The Biennial Conference in Philosophy, Religion and Culture will take place 5 - 7 October 2012.

Theme: THE EXPRESSIBLE AND THE INEXPRESSIBLE

The theme is to be interpreted broadly and from the disciplines of philosophy, theology, social science, literature and the arts. Topics that might be investigated include: ways of knowing in science, ethics, aesthetics and religion; the unconscious and the subconscious; art and expression; the ineffable in Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism and
Buddhism; mystery and mediation; the meaning of art; language and the emotions.

The conference specifically aims to foster interaction between scholars in the universities and scholars in theological colleges. It also encourages young scholars.

Keynote Speaker: Timothy Chappell, Open University UK

Convenors: Stephen Buckle (ACU), William Emilsen (UTC/CSU), Peter Forrest (UNE), John McDowell (Newcastle), Shane Mackinlay (CTC/MCD), Andrew Murray (CIS/SCD)

Venue: Catholic Institute of Sydney


Contact: Andrew Murray: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Full details are available on the website:
http://www.cis.catholic.edu.au/index.php/news-a-events/biennial-conference
OR
www.cis.catholic.edu.au and click on Biennial Conference

Australasian Society for Asian and Comparative Philosophy (ASACP) Conference 2012

University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia
9-11 July 2012

Call for Papers

Keynote Speaker: Professor Roger Ames, University of Hawai'i

The conference committee invites submissions of proposals for papers in all areas of Asian and Comparative Philosophy, although there will be special focus on the following streams:

• Ethics, Personhood and Relationships
• Ethics, Environment and Development
• Knowledge, Action and Fallibility
• Methodology in Comparative Philosophy
• Comparative East Asian and South Asian Philosophies

Proposals for papers should be submitted via email to A/Prof Karyn Lai ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. ). Closing date for proposals: 31st May 2012.

The committee encourages paper proposals from graduate students. The conference will cover accommodation expenses from the 8th to the 10th of July 2012, at New College, UNSW, for non-local (i.e. non-Sydney) enrolled graduate students who are presenting papers. Students are required to provide a letter from their supervisor on University letterhead to confirm this status in order to be eligible.

There will also be an essay competition for enrolled graduate students, with essay prize winners receiving travel subsidies provided by ASACP (receipts for travel must be shown): first prize (cost of travel up to AUD1000, whichever is the lesser), second prize* (cost of travel up to AUD500, whichever is the lesser). As with accommodation expenses, students must provide a letter from their supervisor on their enrolled status.

Essays should be sent via email (preferably PDF copy) to A/Prof Karyn Lai ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. ). Closing date for submission of papers: 15th April 2012.

ASACP Website: http://philosophy.unimelb.edu.au/asacp/

Conference Sponsors:

• School of Humanities, UNSW
• Confucius Institute, UNSW

On behalf of the ASACP Conference Organising Committee, I look forward to seeing you at the conference in Sydney.

Karyn Lai
Associate Professor of Philosophy, School of Humanities
Convenor, BA Program, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences

PhaenEx: Journal of Existential and Phenomenological Theory and Culture

PhaenEx, the online journal for the Society for Existential and Phenomenological Theory and Culture (EPTC) is looking for submissions for our next Open Issue (Volume 8, No. 1, spring/summer 2013).

We seek papers related to the interests of our Society including phenomenology, psychoanalysis, existentialism, critical theory, feminist philosophy, hermeneutics, feminist philosophy, queer theory, philosophy and literature, bioethics (broadly construed), biopolitics, aesthetics, deconstruction, animal studies, etc.

Our publication is inter-disciplinary and we welcome submissions from philosophy, critical and cultural studies, political theory, film studies, literary studies, critical race studies, women's studies, etc.

Submissions should be made online via the Phaenex web site and are due September 1, 2012. All submissions will be subject to peer review.

For more information contact lead Editors:?Tracey Nicholls ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. ) or Bronwyn Singleton ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. )

Note that PhaenEx publishes in both French and English. We publish two editions yearly in Spring and Fall.

For more information see the submissions guidelines posted here.

