Specific panels may be considered as Invited Sessions upon proposal by Fisp Steering Committee members.
A preliminary list of already approved Invited Sessions will be posted shortly.
| The following Round tables have been approved (regularly updated): | |
| Philosophical and Political Discourses in Contemporary Russia | Marina F. Bykova (USA) |
| Participants | Artemy Magun, Evert van der Zweerde, Maya Soboleva, Yulia Sineokaya |
| Abstract | Since Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, references to Russian thought have taken on a sinister connotation. The ongoing debate revolves around whether Russian culture and philosophy should be canceled, making it a highly relevant topic. Furthermore, Putin's regime 'misuses' Russian thinkers of the past to further its imperial ambitions. What we are witnessing now is the weaponization of Russian identity, thought, and culture. Simultaneously, there is a pressing need for a critical reassessment of the Russian tradition The proposed session will focus on the practice of politics and philosophy under the Putin regime. Participants will delve into recent debates within Russian political and philosophical discourses, tracing their roots in the broader tradition of Russian thought. They will also analyze the roles played by various philosophical figures, both historical and contemporary, in justifying politics under Putin. |
| Bioética y dignidad humana: un diálogo transdisciplinario | Vittoradolfo Tambone (Italy) |
| Participants | Evandro Agazzi, Lourdes Velázquez, Stephanie Derive, Laura Campanozzi, Carlos Viesca |
| Abstract | This invited session aims to address in an anti-disciplinary way a topic that has been proposed as the fundamental one since the beginnings of Bioethics. The starting point, only apparently paradoxical, it is the demonstration of the Existence of the Human Being that introduces debate on the Dignity of it within a systemic cosmological vision capable of supporting an expanded vision. The theoretical dimension will suggest various practical applications in the field of Bioethics, Medical and Biolegal that could be the beginning of the definition of a shared projectuality. The long-term objective of the invited section is the establishment of a Permanent International Commission Working Group for the reactivation of the concept of Person in light of Critical/Reflective Thinking, using Biological, Sociological and Political data as an appropriate Phenomenology to Metaphysical knowledge. |
| Benedetto Croce tra Storicismo e Complessità | Giuseppe Gembillo (Italy) |
| Participants | Annamaria Anselmo, Andrea Bellantone, Rosella Faraone, Giuseppe Giordano, Michele Sità |
| Abstract | Il tema della tavola rotonda ruoterà attorno a una ipotesi interpretativa sul posto di Croce nella Storia della Filosofia del Novecento, a partire dall’analisi del suo Storicismo, visto all’interno della convergenza ideale tra due percorsi: quello “filosofico”, tracciato da Vico, Kant e Hegel; quello scientifico, segnato da Mach e Poincaré. Seguendo queste vie Croce ha elaborato una critica rigorosa a ogni forma di meccanicismo, di riduzionismo e di monismo, affiancando, al procedere “diacronico” della riflessione tradizionale, uno sguardo “sincronico” che lo ha condotto a distinguere e a fare interagire varie attività spirituali considerate secondo un rapporto di coordinazione e interazione. Questo gli ha consentito di anticipare temi fondamentali che poco tempo dopo la sua morte avrebbero condotto alla “Prospettiva della complessità”, nata nel momento in cui anche nella scienza, grazie soprattutto a Heisenberg, Prigogine, Maturana e Lovelock, l’approccio meccanicistico è stato sostituito, sia nella concezione della Natura sia nel Soggetto conoscente, con quello storicistico e organicistico. La questione che si intende affrontare, allora è: fino a che punto lo Storicismo pluralistico di Croce può considerarsi una tappa che condurrà alla prospettiva scientifica e filosofica della Complessità elaborata dai grandi pensatori contemporanei, da Prigogine a Morin? |
| Crisi o negazione del moderno? Immagini del presente attraverso la storia intellettuale italiana | Giulio Gisondi (Italy) |
| Participants | Tristan Dragon, Saverio Ricci, Antonella Del Prete, Fabrizio Lomonaco, Pierre Girard, Riccardo Pozzo, Micaela Latini, Andrea Marchili, Claudia Megale, Pantaleone Annunziata, Geminello Preterossi, Anna Cavaliere, Carlo Galli |
| Abstract | Il concetto di modernità costituisce un oggetto ambiguo della ricerca storica. Esso non incarna una categoria lineare e neutra che s’impone esclusivamente nei termini di una periodizzazione storiografica, come l’espressione di una temporalità al pari di altre, bensì una categoria problematica che segna un prima e un dopo nella storia, la vittoria ideale o il superamento di un’epoca e di una forma della ragione su di altre. Cosa possiamo definire oggi propriamente ‘moderno’? E cosa può rappresentarne, invece, una negazione o una sua crisi? Il senso di ciò che generalmente definiamo moderno e il modo in cui si sono costituite le molteplici forme della ragione moderna resta ancora problematico. I caratteri della razionalità scientifica, tecnica e politica che emergono tra il XVI e il XVIII secolo e che costituiscono alcuni dei tratti distintivi con cui convenzionalmente identifichiamo la ragione moderna o dei moderni, si oppongono a forme di irrazionalismo che pur convivono, anche nel nostro presente, come manifestazioni di quella stessa temporalità storica che definiamo ‘modernità’, quasi come se essa costituisse una dialettica permanente sempre attiva e irriducibile della condizione umana. |
| Philosophy of fashion. Paths between communication, ethics and technologies | Veronica Neri & Emanuele Coco (Italy) |
| Participants | Lorenzo Cantoni, Cecilia Winterhalter, Silvia Dadà, Erika Temperino, Flavia Piancazzo |
| Abstract | Fashion is increasingly an area of popular culture. The relationship between fashion and tradition, between fashion and technology has opened up new philosophical reflections. Past and present communicate in this regard without interruption. Certainly the Metaverse, social media, artificial intelligence and virtual reality have changed the approach to fashion: if on the one hand they have made it more sophisticated and cutting-edge in materials and design, on the other they have made it more popular and accessible to everyone. The objective is to activate a dialogue between cultures on the ethical and social implications of digital fashion communication, media and visual communication in fashion. Within this broad theme, scholars will intervene who have distinguished themselves for their significant contributions within the philosophy of fashion, analyzing its ethical, social, aesthesiological and communicative aspects. |
| The Meaning of Life: Origin and Future | Mirela Oliva (Usa) |
| Participants | Stephen Leach, James Tartaglia, Jacob Fox |
| Abstract | This session investigates what the expression “meaning of life” stands for. First, we consider some key moments in the expression's history. Stephen Leach analyzes the roots of the expression in Christian mysticism. These roots show that the form and content of answers to the question “What is the meaning of life?” are straightforward. Jacob Fox discusses Fichte's pivotal role in popularizing the concept of the meaning of life. Fichte's idealism links different common understandings of the word "meaning", and gives us a good reason for connecting "meaning" to the word "life". Second, we ask how to define the meaning of life today. James Tartaglia connects the current interest in 'conceptual engineering' with the concept of meaning in life. Instead of determining what meaning amounts to, we could attempt to create/amend the concept. Mirela Oliva asks whether the meaning of life is confined to the category of value, referring to the Latin origin of sensus, Rickert, and Nozick. |
| Chung-ying Cheng’s Philosophy on the Yijing, Onto-hermeneutics, and Other Topics | Ann A. Pang-White (Usa) |
| Participants | Sandra Wawrytko, Liu Weijian, Andrew Fuyarchuk, Yao Xingzhong, Stephen Palmquist, Eric Nelson, Michael Forster, Chung-ying Cheng (Responder) |
| Abstract | For over fifty years, Professor Cheng-ying Cheng (University of Hawaii at Manoa) has done significant work in promoting Chinese philosophy and cross-cultural philosophy. This special invited session is to honor Professor Cheng’s lifelong contribution and strong commitment to these fields. Well versed in the analytical methodology of the West and onto-hermeneutical thinking in the Chinese tradition, he founded the Journal of Chinese Philosophy, an international research journal devoted to academic studies of Chinese philosophy, in 1973 and has served as its editor-in-chief for decades. In 1975, he founded the International Society for Chinese Philosophy (ISCP), a non-profit organization, to bring together scholars from all corners of the globe who share an interest in Chinese philosophy, and to promote the study of Chinese philosophy in both academic and non-academic circles. |
| A New Edition of Pico della Mirandola's 900 Theses: Unveiling the Secret Concatenation. | Pasquale Terracciano (Italy) |
| Participants | Raphael Ebgi, Diana Di Segni, Giovanni Licata |
| Abstract | On January 6, 1487, Rome was poised to host a public philosophical debate organized by the young Count Giovanni Pico della Mirandola. For this occasion, Pico composed 900 theses (Conclusiones), drawn from various sources of ancient and medieval philosophy and theology, which he intended to discuss with the most erudite scholars of his time. Pico aimed to elucidate the hidden thread connecting all earlier traditions, as he expounds in the introduction, which later became renowned as the Oratio de hominis dignitate. In pursuit of this goal, Pico reinterpreted medieval philosophical thought in an original manner, introduced Kabbalah into the Western cultural canon, and initiated a second revelation of Arabic philosophy after the medieval era. The panel will present new research works on this topic, and in particular the edition and commentary on Pico's 900 Conclusiones, part of the Italian National Edition of Pico della Mirandola. This edition, spanning several years, has brought forth new sources and interpretations; it offers a fresh perspective on Pico’s philosophical outlook and serves as a key to unlock the mysteries of Pico’s library and methodologies. |
