phenomenology and related branches of philosophy to follow suit. With pooled resources, getting that $600.00 from a society shouldn’t be difficult. And it’s money that goes back into our philosophical communities. It’s an investment in our field of research. It’s an investment in preserving and sharing knowledge. And for those of us in positions of privilege, however slight, it’s a chance to assist our colleagues – both the team behind the Open Commons, and its users – in achieving their goals.

Join us and contribute to the campaign by clicking here.

 

CFP – Max Scheler: His Thought and Influence

Call for Papers

 Max Scheler:

His Thought and Influence

A colloquium in commemoration of the 100 year anniversary of the publication of Scheler’s Formalism in Ethics (Bds. I and II)

November 17-19 2016, Maynooth University, Ireland
Renehan Hall, St Patrick’s College Maynooth (ca. 30 min from Dublin)

A Joint Colloquium by the Irish Philosophical Society & the Max Scheler Gesellschaft

Organized by Dr. Susan Gottlöber (Maynooth University)

Keynote Speakers

Professor Roberta de Monticelli (San Raffaele University, Milan)

Professor Joachim Fischer (TU Dresden)

Description

The year 2016 marks the 100th anniversary of the publication of Scheler’s most influential philosophical work, Formalism in Ethics and Non-Formal Ethics of Values: a New Attempt Toward the Foundation of an Ethical Personalism. To celebrate this event, the Irish Philosophical Society and the German Max-Scheler-Society invite contributions which explore Scheler’s position in the philosophical and sociological context, as an interpreter, transmitter of and respondent to philosophical and sociological traditions, as interlocutor in the debates of his time, and as inspiration for subsequent and current philosophical and sociological debates. The goal is to draw attention to how Scheler is firmly rooted in and engaged with the philosophical and sociological tradition and to establish a dialogue between the scholars from within the Scheler research and the related disciplines.

The organizer invites papers exploring  (but not restricted to) the following topics:

  1. All major aspects of his work
  2. Scheler’s impact on the phenomenological and sociological tradition
  3. Scheler in dialogue with his contemporaries
  4. Scheler’s engagement with the philosophical and sociological tradition, both with as movements as well as individual thinkers: ((Neo)-Kantianism, vitalism, pragmatism, ethics, Dilthey, Nietzsche, Philosophical anthropology, Christian philosophy, personalism)
  5. The influence of Scheler’s thought in the contemporary development of sociology, philosophical anthropology and political philosophy

Interested participants are in addition invited to participate in short interviews concerning the work on impact of Max Scheler during the conference. The interviews will be cut to three short Max-Scheler films which will be made public on YouTube. These videos will conduce the international reception of Max Scheler in the Social Media.

Paper Submission

Conference papers may be presented in English or German.

Please send the title of the proposed topic and an abstract of 300 to 500 words to susan.gottlober@nuim.ie

Deadline for submission: July 31, 2016

Notifications of acceptance may be expected no earlier than September 1, 2016.

Presentations should be ca. 30 min, followed by 10-15 minutes discussion.

Publication

Goal of the conference is the preparation of the first comprehensive companion to all important aspects of Scheler’s work and his standpoint comprehensively within the philosophical and sociological tradition. Speakers and other scholars are invited to submit their contributions for double blind peer-review for such a volume.

 

 

Hermann Ammann and the phenomenology of language

There appears to be quite little written on the relationship between the philosopher of language Hermann Ammann and phenomenology. A single letter in the Husserl Nachlass (see below) along with Ammann’s contribution to Husserl’s Festschrift indicate that he studied with Husserl at Freiburg where Ammann was a Privatdozent.

Ammann Lebenslauf (1911)Hermann Joseph Ferdinand Ammann was born in Bruchsal, Germany, on 10 August, 1885. In WS 1905/06, Ammann began his studies at the University of Freiburg, where – aside from a brief stay in Heidelberg – he received all of his academic training. Though his field of study was philology, Ammann studied with a number of philosophers, particularly the Neo-Kantians Jonas Cohn, Emil Lask, Heinrich Rickert, and Wilhelm Windelband. In March of 1909, Ammann completed his Staatsexamen, and in July 1910 completed his dissertation, Die Stellungstypen des lateinischen attributiven Adjektivums, under the supervision of Rudolf Thurneysen.

After World War I, Ammann began working on his Habilitation in Comparative Linguistics with Ludwig Sütterlin in Freiburg. It is at this time – between 1919-1923 – that Ammann would have met Husserl. It was also during this time that Ammann presumably met Hendrik Pos, with whom he authored the article Zur Problematik der Sprachphilosophie (1929).

Here you can find a partial bibliography of Ammann’s works, a handful of which can be found in Husserl’s personal library.

~

Husserls Empfehlungsschreiben für Ammann, Die menschliche Rede,ca. 1924 (Abschrift)

[from HuaDok III.4: 4-5]

