We are delighted to announce that the 3rd Warwick Continental Philosophy Conference will take place on 26-27 March 2021, and will be an online event. The theme will be ‘Continental Philosophy and Its Histories’, and it will explore how Continental Philosophy engages with the ‘Thinkers’ that belong to its history: what is it to ‘read’ Plato, Spinoza, Kant, or Nietzsche in Continental Philosophy? How important is the canon, and what is its methodological and philosophical significance? Should we keep putting forward various creative (mis)readings of past philosophers or, as Husserl suggested early on, is it better to get rid of the past and proceed afresh with a new method? Key Speakers include Professor Stella Sandford (Kingston University), Dr Mogens Laerke (CNRS) and Dr Francey Russell (Columbia University).

 To this end, the Warwick Continental Philosophy Conference Organising Committee invites papers in Continental or European Philosophy focusing on Continental Philosophy and its Histories, broadly understood. The deadline for Abstract submissions is 22 January 2021. For further details about the conference and guidelines for Abstract Submissions, see here: https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/philosophy/research/activities/postkantian/events/wcpc

 This conference is made possible by generous funding provided by the University of Warwick Philosophy Department and British Society for the History of Philosophy. It is an annual event within The Centre for Research in Post-Kantian European Philosophy (University of Warwick).

We are sorry to announce that, due to the situation with the coronavirus, the British Society of Aesthetics Synergy Conference: New Conversations on Poetry and Philosophy, scheduled for 16/17 March 2020, has been CANCELLED. We hope to re-schedule this when circumstances allow.

This one day conference, co-organised by Diarmuid Costello with Jason Gaiger (University of Oxford), is a collaboration between the Department of Philosophy at the University of Warwick, the Ruskin School of Art at the University of Oxford, the Institute of Philosophy, University of London, and the London Aesthetics Forum.

The conference will bring together leading philosophers of art and art theorists to focus in depth on major works of twenty-first century contemporary art. The aim is not to motivate general philosophical claims about the nature of contemporary art but rather to examine a single work or a short run of works by a particular artist and to consider this in light of the broader issues of philosophical interest that it might be thought to raise. The day aims to demonstrate that close attention to an individual work of art can be both critically and philosophically illuminating, and that this provides one model for substantive work in aesthetics, work that is not only philosophically serious but critically and historically sensitive.

The conference takes place at Senate House, Malet Street, London WC1E 7HU, and is supported by a grant from the British Society of Aesthetics. Attendance is free but registration is required: https://sas.sym-online.com/registrationforms/ipbooking146412205723139316003573836291/done/

The second annual BNW Graduate Conference 2018 taking place on Thursday 14 June 2018 will provide an opportunity for students from each University to present their current work, and to receive informed feedback from a dedicated respondent who works in another Department but in a similar discipline. This conference will allow participants - those giving presentations - respondents and audience members - the opportunity to engage and benefit from research-focused discussions, and will help develop the foundations for innovative excellence in research and collaboration. The proceedings will include a keynote speech, delivered by a member of staff from Nottingham's Philosophy Department, which will highlight current research interests at the University.

Organisers from Warwick University are Simon Wimmer, Giulia Luvisotto, Chenwei Nie and Leonello Gambi. https://bnwgraduateconference.weebly.com/

Title: 'Identity and Community: Metaphysics, Politics, Aesthetics'. Keynote Presentation by Professor Alison Stone (Lancaster). Panel Discussion with Professor Miguel de Beistegui (Warwick) based on his forthcoming book 'The Government of Desire: A Geneology of the Liberal Subject', alongside Daniele Lorenzini (Université Saint-Louis Bruxelles/Columbia University) and Federico Testa (Warwick/Monash).

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?

February 2018 marks the publication of two important philosophical texts by Professor Keith Ansell-Pearson, both published by Bloomsbury Academic.

‘Bergson: Thinking Beyond the Human Condition’ is described by the publishers as an elegant overview, bringing Bergson to a new generation of readers. ‘Ansell-Pearson contends that there is a Bergsonian revolution, an upheaval in philosophy comparable in significance to those that we are more familiar with, from Kant to Nietzsche and Heidegger, which make up our intellectual modernity’.

‘Nietzsche’s Search for Philosophy: On the Middle Writings’: PDF eBook. The publishers observe that ‘this study explores key aspects of Nietzsche’s philosophical activity in his middle writings, including his conceptions of philosophy, his commitment to various enlightenments, his critique of fanaticism, his search for the heroic-idyllic, his philosophy of modesty and his conception of ethics, and his search for joy and happiness. The book will appeal to readers across philosophy and the humanities, especially to those with an interest in Nietzsche and anyone who has a concern with the fate of philosophy in the modern world’.

https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/nietzsches-search-for-philosophy-9781474254717/

https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/bergson-9781350043947/

This forthcoming conference will take place Wednesday 10th November - Friday 12th November. All sessions will take place online. A full programme can be found here

Organised by Professor Alfonso Jaramillo and colleagues, the 1st International BioDesign Research Conference will be held 1-18 December 2020 via Zoom. The conference will showcase the latest achievements and research progress in the field of Biosystems Design and Synthetic Biology.
Find out more and register.