Delighted to see some continental philosophy at Warwick again:

Warwick Continental Philosophy Conference: Identity and Community: Metaphysics, Politics, Aesthetics, 27^th-29^th June 2018

Keynote speaker: Prof. Alison Stone (Lancaster)

“It is not because the Indo-Chinese discovered a culture of their own that they revolted. Quite simply this was because it became impossible to breathe, in more than one sense of the word.”

(Frantz Fanon, Black Skin White Masks)

The history of the concept of identity is marked by a fundamental tension: between the individual as subject, and the example of the group; between identity as an inherent or essential nature or specified as a ratified connection. The relation between identity and community, the relational qualities of each, and the content which they encompass has been subject to repeated reformulation throughout history. On the one hand, it has been argued that the subject itself has been constituted in a new way by concrete changes in the way in which we live: by modernism, capitalism, or new technologies. On the other, new examinations of history have drawn into question narratives regarding different nations, classes, genders and cultures.

The identity of individuals, and the aspects of their lives which are to be considered constitutive of that identity, is an issue which is central to a host of complex political and ethical issues. What does it mean to have an identity: to belong to a nation or a continent, to a race, gender or religion? And what is the connection of this belonging and our individual existence and consciousness? During an ongoing refugee crisis, rising nationalism and within an increasingly globalised world, how have the metaphysical and political boundaries of identity shifted?

Art and aesthetics share this tension. The place of the work of art and the individual artist within a genre or movement remains an open question – whether the author is dead, the work a manifestation of the group; whether the ideas behind the artwork are more important than the socio-economic foundation from which it arises. Corollary to this, discussions of art and the political have opened questions concerning the relation of aesthetics to community,and the possible connection of new identities and new forms of, or values within, aesthetics. Does art play a mediating role in the formation of the new community, allow for the expression of a communal voice, or reveal the individual identity then imitated by the mass?

It is in light of these questions that the Warwick Continental Philosophy Conference (WCPC) is pleased to announce its inaugural conference, Identity and Community: Metaphysics, Politics, and Aesthetics, to be held from the 27^th until the 29^th of June 2018 on the main campus of Warwick University. We believe Continental Philosophy offers unique insight into questions of subjectivity, with the possibility of critically engaging both identity and community in their own terms, without privileging one or the other; of opening new avenues for connections to be drawn between art and politics. We are also pleased to announce that Dr Alison Stone of Lancaster University will be giving a keynote presentation on the topic of Hegel and colonialism. Dr Stone has published widely on Hegel’s philosophy of nature and the philosophies of nature of other German Idealist and Romantic thinkers, such as Schelling, Schlegel, Novalis and Hölderlin. She will also be participating in a roundtable discussion on a closely related topic on the 27^th, open to the public.

We invite abstracts for talks lasting approximately twenty minutes on any area of Continental Philosophy that intersects with these questions. Possible topics include, but are not limited to:

• The ontology of identity and community
• Differences, diversity, oppositions and contradictions in identity
• Philosophy of the subject and subjectivation
• The history of the concept of identity
• Aesthetics and the expression of communal and individual identity
• Art, genre, and community
• Political movements and their relation to identity
• Outsider art and the wider art world

The deadline for submissions is the 30^th April 2018. Please send your submissions, along with any inquiries regarding the conference, to WCPC@warwick.ac.uk. A certain number of bursaries will be available to cover transportation within Europe. If you would like to be considered for such a bursary, please make this clear in your submission email. For more information, please see https://warwickcontinentalphilosophyconference.wordpress.com/.

This conference is made possible with the generous support of the Warwick Philosophy Department and the Humanities Research Centre.

Some podcasts from Lancaster, where philosophy and psychiatry are often conjoined:

http://wp.lancs.ac.uk/bioethics-and-philosophy-of-medicine/category/blog/ 

http://www.jobs.ac.uk/job/BGZ497/department-of-philosophy-scholarships/

Sheffield Undergraduate Philosophy Conference:

The Spring 2018 edition of PhilonoUS, the University of Sheffield’s Undergraduate Journal of Philosophy and the annual Sheffield Undergraduate Philosophy conference are now accepting submissions. This year PhilonoUS: The Sheffield Undergraduate Journal of Philosophy and the Sheffield Undergraduate Philosophy Conference are teaming up so that authors need only submit once and will be considered for both the conference and journal unless they indicate otherwise within their email submission.