| Cultura, lavoro e opera umana. Voci italiane fra moderno e contemporaneo | Giovanni Rota (Italy) |
| Participants | Davide Bondì, Geri Cerchiai, Roberto Evangelista, Armando Mascolo, Alessia Scognamiglio, Stefano Zappoli |
| Abstract | Il panel si propone di indagare alcuni aspetti della tradizione filosofica italiana tra Otto e Novecento. Si partirà da una analisi sul ruolo della filosofia nella costruzione della coscienza nazionale durante il Risorgimento in rapporto con la cultura tecnico/scientifica, per indagare in seguito vari capitoli della storia della filosofia novecentesca, a partire dall’ineludibile confronto con la tradizione idealistica. Tutte queste posizioni si sono trovate a descrivere e a cercar di comprendere le origini e le diverse strade prese dal pensiero nella rielaborazione del mondo naturale; riletture novecentesche di Vico; l’attivismo e l’irrazionalismo di figure ritenute “minori” dell’Italia tra le due guerre che si rapportano criticamente alle figure dominanti di Croce e Gentile; il marxismo italiano interpretato come filosofia della prassi. Si discuterà di autori come Cattaneo, Gentile, De Martino, Rensi, Calogero e la scuola gentiliana. |
| Filosofia della narrazione e tecniche autobiografiche | Rosa Loredana Cardullo (Italy) |
| Participants | Fabrizio Lomonaco, Claudia Megale, Gennaro Pezzella, Antonia Stefania Gualtieri, Berardo Impegno |
| Abstract | C’è un modo di far filosofia scrivendo della propria vita come attestano grandi modelli del pensiero occidentale, da Platone a Marco Aurelio, da Agostino a Croce, da Dilthey a Ricoeur in geografie e costellazioni culturali diversissime. Il modello autobiografico serve a coniugare filosofia e vita nella pratica della conoscenza. Le relative “unità di apprendimento” fanno delle conoscenze acquisite un punto di partenza per la metodica ricostruzione di un “sillabo” che identifichi e decostruisca i contenuti della conoscenza acquisita. Così l’io narrante dell’autobiografia e il soggetto conoscente possono idealmente comunicare e richiamare lo specifico filosofico alle sue ragioni storiche della vita contemporanea senza astrazioni né banali attualizzazioni. Il panel si articolerà in due macrosezioni, delle quali la prima avrà un impianto storico-teorico e analizzerà alcune biografie filosofiche, la seconda coniugherà in prassi i principi fondamentali di tale pratica filosofica. |
| Connecting sociology to moral philosophy: Setting an agenda | Sari Hanafi (Lebanon) |
| Participants | Geoffrey Pleyers, Silvia Cataldi, Gennaro Iorio |
| Abstract | Thus Morality and ethics are not a fixed set of values but more structured and structuring structures. Sociology, as science with normative claims, defends values as sociological and not simply philosophical themes, meaning that these values cannot be reasoned independently of how social actors experience them. In this panel we will show how sociology has developed an anti-utilitarian stand through the forging of concepts such as social love, dialogical liberal projects, caring based global sociology, convivialism. This sociology corrects then its positivist tendency by proposing explicit methods, normative presuppositions, and forms of engagement. This strand has become important through the agenda setting of the International Sociological Association. |
| La filosofia come stile di vita | Luigi Tarca (Italy) |
| Participants | Romano Màdera, Nicoletta Poli, Giorgio Rivolta, Giuseppe Ferraro |
| Abstract | Il workshop “La filosofia come stile di vita” intende offrire un’esperienza di con-divisione (collaborazione fra differenti prospettive) tra persone che da anni praticano la filosofia come forma di sapienza che ispira ogni aspetto dell’esistenza: da quello teoretico (concettuale-spirituale) a quello pratico-discorsivo, da quello esistenziale (psico-affettivo) a quello politico-antropologico, da quello pubblico (istituzionale-ufficiale-professionale) a quello vocazionale. |
| Science in a Free Society. On the 100th Centenary of Paul Feyerabend | Ilya Kasavin (Russia) |
| Participants | Alexander Ruser, Olga Stoliarova, Jan Schmidt, Ivana Renic, Elena Chebotareva, Lada Shipovalova, Tatiana Sokolova, Eugeniy Maslanov, Liana Tukhvatulina, Alexandra Argamakova |
| Abstract | The basic scientific research today is supported and controlled by the state. The state itself has acquired unprecedented means of controlling citizens in the digital age. Often, citizens themselves perceive this control as a result of the development of science and technology, considering scientists as “authoritative experts”, and science as a denial of all other cultural traditions. The economic power due to science and technology allows a number of the most developed countries to direct international life in line with their interests. The opposite trend connects the decolonization ideology with the justification of cultural and political diversity, with the ideas of “citizen science”, “garage science”, “post-normal science”, “transdisciplinarity” etc. Feyerabend made a sharp criticism of science and the politics based on it. |
| Values and Bioethics | Beatrice Centi (Italy) |
| Participants | Francesca Sofia Alexandratos, Fabrizio Amerini, Paolo Antonelli, Anselmo Aportone, Azio Barani, Valeria Bizzari, Antonio D’Aloia, Gemmo Iocco, Mara Meletti, Roberto Redaelli |
| Abstract | Bioethics is a field of applied ethics which has many significant relations with the philosophy of values. It is indeed necessary to know which values are involved in valuations, decisions, and actions that are concerning bioethical themes and problems. Philosophy of values studies history and transformations of the values, promotes the pluralism and the critique of values, and the dialogue about values across different cultures. The reflection on some values, such as those of the dignity of the person, of the freedom and autodetermination, of the responsibility also for future generations, of the compassion and care, allows to understand both the complexity of the problems of bioethics and the possibility of new ways to deal with them. By maintaining a close relationship to the philosophy of values bioethics can best fulfill the function of bridging theory and practice. |
| Kuang 狂: A Crucial Concept in Early Chinese Thought | Di Wang (China) |
| Participants | Kexin Wang, Ruyi Chen |
| Abstract | The Chinese idea kuang 狂 is rarely discussed in studies of early Chinese philosophy. Our panel explores this early concept from a few different perspectives: kuang as a moral virtue, kuang in relation to alcohol consumption and drinking culture, and the personification of kuang in early satirical expressions. Collectively we would like to reflect on kuang’s unique contribution to early Chinese thought as a whole, and also on how it differs from similar concepts of early Western traditions, such as the Greco-Roman comedy, the tradition of Carnival or the Nietzschean Dionysus. |
| Philosophy of Praxis. An Italian Perspective on Marx | Marcello Mustè (Italy) |
| Participants | Anna Fantoni, Emanuele Cutinelli-Rendina, Emanuele Agazzani, Fabio Frosini |
| Abstract | One of the most original contributions to twentieth-century Marxist thought, the so-called “philosophy of praxis”, was an Italian current in continuous dialogue with the idealist tradition. To fully understand its theoretical novelty and implications, the historical development of the “philosophy of praxis” must be considered within the broader context of Italian philosophy. It was through engagement with this philosophical tradition that the “philosophy of praxis” took shape, from Antonio Labriola’s Discorrendo di socialismo e di filosofia – where the «philosophy of praxis » is defined as the «pith of historical materialism» – to Gramsci’s Quaderni del carcere and beyond. The Round Table aims to reconstruct the genesis and discuss the main theoretical questions of those thinkers – Labriola, Croce, Gentile, Mondolfo and Gramsci – who, through a combined engagement with Marx and with a particular understanding of the concept of “praxis”, drove the development of theoretical Marxism. |
| Sources of Arabic-Islamic Philosophy | Cristina D’Ancona (Italy) |
| Participants | Max Bergamo, Giovanni Mandolino, Carmela Baffioni |
| Abstract | The first invited section analyses the phenomenon of translation, in which an original Arabic philosophical thought developed from Greek philosophy. The three case studies to be examined concern the reception of the so-called Presocratics in the Islamic world, especially Heraclitus; the Pythagorean doctrines in the Risāla al-Jāmiʿa; the medieval Arabic tradition of John Philoponus’ critique of the eternity of the world. |
| Arabic-Islamic Philosophy and Medicine | Cecilia Martini Bonadeo – Carmela Baffioni (Italy) |
| Participants | Gabriele Antonio Tringale, Maria Fasciano, Anna Gili, Marina Novina |
| Abstract | The second invited section examines some of the original results of the Greco-Arabic philosophical and medical tradition: al-Fārābī’s description of the path of the human intellect to its ultimate perfection; a doctrinal study of the ʿUyūn al-Masāʾil; ʿAlī ibn ʿAbbās al-Majūsī’s medical epistemology in al-Kitāb al-Malakī; the description of mental illness from Hippocrates to Avicenna. |
| Arabic-Islamic Philosophy Est and West | Karen Taliaferro – Luis Xavier López Farjeat (USA – Mexico) |
| Participants | Edward Moad, Ayşe Sıdıka Oktay |
