Phenomenology and Speculative Realism – Engaging the Contemporary: Philosophy, Literature and Education

Phenomenology and Speculative Realism

Thursday 17 November 2016
University of Malta

Engaging the Contemporary is an annual seminar that encourages participation from postgraduates and academics from different departments and backgrounds. The focus of this year’s seminar will be Phenomenology and Speculative Realism. In the history of western philosophy, Phenomenology 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 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–Speculative 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 engagingthecontemporary@um.edu.mt 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.