Symposium: Canadian Journal of Continental Philosophy

Call for Papers

Special Issue on Australasian Continental Philosophy

Guest Editor: Marguerite La Caze, University of Queensland

The purpose of the issue is to showcase the vibrant and engaged work of Australasian Continental thinkers, highlighting special questions, issues, developments, specific scholarship and trends that arise in this context. Papers may be in any area of Continental Thought.

Symposium is the Journal of the Canadian Society for Continental Philosophy.

Information about the journal can be found here: http://secure.pdcnet.org/symposium

Manuscript Submissions: Submissions may be either in English or French.

Use the 'Style Guide' and References' instructions on the Symposium website: http://secure.pdcnet.org/symposium/Submission-Guidelines

The referencing system is based on the Chicago Manual of Style, 15th Edition, using in text references after full bibliographical information is given in an endnote. Contributors should avid excessive use of endnotes.

Papers should be between 6,000-7,500 and should be accompanied by a 100-word abstract.

Papers considered for publication in the issue will be double-blind reviewed. Prepare papers for blind reviewing by removing your name and any identifying references both from within the document and in document properties.

Deadline for submissions is 31st May 2012 for an issue expected to appear in 2013.

Please submit papers via email to the guest editor below:

Dr Marguerite La Caze This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Philosophy, HPRC

University of Queensland

St Lucia, Qld, 4072

+61 7 3365 3443

Symposium

Journal de la Société canadienne de philosophie continentale

Appel de textes Numéro spécial consacré à

la philosophie continentale australasienne

Éditrice invitée: Marguerite La Caze, University of Queensland

 L'objectif de ce numéro spécial consiste à montrer la vitalité de la pensée continentale autralasienne, dégager certaines questions, des problèmes spécifiques, de même que les tendances académiques qui se développent dans ce contexte. Les textes pourront être liés à l'un ou l'autre des champs de la pensée continentale.

Symposium est le journal de la Société canadienne de philosophie continentale. Des informations à propos de ce journal peuvent être trouvées en cliquant sur le lien suivant: http://www.c-scp.org/fr/symposium/the-journal.html

Les textes soumis pourront être rédigés en français ou en anglais. Veuillez communiquer avec les éditeurs pour obtenir un guide des normes éditoriales. Les auteurs doivent éviter l'usage excessif des notes.

La longueur des textes est de 6000-7500 mots (max.) accompagné d’un résumé de 100 mots.

Les textes considérés pour publication seront évalués de manière anonyme par deux lecteurs. Veuillez préparer la version de votre texte pour cette évaluation en retirant votre nom, de même que toute référence qui pourrait servir à vous identifier.

La date limite pour soumettre votre texte est au fixée 31 mai 2012 pour une publication prévue en 2013.

Les textes doivent être soumis par courriel à l'éditrice invitée:

Dre Marguerite La Caze       This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. "> This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.  

Philosophy, HPRC

University of Queensland

St Lucia, Qld, 4072

+61 7 3365 3443

2012 Conference of the Australasian Philosophy of Religion Association (APRA)

Keynote speakers:

• Richard Kearney (Boston College)
• Marilyn McCord Adams (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill)
• Kevin Hart (University of Virginia & Australian Catholic University)
• Constant Mews (Monash University)

 
Dates: Friday June 22 – Sunday June 24, 2012

Venue: Australian Catholic University, Melbourne campus (Victoria Parade, Fitzroy)

Conference theme: Religious Diversity and Its Philosophical Significance.

The Australasian Philosophy of Religion Association (www.apra.org.au) aims to encourage, publicise and circulate scholarly work within the field of philosophy of religion. It also hopes to foster greater ties between scholars working in the field by providing a forum for a constructive and critical analysis of religion.

If you would like to present a paper, please submit a title, a short abstract (of up to 200 words), and a brief bio to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. "> This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . Proposals relating to the above conference theme are particularly welcome, though the organising committee also welcomes papers on any topic in the philosophy of religion or philosophical theology.

Abstracts are due 10 February 2012.

Enquiries may be directed to:

Nick Trakakis:  This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or phone: (03) 9953 3263.

Dr. Nick Trakakis,
on behalf of the APRA conference organising committee.