| Abstract | The third invited section is devoted to some of the key figures of Arabic philosophy in the Islamic world: Ibn Sīnā (Avicenna), al-Ghazālī, Ibn Bājja and Ibn Rushd (Averroes). In particular, Ibn Sīnā’s proof of cosmic pre-eternity, Ghazālī’s objection in his Incoherence of the Philosophers, and Ibn Rushd’s (d. 1198) response in his Incoherence of the Incoherence will be examined. The following doctrines will also be presented: the role of imagination in Ibn Bājja’s theory of knowledge, Ibn Rushd’s position on divine causal knowledge, and his proof of the existence of God through the arguments of providence (ʿInāya) and creation (Ikhtira). |
| Avicenna and Averroes in the Latin West and in Byzantium | Elisa Coda – Brett Yardley (France) |
| Participants | Paul-Hervé Quesnel, Jonathan Greig, Seth Kreeger, Mauricio Lecón |
| Abstract | The fourth invited section examines the fortune of Medieval Arabic philosophy in the towering thinker Thomas Aquinas, in the 13th-century master of theology and bishop of Paris William of Auvergne, and in Gregorios Scholarios in the 15th century Byzantium. |
| Bill Lawvere’s work: at the crossroad of philosophy, metamathematics and mathematics | Alberto Peruzzi (Italy) |
| Participants | Jean-Pierre Marquis, Elaine Landry |
| Abstract | Lawyere’s work is unique in the panorama of mathematics and philosophy in the last 70 years. Its originality derives from a profound interaction between singular philosophical views, an ambitious metamathematical (logical) framework and deeply creative mathematical ideas. Lawyere’s ideas about logic, space, and quantities have transformed our ways of thinking about them. The main goal of this panel is to present and explore some of Lawyere’s most important contribution to philosophy of mathematics and logic. |
| Marxism and Italian Philosophy | Tom Rockmore (China) |
| Participants | Edoardo Raimondi, Piergiorgio Della Pelle, Claudio Tuozzolo |
| Abstract | Italian philosophy turns on the slow process of Vico’s reaction against Cartesianism. In the twentieth century, the continued reaction against Cartesianism and in favor of Vico unfolds as the continuing Italian interaction between Marxism in all its varieties on the one hand, and philosophy on the other. This interaction arguably reaches its peak at the turn of the twentieth in Croce’s critical but sympathetic reaction to Hegel on the hand Marx and Marxism on the other. This round table will sketch selected aspects of the twentieth century interaction between philosophy and Marxism, with special attention to Croce’s non-Marxist role. |
| Critique of tragic post-colonial political theory? From Jean-Paul Sartre to Frantz Fanon | Jacob Dahl Rendtorff (Denmark) |
| Participants | Robert Bernasconi, Divya Dwivedi, Zeynep Direk |
| Abstract | This Invited Session presents a critical discussion the origins of post-colonial political thinking, including philosophy of race and intersectionality in the later work of Jean-Paul Sartre. The aim of the session is to trace the influence of Jean-Paul Sartre on Frantz Fanon’s political thinking. Sartre presents a dialectical social theory, based on the progressive regressive method, considering the interplay between individual and collective, history and contemporary action, past and future. This philosophy has had a critical impact on Frantz Fanon’s political theory of neocolonialism, race, and intersectionality. Frantz Fanon studied colonialism based on Sartre’s philosophy and analyzed the problems of racism and oppression. Frantz Fanon developed the concept of the colonial gaze as internalization of the gaze of the colonial order as self-oppressive othering of the self. The point of departure for this session will be: Robert Bernasconi’s Critical Philosophy of Race, Oxford University Press (2023). |
| ERC funding opportunities for philosophy research – Information session with ERC fundend PIs | Sebastian Winkler (Belgium) |
| Participants | Silvia De Bianchi, Susana Viegas, Andrea Pinotti |
| Abstract | The European Research Council (ERC), set up by the European Union in 2007, is the premier European funding organization for excellent frontier research. The ERC follows an investigator driven bottom-up approach and funds creative researchers of any nationality and age, to run projects based across Europe. Scientific excellence is the sole criterion for the evaluation of proposals submitted to the ERC. With the 2024 ERC work programme, the evaluation panels in the Social Sciences and Humanities domain have been re-configured, with a special focus on proposals from any field of philosophy. |
| History of Philosophy and the Biopolitical Crisis | Riccardo Pozzo (Italy) |
| Partecipants | Anat Biletzki, Roberto Esposito, Tanella Boni, Rolf Elberfeld, Ruth Hagengruber, Fabrizio Lomonaco, Andrea Tagliapietra, Fiorella Battaglia, Souleymane Bachir Diagne, Robin Wang, William Sweet, Daniela Calabrò, Corrado Claverini |
| Abstract | The increase in migration flows and terrorist attacks demonstrate that the current one is not a simple economic crisis, but a «much more dramatic, biopolitical crisis» (Roberto Esposito). The traditional way of conceiving of the concepts of migration, borders and hospitality needs to be called into question. To this end, historians of philosophy have begun to reread the past through notions of the migration of ideas and translatio studiorum and to connect these notions with the translatio imperii as well as with the «negative or entangled history of European philosophy» (Rolf Elberfeld). The aim of the round table is to cast new light on a past which consists of migrating traditions and adopt a truly global perspective of the history of philosophy, giving a voice to marginalized or little-studied authors without dismissing canonical philosophers. |
| Critical versus Conventional Business Ethics | Jacob Dahl Rendtorff (Denmark) |
| Partecipants | Matthias Kettner, Geert Demuijnck |
| Abstract | The roundtable discusses profound alternatives within the self-understanding of business ethics. Many philosophers are quite skeptical of the very idea of "business ethics". The main suspicion is that business ethics, as part of the economic reality to which it refers, at best normatively duplicates the existing practices within the prevailing market economy way of life, or at worst that business ethics is oil in the gears of global capitalism, which would be all the more questionable in view of massive negative externalities, especially the climate catastrophe. Practically minded managers in companies, economic politicians and economists on the other hand, if they are interested in business ethics at all, tend to reduce its presumed usefulness to a narrow problem area, such as "corporate social responsibility", "whistle blowing", "codes of ethics", "anti-corruption". |
| Insegnare la filosofia oggi | Marco Ferrari (Italy) |
| Partecipants | Costantino Esposito, Mario De Caro |
| Abstract | Il concorso nazionale di filosofia Romanae Disputationes riunisce migliaia di studenti e docenti per riflettere ogni anno su un tema di rilevanza filosofica, sociale e culturale. Il concorso risveglia l’interesse alla filosofia e sviluppa le capacità critiche e dialettiche degli studenti della scuola superiore attraverso un percorso di studio e di confronto, realizzato in collaborazione con il mondo universitario, ponendo a tema le grandi domande che la filosofia offre all’uomo contemporaneo, con eventi, video lezioni e workshop e poi chiedere ai team di studenti di realizzare sfidando i team a realizzare paper, video, monologhi filosofici e dispute regolamentate premiate da una giuria accademica. |
| Idealism of the Early Vijñānavāda school of Buddhism and its reflection in their ethical theory | Madhumita Chattopadhyay (India) |
| Partecipants | Maitreyee Dutta, Gargi Goswami |
| Abstract | In the history of Buddhism, the development of the idealistic thought though was initiated by Nāgārjuna in the 2nd century C.E, took a new shape in the hands of a group of thinkers who did not completely deny the existence of external reality, but admitted consciousness alone as the only reality. The main proponents of this school of idealism were Maitreyanātha, Asaṅga, Vasubandhu, and Sthiramati. Since Asaṅga and Vasubandhu in the first part of their philosophical careers were followers respectively of the Mahīśāsaka and Sarvāstivāda schools of Buddhism, early Vijñānavāda thoughts had their roots in realism, which later on changed into epistemological idealism and finally into metaphysical idealism. In our presentation we will focus on the early phase of Vijñānavāda and try to show following the texts of Asaṅga and Vasubandhu how this idealistic thought had been related to realism and whether the admission of consciousness could explain the morality of actions like killing a person. |
| Adding Voices to the Philosophy Curriculum | Floris Velema (Netherlands) |
| Partecipants | Ruth Hagengruber, Lewis Gordon, Ahab Bdaiwi, Riccardo Pozzo, Arjan Koek |
| Abstract | In the academic year 2023-2024, Leiden University Graduate School of Teaching (ICLON) organized a Professional Learning Community for high school teachers to diversify the philosophy curriculum. International guest speakers brought the necessary expertise to the high school teacher community in online lectures. Subsequently, the participating teachers developed learning activities for the effective implementation of the new content into the curriculum. Both the lectures and the learning activities will be published in a special edition of the Journal of Didactics of Philosophy (JDPh). During this Round Table, the results of the Professional Learning Community will be presented. |
| Metafísicas españolas | Maria Lida Mollo (Italy) |
| Partecipants | Paolo Ponzio, José Manuel Sevilla, Ricardo Horneffer, José Luis Villacañas |