Das Ammann’sche kleine Buch “Die menschliche Rede” ist ein sprachphilosophisches Werk von ungewöhnlichem Reichtum und tiefem Gehalt. Ich stehe nicht an ihm eine bahnbrechende Bedeutung beizumessen. Sie beruht vor allem darauf, dass der Verfasser in einer seltenen Geistesfreiheit sich von allen Fesseln grammatischer, aber auch sprachphilosophischer Tradition frei macht und es unternimmt, eine radikale Besinnung über das Wesen der Sprache aus dem Sprachbewusstsein zu vollziehen, wie es die lebendig funktionierende Sprache begleitet, die allgemeinen und notwendigen Strukturformen der Sprache herauszustellen, ohne welche diese menschliche Funktion ihren Sinn verlöre, Sprache nicht mehr Sprache wäre. Alle sprachphilosophischen Grundbegriffe müssen diesen lebensvoll erfassten Phänomenen direkt und vorurteilsfrei angepasst werden und dienen dann als Normen für die Interpretation der grammatischen Phänomene und die Kritik traditioneller grammatischer und sprachphilosophischer Theorien. So entwirft Ammann in echt phänomenologischem Geiste den Grundansatz und die prinzipiellen Richtungslinien sprachphilosophischer Forschung – wobei aber zu bemerken ist, dass er sich auch von einer schulmässigen Anlehnung an die phänomenologische Richtung fernhält und alles was er sagt aus selbst Erarbeitetem schöpft. Bedeutend wie der Problemansatz ist auch die Ausführung. Sie überrascht immer wieder durch ihre echte Originalität, die nicht mit geistreichen Einfällen spielt, sondern aus der Fülle sprachlichen Lebens Einsichten schöpft. Kapitel für Kapitel stossen wir auf sorgfältige und bleibend wertvolle Analysen, lessen sehr Förderliches und oft Erleuchtendes über das Wesen der Bedeutung in ihren verschiedenen Formen, über Namen und Identität, über das Verhältnis von Idee zu Begriff und zu anschaulicher Vorstellung, über das Problem des Verbums (Bedeutung als Lebensgehalt und Erlebniswert). Sehr originell ist zum Schluss die Auffassung des Eigenschaftswortes (Adjektivs bezw. Adverbs) als eine mit Nomen und Verbum gleichbedeutende Grundkategorie (“Eindruckswort”).

Alles in allem: es ist ein erster entscheidender Anfang einer phänomenologisch orientierten Wesenserforschung der Sprache, der gerade dadurch bleibend bedeutsam ist, dass der Verfasser die konkreten Bedürfnisse prinzipieller Klärung zu befriedigen sucht, die ihn als Sprachforscher bewegen.

 

Call for Applications: Venice Summer School in Phenomenology

Call For Applications
DEPARTMENT OF PHILOSOPHY AND CULTURAL HERITAGE
CA’ FOSCARI UNIVERSITY VENICE

SUMMER SCHOOL OF PHENOMENOLOGY AND
PHENOMENOLOGICAL PHILOSOPHY

The 2016 edition of the Summer School will take place in Venice on July 12-15. The theme will be:
Phenomenology and History 

It has been a long time since one could legitimately ask the question of how an apparently a-historical philosophical discipline, such as phenomenology, the eidetic science of transcendental consciousness, could entertain a vital relation with the reflection on the factual and mundane dimension of history and, at a more fundamental level, with the notion of historicity. A vast number of Husserl’s writings published over the last decades, and revolving around themes such as the different levels of communal life, the distinction between “nature” and “spirit” and the methodological status of the corresponding sciences, the genetic dimension of constitution, and, finally, the rootedness of all sciences the life-word have made it impossible to see a principled opposition between the systematic recourse to the eidetic method on the one hand, and the recognition of the centrality of the historical dimension, on the other. At the same time, number of original post-war theoretical developments (chiefly those of Heidegger, Sartre, Patočka, Arendt, and Gadamer) have stressed the connection between phenomenology and historicity even more markedly. It has now appeared that, in virtue of the way in which it cuts across the most significant philosophical issues explored by the tradition loosely called “phenomenological” (the nature of rationality, the “history of being”, the role of philosophy in Western culture, the philosopher’s self-understanding as moment of a historical development, etc.), the theme of history is perhaps the most appropriate for a critical confrontation of the different authors belonging to it, as well as for an assessment of  the relation between phenomenology and the other most important currents of contemporary philosophy. Moreover, somehow paradoxically, it has become increasingly the case that those who are persuaded that an authentic philosophical interest cannot be pursued without explicitly making thematic the historical dimension of humane existence and the problematic relation that thought entertains with its own historicity, turn to the phenomenological tradition precisely because of its ability to address these issues in a radical way.

The seminars of the Summer School will address different aspects of this broad theme. No previous background in phenomenology is required. On the final day of the seminar, advanced students will be encouraged to give a personal contribution to the School’s activities.

Language: English
 
Seminars will be led by:
 
Daniele de Santis (Seattle University)
Nicolas de Warren (Husserl Archives at KU Leuven)
Matteo Giannasi  (Ca’ Foscari University Venice)
Burt Hopkins (Seattle University)
Arun Iyer (Seattle University)
Niall Kean (University of Limerick)
Hélène Leblanc (University of Geneva)
Claudio Majolino (University of Lille)
Darian Meacham (University of the West of England)
Dermot Moran (University College Dublin)
Gianluigi Paltrinieri (Ca’ Foscari University Venice)
Emiliano Trizio (Seattle University)

Applicants should send a CV and a sample of writing (optional) to

phenomenologysummerschool@gmail.com

The number of attendants being limited.

Deadline for submission: May 10, 2016

Notification of acceptance: May 12, 2016
 
The event is organized and sponsored by the Department of Philosophy and Cultural Heritage of Ca’ Foscari University Venice.

PARTICIPATION FEE: 100 euro (50 euro for Ca’ Foscari students and previous attendants)

​Titles and abstracts of the seminars, details about the exact location within the city of Venice, as well information about travel and accommodation will be made available soon. The participation fee does not cover any expenses for travel, food, and lodging.

Women Phenomenologists on Social Ontology special promotion

In association with the upcoming international conference, “Women Phenomenologists on Social Ontology,” February 11th-12th, 2016 Paderborn University, Germany, Routledge is offering a special promotion on a number of titles in phenomenology. Please follow the link below to see the complete list of books, as well as the promotional code that will get you 20% off the list price.

https://www.routledge.com/philosophy/posts/9327