International Conference of the Association for Continental Philosophy of Religion

Thinking the Absolute:
Speculation, Philosophy and the End of Religion

June 29th – July 1st 2012 Liverpool Hope University, UK

Keynote Speakers:
Catherine Malabou, Ray Brassier, Iain Hamilton Grant and Levi Bryant

‘The contemporary end of metaphysics is an end which, being sceptical, could only be a religious end of metaphysics.’
Quentin Meillassoux, After Finitude. An Essay on the Necessity of Contingency (London: Continuum, 2008)

Meillassoux identifies the ‘turn to religion’ in contemporary continental philosophy with a failure of thinking. The Kantian refusal to think the absolute leads to scepticism about reality in itself. Ironically, this lends itself to ‘fideism’, the decision to project religious meaning on to the unknowable beyond. According to Meillassoux, a philosophy obsessed with mystery becomes the accomplice of irrational faith. The solution is to find ways of once more thinking the absolute in its reality, severed from its dependence upon a knowing subject, or upon language and social norms. At the same time, new possibilities for thinking religion (exemplified by Meillassoux’s own Divine Inexistence) are emerging.
This conference invites proposals which critically consider this speculative turn in philosophy and its implications for thinking about religion. To what ‘end’ is speculation leading? Does it simply announce the closure of religion and its subordination to a philosophy of the absolute, nature or the ‘All’? Can it open new lines for a philosophy of religion which is not wedded to the Kantian horizon? Is speculation itself open to Kierkegaardian critique as yet another move to position and reduce ethical and religious claims, sacrificing the future on the altar of abstract possibility? Does renewed attention to the canon of speculative idealism offer a way beyond the impasse between relativism and dogmatism?
The organisers welcome proposals which examine the roots and extensity of recent speculative thinking, and which critically consider its impact – direct and indirect - on philosophy of religion. Relevant thinkers and themes might include Quentin Meillassoux on God and the absolute, Alain Badiou’s ontology, Catherine Malabou on Hegel and plasticity, Francois Laruelle’s ‘future Christ’, Iain Hamilton Grant on Schelling’s Naturphilosophie and the thinking of the All, Ray Brassier’s nihilism, the impact of object-oriented ontologies on theology and metaphysics. However, we are particularly looking for contributions which creatively use or depart from the speculative turn to offer original insights into the nature and content of the field.

Abstracts of 300 words for 20 minute papers to:

This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or  This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

by end of February 2012.

www.hope.ac.uk/acpr

Following on from the Australasian Society of Continental Philosophy Conference 2011 – “The Time(s) of our lives” – we are pleased to announce two publication opportunities with Parrhesia: A Journal of Critical Philosophy and with Thesis Eleven: Critical Theory and Historical Sociology. Below you will find details on each respective opportunity.
 
Please note:
- Papers of a strong philosophical bent would be most appropriate for consideration in Parrhesia.
- Papers that deal with socio-political issues would be most appropriate for consideration in Thesis Eleven.
- If you are unsure which journal would be most relevant for your topic, please indicate that you would like your paper to be considered by both Parrhesia and Thesis Eleven.
- Papers should engage with the conference theme “The Time(s) of our Lives”.
- Please read the information on each of the journal websites, to ensure that your submission is appropriate to their aims and scope.
 
1. Call for papers for a Special Issue of Parrhesia: A journal of critical philosophy.
 
The publication of this Parrhesia issue is planned to coincide with next year’s ASCP conference. Papers must engage with the theme of the conference and they should be no less than 6,000 words and no more than 10,000 words in length.
 
The best paper by a postgraduate student on the theme will be awarded a prize of $500 and publication in Parrhesia.
 
Information about the journal can be found here: http://parrhesiajournal.org/about.html
 
Please follow the 'Style Guide' and 'References' instructions on the Parrhesia website (http://www.parrhesiajournal.org/submissions.html). The referencing system is based on the Chicago Manual of Style, using endnotes for references.
 
Papers considered for publication in the issue will be double-blind reviewed.
 
Deadline for submissions to Parrhesia is 1st March, 2012.
 
Please submit papers to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. "> This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Your email should indicate that the paper is to be considered for publication in Parrhesia.
 
2. Call for papers for a Special Issue of Thesis Eleven: Critical Theory and Historical Sociology.
 
Thesis Eleven has shown strong interest in an edited journal issue on the conference themes.
 
Engaging with the theme of the conference, submissions should be between 5000 and 8000 words, including notes and references. You should also include an abstract of up to 150 words and five key words.
 