| Abstract | El despertar de la filosofía española ha ido de la mano de una confrontación crítica con estos polos: la filosofía griega, la escolástica, la fenomenología, el neokantismo, el historicismo y la antropología filosófica. Baste considerar: 1) Sobre la esencia (1962) de Zubiri, donde la confrontación con Aristóteles conduce al hallazgo de un plano anterior al logos predicativo; 2) Metafísica de la expresión (1957) de Nicol, donde la confrontación con Aristóteles y con Platón está motivada por a) la necesidad de radicalizar la corrección aristotélica a Platón eliminando toda forma de dualismo con vistas a conjugar la presencia del ser con el cambio, con la temporalidad y con la historicidad y b) afirmar el símbolo como el rasgo diferencial del hombre; y 3) toda la obra de Ortega y Gasset, a partir de Meditaciones del Quijote (1914), donde se perfila una metafísica fundada en la vida (choque yo-circunstancia). |
| La fenomenología en Latinoamérica | Javier San Martín (Spain) |
| Partecipants | Pio Colonnello, María Lida Mollo, Marcela Venebra Muñoz |
| Abstract | La fenomenología entra en Latinoamérica en 1916 con las lecciones de Ortega y Gasset en Buenos Aires, que tienen su base en las de Madrid, Sistema de la psicología, con una llamada a la intuición más allá del naturalismo y del constructivismo. Veinte años después, José Gaos aporta, en su exilio, su vinculación con Ortega, Husserl y Heidegger, anclado en una fenomenología existencial. Mientras los análisis de Husserl en Ideas II, solo publicados en 1952, desarrollan la conexión del cuerpo implícita en la percepción, no como objeto sino como sujeto; Luis Villoro, ya en 1959, toma nota de lo que suponen esos análisis husserlianos. Las posteriores publicaciones de Husserl han llevado a tomar en serio esa perspectiva: frente a una conciencia pura, porque el cuerpo ha caído a la epojé, el Leib, la carne, es la que provee los elementos que la constituyen como la primera capa de la vida consciente. Estos desarrollos abren el debate de la animalidad de la subjetividad trascendental. |
| The philosophy of exile. Exiles in Latin America. Themes and perspectives | Antolín Sánchez Cuervo (Spain) |
| Partecipants | Lucia Maria Grazia Parente, Ambrosio Velasco Gómez, Guillermo Ferrer Ortega |
| Abstract | First of all, a framing of the contribution of the Spanish Republican intellectual exile of 1939 in Latin America to contemporary philosophy is proposed, under the common denominator of an awareness of the radical crisis of modern techno-scientific rationality, consummated under the effect of its own violence in inter-war Europe, and a creative search for answers in the tradition of Ibero-American humanism. To this end, the main intellectual profiles of this exile, their genealogies, their trajectories and their thematic perspectives will be outlined. The papers by Ambrosio Velasco Gómez and Antolín Sánchez Cuervo will be presented along these lines. Secondly, Guillermo Ferrer Ortega and Lucia María Grazia Parente will focus the discussion on the contributions of the philosophers of the "Madrid School", led by Ortega y Gasset and whose legacy will be developed in exile by José Gaos and María Zambrano. Special attention will be given to the work that the latter developed between Mexico, Cuba and Puerto Rico during the first decade of her exile, for her complex reflection on the exiled condition. |
| Historicismo y existencialismo en español | José Manuel Sevilla Fernández (Spain) |
| Partecipants | María Lida Mollo, Armando Mascolo, Miguel A. Pastor Pérez |
| Abstract | El existencialismo tuvo un desarrollo hispánico importante desde la generación del ’98 hasta la denominada “generación perdida”, pasando por la del ’14; despliegue desde el existencialismo tragicista de Ganivet y Unamuno que, con la andadura del siglo XX, se transforma al atravesar las diversas modalidades de pensamiento filosófico hispano, principalmente las que giran en torno al raciovitalismo orteguiano en la ‘Escuela de Madrid’: la “ontología de la vida” que García Morente explica en Argentina; la filosofía de la “razón vital” que continúa Julián Marías de Ortega; y la mediación de Gaos entre existencialismo heideggeriano e historicismo diltheyano. Destaca también la posición crítica que Nicol expuso en Historicismo y existencialismo como análisis de las principales corrientes filosóficas ‘actuales’; y el arco del historicismo problemático, de raigrambre diltheyana, que va de la “razón histórica” de Ortega hasta la autónoma concepción historicista de Ímaz, traductor de Dilthey. |
| Marxist Philosophy and Modern Civilization | Fengyu Zang (China) |
| Partecipants | Roland Boer, Liangbin Wang, Hannes Fellner, Gabriel Rockhill, Bo Wei, Moritz Kuhlmann |
| Abstract | Marxist philosophy is a fruit of modern civilization. In the tradition of Enlightenment philosophy, Marx recognized the essence of modern reason, and in the modern mode of economic production he observed social changes that were different from those of all previous eras. Modernity brought about irreversible changes, shaped a new way of being in the world and of social relations, altered people's ways of thinking and values, and created a new form of civilization. Ever since, modern civilization has given a great impetus to the development of human material civilization, expanded the scope of interaction among civilizations of all peoples, and broke down barriers between regional and ethic groups. At a time when world history is at a crossroads of development, it is important to reconsider the course of human civilization. Rethinking the relationship between Marxist philosophy and modern civilization is of great significance in this endeavor. |
| Re-Transvaluation of All Values (重估-重构所有价值) | Zhiqiang Zhang (China) |
| Partecipants | Tingyang Zhao, Xinzhong Yao, Jon Stewart, Noburu Notomi, Jigang Shan, Qi Wang, Xia Chen, Weiwen Duan, Chunhong Lu, Yandong Xu |
| Abstract | When Nietzsche put forward his slogan “revaluation of all values” more than a century ago, a new, cosmopolitan “orientation” for the philosophy of the future has already been made. In the age of economic globalization when people’s way of life tends to be homogeneous, when philosophical Eurocentrism has been reflected and criticized from within European philosophers, and the so-called “late comers to modernization” of the East Asian countries have gradually been conscious of philosophical subjectivity, it is the time for philosophers to re-valuate and further trans-valuate all values with the trans-cultural and trans-disciplinary methodology. This roundtable is designed to gather together philosophers from the East and the West who are doing metaphysics, ethics, history of western and traditional Chinese philosophy, philosophy of science, aesthetics etc., to discuss and explore mainly two issues: (1) the necessity and possibility of constructing pluralistic, compatible universalism in philosophy; (2) the possibility of reorganizing, trans-forming old values, and then re-creating new values in the perspective of transcultural fusion of horizons. |
| PHYSIS: Conceptions of Nature from Ionian Thought to Contemporary Science. Advancement of the 2025 International Ontology Congress | Víctor Gómez-Pin (Spain) |
| Partecipants | Sonia Contera, Elena Partene, Steen Rasmussen, Bárbara Jiménez, Stefano Maso, Davide Spanio, Humberto Bustince, José María Sánchez-Verdú |
| Abstract | Since the first conference took place back in 1993, the aim of the International Ontology Congress, has been to breathe new life into the great topics of Greek philosophy, examining them from a contemporary perspective, namely, using the tools provided by contemporary science. These problems keep being brought up constantly, either because of the emergence of new scientific data or because of the irruption of new philosophic perspectives. It is obvious that the philosophical and ontological reflection about nature, what was in other times known as natural philosophy, cannot take place without the support of the “natural science of our times”, in Heisenberg's words. It is well known that in the first twenty-five years of the XX century, experimental facts showed that the classical picture of nature was not completely justified in the realm of the micro-scopic. These and other topics will be worked during this round table, which will be an advancement of the 2025 edition of the International Ontology Congress (www.ontologia.info). |
| Re-Imagining the Human: Ethics, Expression, Interdisciplinary Approaches, and the Evolving Anthropological Landscape | Giovanni Scarafile (Italy) |
| Partecipants | Olga Pombo, Ubaldo Fadini, Vincent Bontemps, Angelo Campodonico, Patrizia Manganaro, Rossella Bonito Oliva, Paolo Amodio, Marta Spranzi |
| Abstract | In an era deeply influenced by science and technology, the seduction of scientism often looms large, threatening to overshadow the intricate web of human experiences by reducing them to mere empirical data points. This prevailing paradigm, valuable in some arenas, risks oversimplifying the nuanced landscape of human existence into deterministic categories. It is within this milieu that the foundational tenets of philosophical anthropology encounter both challenges and opportunities. While the seminal teachings of the discipline's luminaries have profoundly influenced our comprehension of the human condition, it has become increasingly evident that relying solely on these age-old insights is no longer sufficient. Given the multifaceted challenges and developments characterizing our modern world, there's an urgent need to reexamine and update these classical categories, advocating for interdisciplinary studies to complement and enrich our understanding. This session endeavors to catalyze a profound exploration of the dynamic domains of philosophical anthropology, inviting participants to traverse the boundaries between the foundational and the avant-garde, between revered wisdom and nascent interdisciplinary insights. Through this discourse, ouraspiration is to craft a comprehensive understanding of humanity, one that both honors its timeless essence and is receptive to its ongoing transformations. |