We welcome students from all philosophy departments, and we welcome submissions from students at all levels of study. The conference and journal are open to and aimed at all philosophy undergraduates, so please don’t think that only final year students are experienced enough to give a talk or submit a paper, that really isn’t the case.

The conference will take place on the 24^th and 25^th of March 2018 in the Humanities Research Institute at the University of Sheffield’s main campus. Papers should be no more than 6000 words in length, but can relate to any area of Philosophy. The deadline for submissions is Friday 9^th February 2018 at 5pm (GMT), and submissions should be sent to u.g.phil.journal@sheffield.ac.uk . No identifying information should be present within the paper, but the body of your email should contain your name, contact email, University of study and year of study. If your paper is under review elsewhere, we cannot consider you for the journal, but we would still love to consider you for the conference. Authors will be notified of decisions at least four weeks prior to the conference.

If your paper is selected for the conference you will be asked to give a talk and this can either be a shorter talk of 15-20 minutes or a longer one of 30 minutes. Please, let us know your preference when submitting your paper/abstract. The talk will be followed by approximately 15 minutes of questions, which will be an opportunity to explore your ideas further. Don’t be put off by the length of time you will be asked to speak – it really isn’t as daunting as it sounds and the event will be a friendly, encouraging and collaborative environment.

All further details regarding submissions, publication and purchasing a copy of the journal can be found on our website at www.uosphilosophyjournal.wordpress.com

Should you require any further information please feel free to contact us at the above email address.

Many Thanks,

The Sheffield Undergraduate Philosophy Conference Organisers & PhilonoUS Editors-in-chief

Philosophy of Life, Durham, January 23rd and 24th
https://www.dur.ac.uk/ias/events/events_listings/?eventno=37564

Some podcasts offered by the British Society for Phenomenology:

https://podcast.britishphenomenology.org.uk/all-episodes/ 

Happy New Year, Everyone!

Day and Time:   Wednesdays, 2–4pm (unless otherwise stated)

Room:   BSTC 2.39 (Barbara Strang Teaching Centre), Newcastle University

Semester II

Week

1           31/1/2018   Dan Koczy (Newcastle/Sunderland), Introduction to Deleuze

2         7/2                   David Rose (Newcastle), Introduction to Posthumanism

3          14/2                Sinéad Murphy (Newcastle), Introduction to Judgement

4          21/2                Peter Wolfendale (Newcastle), Introduction to German Idealism

5           28/2               Prof. Andrew Ballantyne (Newcastle), ‘Architectural and Urban Reflections after Deleuze and Guattari’

6          7/3                   Adam Potts (Newcastle), Introduction to Blanchot/Sound Studies

7          14/3                Lisa Foran (Newcastle), ‘Translation in the History of Philosophy’

[Easter Break]

8          18/4                 Andrea Rehberg (Newcastle), Introduction to Anti-Humanism I

9          25/4                 Andrea Rehberg (Newcastle), Introduction to Anti-Humanism II

16/5                              Robert Bernasconi (Penn State)

Other, extra-mural events, organised by Bigg Books/Blackwell Books/Newcastle Philosophy Society

{Locations and times to be confirmed}

April 24th: Markus Gabriel

May 15th: Keith Ansell-Pearson

May 19th: Andres de Saenz Sicilia

June 5th: Gregory Claeys

— Introductions are primarily for MLitt students and interested undergraduates.

—‘Talks in apostrophes’ are Work in Progress talks to which all, including staff, are invited.

— Monday events open to all

(Please note, as the Wednesday sessions are part of a course of teaching for our MLitt students, priority must be given to them in the debates and questions (and seating); for the same reason, these Wednesday sessions are not open to members of the public without special dispensation.)

A nice website devoted in particular to the neglected backwaters (or supposed backwaters) of the history of philosophy is The History of Philosophy Without Gaps https://historyofphilosophy.net/ (run by a proper professor, hence respectable.)

Not a substitute for real work, but a good way to get acquainted with parts of the history of the philosophy that you wouldn’t otherwise meet, in a preliminary kind of way.