On a separate coversheet, authors should provide their name, institutional affiliation and address, email address, telephone and fax numbers, as well as an address to which the proofs and offprints should be sent if different from the above. You should also supply a biography of 50-100 words.
 
Please follow the ‘Style Guide’ that appears on the Thesis Eleven website:

http://www.uk.sagepub.com/journalsProdDesc.nav?prodId=Journal200952&;crossRegion=antiPod#tabview=manuscriptSubmission
 
Information about the journal can be found here:
http://www.uk.sagepub.com/journalsProdDesc.nav?prodId=Journal200952&;;crossRegion=antiPod#tabview=title
 
Deadline for submissions to Thesis Eleven is 1st March, 2012.
 
Please submit papers to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. "> This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Your email should indicate that the paper is to be considered for publication in Thesis Eleven.

37TH ANNUAL MEETING

INTERNATIONAL MERLEAU-PONTY CIRCLE

September 20-22, 2012

SELF & OTHERS, SILENCE & SOLITUDE
Fordham University, Lincoln Center
New York, New York

Keynote Speakers:

Gail Weiss, George Washington University
Lisa Guenther, Vanderbilt University

Paper submissions directly pertinent to the theme, “Self, Others, Silence & Solitude” are
particularly encouraged, but papers on any area of current research in Merleau-Ponty studies
will be considered for inclusion in the program. Completed papers will be given strong
priority. Detailed abstracts will be considered; a short curriculum vitae should accompany
abstracts. Papers should be no more than 4,500 words/30 minutes reading time. Please
format papers for blind review and send with a cover letter to the conference director at
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. "> This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .

The conference features the annual M. C. Dillon Memorial Lecture -- an honor and
monetary award for the best graduate student submission, with publication in Chiasmi
International. Graduate students who wish to be considered for the Dillon award should
indicate this in their cover letter.

Deadline for submission: June 1, 2012
Ann V. Murphy Fordham University
Merleau-Ponty Circle Conference Director
All inquiries: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. "> This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

"'How Can It Not Know What It Is?' Self and Other in Ridley Scott's Blade Runner"

Sponsored by the UWS Democracy and Human Rights Research Initiative

Date: 1st of March, 2012,

Location: UWS, Bankstown Campus, Building 3, Room 3.G. 55

Abstract

In this essay I provide a reading of Ridley Scott's Blade Runner that focuses upon the question of the kind of creatures the Replicants are depicted as being, and the meaning that depiction should have for us. I draw upon Stanley Cavell's account of the problem of other minds to argue that the film's empathy test is in fact presented as a mode of resisting the acknowledgment of others. And I draw upon Martin Heidegger's account of authenticity and mortality to argue that this acknowledgment is crucial if one would become human. The film does not so much suggest that Replicants are, as such, human, but rather that humanity is won through the encounter with the inauthentic.

Andrew Norris is the editor of The Claim to Community (Stanford University Press, 2006), Politics, Metaphysics, and Death: Essays on Giorgio Agamben's "Homo Sacer" (Duke University Press, 2005), and with Jeremy Elkins, the co-editor of Truth and Democracy (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2012). His essays have appeared in Cities: Philosophie, Politique, Histoire; Constellations; Critical Horizons, Diacritics; Film-philosophy; Journal of Law & Society, Law, Culture & the Humanities; Metaphilosophy; Philosophy and Social Criticism; Political Theory; Polity; Radical Philosophy; Telos; Theory and Event; Social Science Encyclopedia; International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences; and Encyclopedia of Political Thought. He is currently completing a book entitled Publicity and Partiality: Political Reflection in the Work of Stanley Cavell.

Colloquium

9.30am - 4.30pm, Saturday 25 February 2012

Australian Institute of International Affairs
124 Jolimont Rd., East Melbourne

Jim Hopkins has published widely on psychoanalysis in philosophical and other learned journals. He is Visiting Professor at University College London, and Reader (Emeritus) in Philosophy at King's College London. He is an editor of Mind. His current research interests include issues in psychoanalysis such as the death drive, Freud and Darwin, representation, and problems of consciousness.

Speakers: Jim Hopkins, Russell Grigg, Talia Morag and Jason Freddi

For further information contact Russell Grigg This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.