| Analytic and Chinese Philosophy (SSHAP) | Michael Beaney (Germany) |
| Partecipants | Xiaolan Liang, Bo Chen, Jing Zhu, Yi Jiang |
| Abstract | This panel focuses on the interaction between analytic philosophy and Chinese philosophy. Jiang Yi outlines a resolution, drawing on Frege’s philosophy of mathematics, of the notorious paradox, ‘white horse is not a horse,’ put forward by Gongsun Long of the School of Names. Liang Xiaolan discusses how features of the Chinese language, particularly its ideographic systems of writing, provide a framework for understanding Wittgenstein’s discussions of seeing-as. The other two panelists discuss the synthesis of modern analytic and traditional Chinese philosophy offered by Jin Yuelin. From Jin’s much-neglected masterwork on the theory of knowledge, Zhu Jing recovers a startling anticipation of contemporary disjunctivism about perception. Chen Bo elaborates on the continuities and differences between Jin’s and Bertrand Russell’s attempts to refute Hume’s skepticism about the justification of induction and causal reasoning. |
| Ancient Chinese Philosophy and Wittgenstein’s Ideas (SSHAP) | Yi Jiang (China) |
| Partecipants | Michael Beaney, Liang Xiaolan, Sanford Shieh |
| Abstract | This panel will investigate some of the relationships between ancient Chinese philosophy and Wittgenstein’s philosophy. Drawing on Wittgenstein’s discussion of samples, rule-following, and seeing-as, and developing the analogy between seeing-as and knowing-as, Beaney explores ways of coming to know certain themes of ancient Chinese philosophy as internally related to Wittgensteinian ideas. Jiang discusses the method of analogy in both ancient Chinese philosophy and Wittgenstein’s later philosophy, taking the example of language games. Liang looks at the Chinese language in the light of Wittgenstein’s philosophy, arguing that reading Chinese text involves richer and deeper aspect perception than reading alphabetic language. Shieh discusses the connections between Wittgenstein’s early view of form as possibility and the enigmatic pronouncement of the form of formlessness in Daodejing and of form’s intermediate position with respect to Dao and concrete things in Dàzhuàn. |
| Developments and Prospects of Economic Philosophy in Contemporary China | Xiong Zhang (China) |
| Partecipants | Xiaoping Wei, Lu Zhu, Di Kang, Nanhai Wei |
| Abstract | Our session carries on inquiry to the modern economic world with economic philosophic discipline, which focuses on consciousness, psychological events, cultural customs and interactions between rationality and irrationality in people’s economic behavior. Its study consists of ontological inquiry into the economic theory in terms of desire, interest and need; inquiry into the natural or historicity of the economic world.We also inquiry into the concept about how could the growth of wealth to promote world civilization, to rich the spirit life of human being, to push forward world harmony and to reduce the difference between the different areas of the world. |
| Philosophical Reflections on Modernity in the Context of Globalization | Xiaoping Wei (China) |
| Partecipants | Lixin Hao, Fengyu Zang,Jinfang Nie, Ge Xi, Li Wang |
| Abstract | In the era of globalization, when the logic of capital spreads to all corners of the globe and brings its intrinsic contradictions into all regions, the problem of modernity is more prominent than ever. What is Modernity? How to reflect on the inherent contradictions of modernity itself? Philosophical reflection on this will bring some enlightenment to the global development from economic, political, and cultural modernization to a more civilized and harmonious direction. |
| Situating Agency: Agents in their Relation to Each Other and the World | Karsten Stueber (Germany) |
| Partecipants | David Henderson, Deborah Tollefson, Lilian O’Brien |
| Abstract | Agents not only act, but they also adopt their beliefs for reasons. In this way, they rationally respond to their environment within which they are situated. This panel will investigate the nature of a variety of normative dimensions within which rational agency and our understanding of it takes place. Henderson reveals the essential social dimensions of epistemic normativity showing how epistemic norms facilitate social cooperation in the production and transmission of knowledge. Adopting a Strawsonian framework of epistemic accountability, Tollefson explores how her conception of epistemic practices can be applied to collective agents. Stueber provides a Smithean validation of morality arguing that our practices of mutual empathy characteristic of rational agency commit us to the regulative ideal of the moral stance. Finally, O’Brien discusses how understanding agents is linked to understanding the objective world and what that means for empathy accounts of understanding agency. |
| Philosophy of Religion and American Pragmatism. In Dialogue with Ludwig Nagl | Wolfgang Kaltenbacher (Austria) |
| Partecipants | Ivo A. Ibri, Sami Pihlström, Michael Kühnlein, Claudia Melica, Klaus Viertbauer, William Sweet, Luca M. Scarantino, Ludwig Nagl |
| Abstract | Philosophy of religion and American Pragmatism are two of the main research fields of Ludwig Nagl. Starting from the Festschrift “Versuche über das Absolute” (2024), with which colleagues from all over the world have honoured the life and work of the distinguished Austrian philosopher and scholar, this panel has the purpose to explore the latest state of the art in this area of research and to discuss further research perspectives. |
| Global Ethics: How to relaunch this discussion in the face of global crises? | Anqing Deng (China) |
| Partecipants | Jon Mandle, Des Gasper, Xiangchen Sun, Jinlin Wang, Xingfu Wang, Kang Qian, Yuchong Gong, Jie Shen |
| Abstract | The Research Centre for Global Ethics of Fudan University is holding this Session to relaunch the discussion of global ethics and respond to the issues of our time. We believe that no matter what country we come from, everyone is feeling the turbulence of the world in a kind of uneasiness. Everything points to the fact that we are now in a time of crisis, a time of increasing disintegration of the normative order. We believe that the dilemma of global ethics lies in exploring the complexity and diversity of modernity on the one hand, and examining how we could adhere to the basic values and ethical principles of modern civilization on the other. Through this symposium, we hope to seek common rational principles to resolve ethical conflicts faced by the global community, and to promote the "ethics of shared responsibility" for the common future of mankind. |
| Analitic Philosophy in Asia (SSHAP) | Sanford Shieh (USA) |
| Partecipants | Nikolaj Pedersen, Jonardon Ganeri, Sumei Cheng |
| Abstract | This panel is on the idea of analytic philosophy in Asia & its exemplifications. Nikolaj Pederson discusses 3 notions of Asian analytic philosophy: engagement with classical Asian philosophical texts through the lens of analytic philosophy, cross-linguistic/cross-cultural analytic comparative philosophy with Asian languages/cultures, and philosophical analysis & discussion of expressions in Asian languages. Jonardon Ganeri elaborates one of the ways in which twentieth-century Indian philosopher Bimal Krishna Matilal's reanimation & re-insertion into mainstream contemporary analytic philosophy of the direct, or naïve, Nyāya realism of early modern Indian philosophy, which is in many ways analytic. Cheng Sumei discusses logical empiricism in China, starting from Hong Qian, a student of Moritz Schlick, and leading to Cheng’s own work on mutual influences of the founder of quantum theory and the Vienna Circle. Sanford Shieh discusses Wittgenstein & form classical Chinese philosophy. |
| Black-Market Truths: Performative Wisdom in Passion, Grief and Madness | Mark D. Price (United Kingdom) |
| Partecipants | Elisabeth Laasonen Belgrano, Ami Skånberg, Will Daddario, Elisabeth Schafer, Liv Kristin Holmberg |
| Abstract | Performance philosophy is still something of a ‘wild frontier’ where fundamental questions can be re-posed concerning the nature of wisdom and love, life and truth. For if love and wisdom are not co-extensive with verbal communication, then philosophy may be legitimately pursued by performative means. In this session the participants aim is to enact and unfold a set of trajectories rather than describe or 'define' their work in words alone. Passion and grief are disruptive currencies. Passion and grief not only seem un-necessary for biological life, they frequently threaten it. Yet a life lived without them would seem impoverished. Whether one views these turbulent affects as parasites, invaders, or as the engines of higher culture, they inhabit philosophy as an ineradicable black-market haunts all states and empires. We aim to consider this under-zone on its own terms, weaving theory with demonstrations of transferable techniques for cross-disciplinary research. |
| Institutional Inertia and institutional Wrongs | Carla Bagnoli (Italy) |
| Partecipants | Lubomira Raidolska, Mihaela Popa Wyatt, Carla Bagnoli |
| Abstract | Stability is generally considered not only a desirable but also an indispensable feature of institutions: It allows for the exercise of institutional agency over time and mitigates the hurdles of individual and collective decision-making under uncertainty. However, it is an interesting and difficult question how to account for the right sort of institutional stability. Mere persistence over time does not seem sufficient to qualify for stability. Furthermore, if stability is a constitutive feature of institutions, inertia may be an in-built tendency of institutions, which prevents the institutions to change and develop over time. Finally, stability can be severely pathogenic. Institutions rely on internal reliance and compliance and retain coercive powers to enforce their norms over their members. Such powers exert a normative pressure that blocks change for the sake of self-perpetuation. How to account for such institutional wrongs? How should institutions avoid or correct inertia? |
