Two weeks left to submit abstracts for the ‘The Future as a Present Concern’ online conference on 1-3 September 2021.
Online international conference between the National University of Ireland Galway, The Irish Philosophical Society, and the British Society for Phenomenology.
Call for papers reminder: the organisers invite abstracts for the online international conference ‘The Future as a Present Concern’. Due to the long-term and ongoing effects of the pandemic, the event will be online to facilitate forward planning and avoid all kinds of uncertainties for speakers and delegates.
Abstract submission deadline: Wednesday 31 March 2021 (midnight UK / Ireland)
This conference explores the question of the future from phenomenological and other philosophical perspectives. We encourage papers on various aspects of this question, whether ontological, ethical, aesthetical, epistemological, and in relation to political theory, gender theory, critical race theory, ecology, philosophy of religion, philosophy of science, analytic philosophy, and art. We would particularly welcome applications from practitioners who are interested in the application of phenomenology, philosophy, and theory in their professional disciplines.
Invited Speakers:
> Prof. Andrew Benjamin, Distinguished Professor of Architectural Theory at the University of Technology, Sydney, and Emeritus Professor of Philosophy at Monash University in Melbourne. Website.
> Prof. Rebecca Braun, Executive Dean of the College of Arts, Social Sciences & Celtic Studies, NUIG; Director of the Institute for Social Futures, Lancaster University (2017-2020). Website.
> Prof. Shaun Gallagher, Lillian and Morrie Moss Professor of Philosophy, The University of Memphis (USA); Professorial Fellow, SOLA, University of Wollongong (AU). Website.
> Fiona Hallinan, Artist, researcher, and co-founder of the Department of Ultimology; PhD student at LUCA School of Arts, KU Leuven, Ghent, Belgium. Not a Little Pony website. Department of Ultimology website.
> Prof. Sara Heinämaa / Heinämaa Sara, Academy Professor, Professor of Philosophy, Department of Social Sciences and Philosophy / Yhteiskuntatieteiden ja filosofian laitos, University of Jyväskylä / Jyväskylän yliopisto, Finland / Suomi. Website.
> Dr Alessandro Salice, Lecturer in Philosophy, Department of Philosophy, University College Cork, Ireland. Academia website. UCC website.
So much human emotion, thought, and action is orientated to the future. Hopes and fears, plans and strategies, promises and interventions, derive their meaning from future intentions. However, as philosophers from Aristotle to Heidegger have pointed out, the future is that which is not yet. The future does not exist, tomorrow never comes. Therefore, the question arises as to how we should understand the future. Is the future simply non-being at the limits of the present? If so, does the present have any real connection with a putative future that does not yet exist? The founder of phenomenology, Edmund Husserl, in tackling such questions stressed the future as an aspect of the present. In his terms, each present consciousness is characterized by protention, in other words, the anticipation of a future not as actively planned or envisaged but as passively expected. The present is not an abstract moment but a flow of past and future intentional directions.
This conference seeks to contribute to understanding the future as a present concern both with respect to the underlying issues of temporal orientation and the pressing questions of today as we face into an increasingly uncertain future.
Check out the full Call for Papers, including format, timeline, and costs.