| Studying “Russian Philosophy” Today: Challenges and Perspectives | Daniela Steila (Italy) |
| Partecipants | Aleksandra Berdnikova, Liisa Bourgeot, Diana Gasparyan, Artemy Magun, Evert van der Zweerde |
| Abstract | Two approaches to the study of “Russian Philosophy” have traditionally competed: one, ‘empirical’ or ‘positivist’, paying attention to the forms in which ‘philosophy’ has existed in Russia; the other, ‘essentialist’, formulating criteria for assessing what is authentically Russian. Also, the multi-national dimensions of the Tsarist and Soviet Empires have posed constant problems about the connections of different cultures within a common “imperial” framework. The question of “Russian Philosophy” became particularly sensitive after the explosion of the conflict between Russian and Ukraine. Not only interpretations and methodological approaches are now involved, but also practical issues concerning communication (with extreme cases of isolationism and “cancelling”), travelling, access to sources and archives… not to mention the question of how to deal with the new “Russia abroad” of émigré philosophers. The roundtable will address these problems from different geographical, cultural, and generational standpoints, and focus on the methodological question of how to approach, today, what is still labelled “Russian Philosophy”. |
| How Long Should We Live? Bioethics and the End of Life. Invited Session by FISP Committee of Bioethics and the Ethics of Sciences | Jacob Dahl Rendtorff (Denmark) |
| Partecipants | Lourdes Velázquez, Noriko Hashimoto, Mislav Kukoc |
| Abstract | With the fast progress in medical technologies of life prolonging treatment and capacity of medical science to maintain life for a long time the discussion of medical decision-making at the end of life has received increased attention. Thus, philosophical reflections on the end of life and the good death have become even more important. What does it mean to die with dignity? When is it appropriate to refuse treatment? What is the relation between pain treatment and shortening of life. Rather than only discussing end of life-issues in terms of euthanasia versus the double effect, this roundtable with discuss philosophy of dying with dignity in different parts of the world, i.e. Latin America, East Asia, and Europe. |
| Workshop in Philosophy of Perception | E.J. Green (USA) |
| Partecipants | Brian McLaughlin, Fiona Macpherson, Jessie Munton |
| Abstract | Recent years have witnessed a surge of philosophical investigation into the representational nature of perception. Widely discussed questions include: Is perception a representational capacity, or does it involve a primitive non-representational relation (e.g., “acquaintance”) to mind-independent objects? Assuming perception is representational, how should we understand its content? Is that content conceptual or non-conceptual, and is it structured propositionally or non-propositionally? Moreover, those who grant that perception is representational often construe perceptual representations as having a complex referential-attributive structure: Perception picks out particular objects or events and attributes features to them. On this model, further questions arise concerning both the referential component and the attributive component. Regarding the referential component, it may be asked: How do perceptual representations secure reference to mind-independent particulars, and which mind-independent particulars do they function to pick out? Regarding the attributive component, it may be asked: Which properties are perceptually attributed to the objects we perceive? Is perception limited to the representation of “low-level” properties like color, motion, and texture, or does it sometimes attribute “high-level” properties like causal relations, animacy, or natural kinds? This conference will gather leading researchers in the philosophy of perception to discuss many of the foregoing questions. |
| First and Second Generation Italian Pragmatists | Michela Bella (Italy) |
| Partecipants | Maria Regina Brioschi, Simone Bernardi della Rosa, Rocco Monti |
| Abstract | Italy has had a unique relationship with classical American pragmatism since the late 19th century. In 1903, the Leonardo journal was established. Its editors and collaborators, including Giovanni Papini, Giuseppe Prezzolini, Giovanni Vailati, and Mario Calderoni, helped spread pragmatism throughout Europe. These philosophers not only interpreted the works of Charles Sanders Peirce and William James but also developed their own versions of pragmatism, referred to as “Italian pragmatism.” Their polyphony of voices led to the emergence of new interpreters and popularizers of the American philosophical tradition in Italy between the 1930s and 1980s. However, their contributions to pragmatist thought and Italian philosophy remain largely unexplored. This panel aims to show that there is still much to learn about the impact of Italian pragmatism’s first and second generations on the history of philosophy. |
| Gesture, Action, Language | Guido Baggio (Italy) |
| Partecipants | Roberta Dreon, Shaun Galalgher, Giovanni Maddalena, Barbara Formis |
| Abstract | Gesture, action, language are the three concepts that weave the reflections developed by the four speakers of this panel. In particular, Giovanni Maddalena presents a Pragmatist perspective of gesture as a tool of synthetic reasoning, one of the most striking outcomes of which is that also language can be read as a kind of gesture. Roberta Dreon’s talk supports the claim that in Pragmatist tradition we can find key insights into the continuity between experience and language and particularly crucial arguments regarding the role of language in the reshaping of the specifically human experience. Shaun Gallagher refers to some recent data on timing of subjects (IW)’s gesture to suggest that morphokinesis is coupled with semantics and pragmatics, and gesture timing (growth point) is tied verbal performance. Gesture can therefore be seen as reflecting what Merleau-Ponty calls the intertwinement of body and language. Barbara Formis’ talk focuses on the work she and choreographer Mélanie Perrier are doing in the Gesture Laboratory (Laboratoire du geste) in order to grasp the aesthetic qualities and philosophical theory of ordinary gestures. |
| AI for Philosophers: Tool or Agent? | Riccardo Pozzo – Josef van Genabith (Italy – Germany) |
| Partecipants | Fabio Ciotti, Arianna Betti, Timon Gatta, Axel Pichler, Anna Strasser, Bettina de Keijzer/Christoph Schirmer, Jeffrey Sachs, Fiorella Battaglia, David Chalmers, Maurizio Ferraris, Ludek Sekyra |
| Abstract | Modern AI, artificial neural networks (ANNs) and large language models (LLMs) are impacting all walks of our lives. Our Invited Session targets philosophers who may not have a background in Digital Humanities or modern AI but who are thinking about how AI may be used in and perhaps revolutionize their research? We approach the question in three stages in terms of two-hour sessions each: (I) we provide an accessible introduction to the foundations of ANNs and LLMs driving the current revolution in AI, (II) we present an overview and examples of current work using AI in philosophy research in five focused presentations by international experts including uses of AI as a tool and as an agent and finally (III) we open up the topic in a panel discussion with six international experts covering broader issues including ethics, AI as a subject of study in philosophy, historical perspectives such as distant reading, earlier seminal work on rule- and logic-based as well as statistical and previous machine learning-based research in philosophy, funding opportunities as well as the role of human-machine collaboration in philosophy research. We plan to make all three sessions highly interactive inviting questions from the audience and participation in the discussion. |
| L’essere umano come orizzonte e confine, secondo Tommaso D’Aquino | Riccardo Pozzo (Italy) |
| Partecipants | Lluis Clavell, Alex Yeung, Cristina Reyes, Rafael Pasqual, Lorella Congiunti, |
| Abstract | I partecipanti di questa tavola rotonda (tutti docenti delle Università Pontificie romane e membri della Società Internazionale Tommaso d’Aquino SITA) intendono confrontarsi sugli aspetti antropologici del pensiero di Tommaso d’Aquino, a partire dalla sua definizione dell’uomo come “horizon et confinium corporeum et incorporeum” (Contra Gent. l. 2, c. 68, n. 6) per riflettere sull’apertura dell’essere umano, attraverso le sue facoltà superiori, a tutto il reale, fra immanenza e trascendenza, fino a delinarea una vera metafisica della persona umana. |
| Present and Future of Ibero-American Philosophy (Ibero-American Network of Philosophy: RIF) | Concha Roldán (Spain) |
| Partecipants | Carolina Avalós, Álvaro Carvajal, Susana de Castro, Leonardo Díaz, Pedro Karczmarczyk, Jorge Linares, Maximiliano Prada, Antolín Sánchez Cuervo, Esther Juliana Vargas |
| Abstract | Our intention is to present the Ibero-American Philosophy Network (RIF), in line with relevant aspects of philosophy in different Latin American countries. We will begin with the account of the constitution of the RIF in Salvador de Bahía in April 2017 with a "Declaration in defence of Philosophy in Ibero-America", then with "Philosophy and Cosmology" we will explore the links between Brazilian ancestral knowledge and Ibero-American philosophy. Then we will look at the development of "Philosophy in Central America" - institutions, teaching and philosophical trends. The paper "Current Keys to Ibero-American Philosophy" asks about the singularity and critical possibilities of 20th century Ibero-American philosophy in the context of contemporary rationality and the particularist universalism of current technological globalisation. The paper "Philosophy and social demand" will argue in favour of a conception of philosophy in which philosophy claims a relative independence in relation to social practices. Special attention will be paid to the issue of the teaching of philosophy, both in "Compulsory public education in Ibero-America" and in "States of the teaching of philosophy in Ibero-America in higher education", pointing out some national particularities in countries such as Mexico, Uruguay, Argentina, Spain, Peru, Colombia and Brazil. We will close with the question "What does it mean to decolonise Ibero-American philosophy?" |
| The Philosophy of Ernest Sosa | Juan Comesaña (USA) |
| Partecipants | Elizabeth Fricker, John Bengson, Ralph Wedgwood, Antonia Peacocke, Matthew Chrisman, Graham Hunbs, Ernest Sosa |
| Abstract | This workshop focuses on the recent work of Ernest Sosa, particularly his latest book, Epistemic Explanations. |
| Functionaries of Humanity: The Husserl Archives and the UNESCO | Emanuele Caminada (Italy/Germany) |
| Partecipants | Julia Jansen, Emanuela Carta, Sergio Perez Gatiga, |
| Abstract | In 1949, a few years after the signing of UNESCO's constitution, Flemish philosopher H. L. Van Breda submitted an application dossier to UNESCO. The dossier included letters from 40 leading philosophers and intellectuals of the time (a.o. Banfi, Merleau-Ponty, Levinas, Ricoeur, Schutz, Marcel, Plessner, Patocka). It presented Husserl’s philosophical legacy as a contribution to the renewal of a universal world culture after the atrocities of WWII. The success of the dossier permitted the posthumous publication of Husserl's major work, 'The Crisis,' and positioned phenomenology at the center of post-war intellectual life. Our panel will present Van Breda’s dossier for the first time and contextualize it within the debate that led to the founding of UNESCO and the International Council for Philosophy and Human Sciences. In doing so, we want to show why Husserl's concept of philosophers as “functionaries of humanity” fits into the early years of UNESCO’s program, which was guided by the regulative idea of a “civilization of the universal” as the condition of possibility for a future global governance based on rational principles. |
| A fresh look at Frege and indexicals | Gerhard Seel (Swiss) |
| Partecipants | Susanne Bobzien, Peter Simons, Peter Pagin |
| Abstract | In this Invited Session, four experts on Frege's philosophy and philosophy of langage will offer new thoughts on Frege's theory of indexicals and its relation to more recent philosophy of language. Topics discussed include the accessibility of indexical thoughts, the role circumstances play in indexical thoughts and their expression, a critique of recent interpretations of Frege's Lauben passage and a suggestion of how to understand the difference in sense in the two 'Ts that Frege distinguishes in his late work. |
| Inter-action and Inter-Subjectivity | Anita Avramides – James Laing (United Kingdom) |
| Partecipants | Joseph Schear, Chiara Brozzo, Jules Salomone-Sehr, Jesus Navarro, Monima Chadha, Vasudevi Reddy |
| Abstract | That we are social animals is a commonplace. But how should we understand the way we interact with others and can this understanding help us to explain our subjective understanding of others? In recent years philosophers from both the analytic and the phenomenological traditions have come together to discuss issues related to inter-action and inter-subjectivity. Their work also dovetails with some interesting work in psychology. In this session we aim to explore questions that arise in connection with these topics |
| Philosophical Perspectivism. Current status and applications | Margarita Vazquez (Spain) |
| Partecipants | Steven Hales, Antti Hautamaki, Ana de Miguel, Manuel Liz, Diana Inés Pérez, David Pérez Chico, Andrés Jaume, Jose Luis Zalabardo, Margarita Vazquez |
| Abstract | The concepts of perspective and point of view are present in many philosophical fields. In recent times, a great variety of perspectivist positions have emerged. However, they usually have only a local and applied character. Is it possible to develop today a perspectivist conception with a more general and speculative orientation? Do only local and applied perspectivist positions make sense? A second issue concerns the identity of perspectivism. Is perspectivism simply a moderate variety of realism? Is it a moderate variety of skepticism and relativism? There is also a third family of questions: Does pluralism necessarily lead to relativism, or even to skepticism? Is pluralism compatible with the non-egalitarian idea that there are better and worse perspectives? The aim of the Round Table is to discuss those big questions. But other more particular issues could also be taken into account. |
| Modern Physics and Japanese Philosophy. A Natural Encounter? | Rossella Lupacchini (Italy) |
| Partecipants | Yasuo Deguchi, Enrico Fongaro, Rocco Gaudenzi, Rossella Lupacchini, Daisuke Konagaya, Raquel Bouso |
| Abstract | The panel will discuss the common ground that fueled the dialogue between modern physics and Japanese philosophy, exploring how philosophers of the Kyoto School, such as Nishida Kitaro and Tanabe Hajime, reacted to foundational questions raised by relativity and quantum theory. The focus will be on Nishida's engagement with scientific thought and the examination of whether concepts from East Asian philosophy find resonance in modern physics, and vice versa, whether ideas from physics, such as complementarity or entanglement, find counterparts in philosophical concepts from the Kyoto School. The main goal is to gain fresh insights and sharpen understanding of crucial theoretical issues at the intersection of modern physics and Japanese philosophy from a cross-cultural perspective. |
| Perspectives on Perspectives in Literature | Elizabeth Camp (USA) |
| Partecipants | Antony Aumann, Julianne Chung, John Dyck, Eileen John, Paula Keller, Hannah Kim, Irene Sanchez Lopez, Ethan Nowak, Kenneth Walden |
| Abstract | Authors of literature often play with perspective, and readers often approach fiction and poetry in order to explore perspectives that differ from their own. What are these perspectives? What linguistic means do authors use to express them? What difference do they make to a literary work's meaning? Its aesthetic value? What are the benefits and limits of perspective shifting in literature? Presenters draw on a range of philosophical traditions and methodologies, ranging from analytic philosophy to literary theory and analysis. |
| Sound and Music Between Ancient Cosmogonies and Contemporary Ecosystems | Clementina Cantillo (Italy) |
| Partecipants | Luca Aversano, Giorgio Biancorosso, Rujing Huang, Aurelio Canonici, Ilaria De Sanctis, |
| Abstract | This round table revives the idea of sound as an interface between nature, homo sapiens and the lived environment in order to redress the imbalance between anthropocentric and biophonic views of the sonic experience. Defining the terms of a non-hierarchical perspective is timely given the challenges posed by digital technology and now also AI to the traditional understanding of nature and the human. Given an expanded definition of environment, one that encompasses socio-political and cultural-artistic as well as natural scenarios, the round table aims to revisit ancient cosmogonies of sound in a contemporary key by enabling a dialogue between members of different disciplines, ranging from aesthetics and ecology to musicology and composition. |
| Foundations of Logic and Applications to Mathematics | Michael Glanzberg (USA) |
| Partecipants | Roy Cook, Salvatore Florio, Kentaro Fujimoto, Juliette Kennedy, Oystein Linnebo, Carlo Nicolai, Hitoshi Omori, Romina Padro, Ofra Rechter, Lorenzo Rossi, Gil Sagi, Eric Snyder, Yanjing Wang |
| Abstract | The theme for this workshop will be foundations of logic and relations to foundations of mathematics. This is intended to be understood very broadly, so contributions on virtually anything connected are welcome. Among topics to be covered are the nature of logical constants, the nature of higher-order logic and its applications to foundations of mathematics, mathematics in non-classical logic, foundations of intuitionism and its applications, theories of truth and properties and their applications, and others. |
| Aesthetics of Nature | Noriko Hashimoto (Japan) |
| Partecipants | Hidemichi Tanaka, Takao Aoki, Noriko Hashimoto |
| Abstract | This invited session is a collaborative panel between the Tomonobu Imamichi Institute for Eco-Ethics, Tokio, and the Chairs of Environmental Philosophy and Sustainability. The topic of the roundtable will be the Aesthetics of Nature, seen in particular from the Japaneese and Asian Perspective. The panel will present different views on the aesthetics of nature. The focus will be on the different views of nature through history with special attention to the intersection between religion and art in Japan, China and Asia. |
| Workshop on Higher-Order Metaphysics | Jeremy Goodman (USA) |
| Partecipants | Andrew Bacon, Michael Caie, Catharine Diehl, Andreas Ditter, Cian Dorr, Peter Fritz, Jeremy Goodman, Zachary Goodsell, Nicholas Jones, Ethan Russo, Christopher Sun, Erica Shumener, Lukas Skiba, Agustin Rayo, Alexander Roberts, Lisa Vogt, Jin Zeng. |
| Abstract | Recent years have seen a renaissance in higher-order metaphysics: research using tools from higher-order logic to articulate and explore metaphysical questions. Such investigations were of central concern to Frege and Russell, and current work in higher-order metaphysics is in many ways a continuation of some of the founding, and foundational, projects in analytic philosophy. Some of it speaks to traditional metaphysical questions about the structure and granularity of propositions, properties, relations, about the nature of necessity and about modal ontology, about the contents of and logical principles governing knowledge and belief, and about the extent to which reality itself has logical structure. It also explores new questions whose articulation depends on working in higher-order formal languages, including methodological questions about the interpretation and status of such formal systems. This workshop will bring together an international group of leading metaphysicians and philosophical logicians to present their research on these and related topics. |
| Blumenbach’s Racial Classification: Deconstructing the Timeless Call for Human Differentiation | Sherrilyn Roush (USA) |
| Partecipants | Victoria Shmidt, Christopher Donohue, Katrin Kremmler |
| Abstract | This interdisciplinary panel revises the longue durée of reproduction, interpretation, and appropriation of Blumenbach’s racial classification as a network epistemology, connecting different cohorts of racially minded thinkers since the early 19th century until today around the globe. We focus on adapting various philosophical frameworks as a main tool for improving our understanding of the malleability and pervasiveness of racial classification methodologies and vocabularies to adapt to the biomedical and natural sciences, as well as the humanities. Emphasizing the interdisciplinarity and intersectionality of racial science, which address ideologies of gender, disability, place, and power, the contributors discuss the composition of the driving forces that enabled racial classification to be embedded in various areas of knowledge production about humanity, from the medical literature and contemporary population and human genetics to performances in art and literature. |
| History, Philosophy, and Sociology of ‘Race’ as a Scientific Concept: International Perspectives | Sherrilyn Roush (USA) |
| Partecipants | Gökhan Akbay, Ksenia Brailovskaya, Phila Msimang, Sherrilyn Roush, Sahotra Sarkar, Victoria Shmidt |
| Abstract | Recent scrutiny of ‘race’ as a scientific concept has mostly historicized it as a concept first introduced to classify humans during the European Enlightenment. After the rise of evolution in the 19th century and genetics in the 20th century, ‘race’ increasingly acquired sociological status as a reified biological concept. Human racial classification has led to assumptions of differential, hierarchical value particularly during the reign of Western colonialism and imperialism. Genocide, slavery, and other atrocities committed in the name of ‘race’ led to critical reexamination that rejected 'race' as a scientific concept post-World War II. However, this consensus has been challenged in the 21st century in discourses surrounding the new genomics. Given these challenges, reflecting on the history, philosophy, sociology, and ethical-political meanings of ‘race’ has become a matter of public interest. This symposium consists of diverse critical reflections on ‘race’ within contemporary transnational discourse from different geopolitical realms and analytical levels. |
| Knowledge Diversity, Extractive Epistemology, and Philosophy of Science | Sherrilyn Roush (USA) |
| Partecipants | Rob Wilson, Daniel Hikuroa, Emily C. Parke, Lucia C. Neco, David Ludwig, Shelbi Nahwilet Meissner |
| Abstract | This symposium brings together collaborative networks that offer new perspectives on knowledge diversity and science. As a continuous conversation, our focus is on the underexplored role of the philosophy of science in contributing to discussions about epistemic diversity, extractivism, and decolonization. In this context, we carefully discuss the prospects and limitations of integrating knowledge systems. Our exploration delves into the relationships between Indigenous and local knowledge and scientific discourse, employing local case studies, such as those centered on Māori knowledge. By engaging in these debates, we navigate complex political, ontological, and social issues, aiming to foster constructive dialogue and advance the discipline toward diversity and collaboration. |
| The Vienna Circle at 100: The Legacy of Logical Empiricism | Sherrilyn Roush (USA) |
| Partecipants | Samet Bağҫe, Bohang Chen, Stella Fillmore-Patrick, Silke Koerber, Sahotra Sarkar, Ádám Tamas Tuboly, Thomas Uebel |
| Abstract | The year 2024 marks the centenary of the beginning of the biweekly Thursday meetings of the Vienna Circle which launched the philosophical program of logical positivism. Also known as logical empiricism, this movement revolutionized philosophy of science and its influence continues to be felt today. The centenary provides an occasion for reassessment of logical positivism not only as a philosophical movement but also as a modernist social and political movement committed to social justice and progress. Breaking with past work on the history of philosophy of science, this workshop will focus on the social determinants and political impact of logical positivism. Speakers will focus on: how the Vienna Circle became a focus of resistance to the rise of Nazism in Red Vienna in the 1920s; how the rise of Nazism led to members going into exile; how political persecution continued during the McCarthy Inquisition in the United State; and how these political currents systematically diluted the original agenda of the movement. Besides major figures such as Carnap and Neurath, this workshop will also focus on figures who were undeservedly ignored such as Philipp Frank, Susan Stebbing, and Edgar Zilsel. |
| Individuals, Knowledge, and Language: the Boundary Consciousness in Daoism | Limei Jiang (China) |
| Partecipants | Zhongjiang Wang, Feng Cao, Xia Chen, Sharon Mall, Giuseppe Ginepro, Weiwei Wang, Limei Jiang, Guanghua Lin, Chunyin Li, Xiao Du, Yurui Yao, Yuan Gao, Ke Chu, Jianzhi Pei, Qiuhong Li, Bosi Zheng |
| Abstract | This round table mainly focuses on three aspects: literature research, school dialogue, and comparison between East and the West. 1）Clarify the connotations of some representative Taoist concepts ("nature", "truth", "brightness", "qi", and "tai yi" etc.) through the study of passed down and excavated texts .2) Discuss the Boundary Consciousness in the dialogue between Daoism, Confucianism,Mohist School, School of Names, Legalism, and Buddhism in different periods. 3) Explore the language perspective of Daoism in the comparison between East and the West, and provide modern interpretations of the core concepts of Daoism. |
| Faith among Faiths Project: What do Other Religions want Christianity to learn from them? Part I: Dialogue with Judaism and Islam | Seung Chul Kim (Japan) |
| Partecipants | Achim Riggert, Anand Mishra, Roloff Carola, Cheng Davis, Ahrens Josh, Martin Rötting, Reinhold Bernhardt, Saida Mirsadri, Suwanna Satha-Anand, Enrico Fongaro, James Heisig, Seung Chul Kim |
| Abstract | Historically, it could not be denied that the Christian faith has played a leading role in the interreligious dialogue, which resulted in producing many creative results for the renewal of the Christian faith. However, whatever its motivation and contribution is, the Christian faith has always tried to locate itself at the center of the interreligious dialogue. Put differently, the Christian faith has always been subjective in controlling and managing the interfaith dialogue. Therefore, to make the interreligious dialogue step forward, the Christian faith should ask itself self-critically whether it forgot to ask how it has been understood in the eyes of other religions. This series of panels tries to find an “alternative” models for the interreligious dialogue. |
| Faith among Faiths Project: What do Other Religions want Christianity to learn from them? Part II: Dialogue with Buddhism and Hinduism | Seung Chul Kim (Japan) |
| Partecipants | Achim Riggert, Anand Mishra, Roloff Carola, Cheng Davis, Ahrens Josh, Martin Rötting, Reinhold Bernhardt, Saida Mirsadri, Suwanna Satha-Anand, Enrico Fongaro, James Heisig, Seung Chul Kim |
| Abstract | Historically, it could not be denied that the Christian faith has played a leading role in the interreligious dialogue, which resulted in producing many creative results for the renewal of the Christian faith. However, whatever its motivation and contribution is, the Christian faith has always tried to locate itself at the center of the interreligious dialogue. Put differently, the Christian faith has always been subjective in controlling and managing the interfaith dialogue. Therefore, to make the interreligious dialogue step forward, the Christian faith should ask itself self-critically whether it forgot to ask how it has been understood in the eyes of other religions. This series of panels tries to find an “alternative” models for the interreligious dialogue. |
| Faith among Faiths Project: What do Other Religions want Christianity to learn from them? Part III: Dialogue with Folk Religions and General Discussion | Seung Chul Kim (Japan) |
| Partecipants | Achim Riggert, Anand Mishra, Roloff Carola, Cheng Davis, Ahrens Josh, Martin Rötting, Reinhold Bernhardt, Saida Mirsadri, Suwanna Satha-Anand, Enrico Fongaro, James Heisig, Seung Chul Kim |
| Abstract | Historically, it could not be denied that the Christian faith has played a leading role in the interreligious dialogue, which resulted in producing many creative results for the renewal of the Christian faith. However, whatever its motivation and contribution is, the Christian faith has always tried to locate itself at the center of the interreligious dialogue. Put differently, the Christian faith has always been subjective in controlling and managing the interfaith dialogue. Therefore, to make the interreligious dialogue step forward, the Christian faith should ask itself self-critically whether it forgot to ask how it has been understood in the eyes of other religions. This series of panels tries to find an “alternative” models for the interreligious dialogue. |
| Understanding/Reason | David Sosa (USA) |
| Partecipants | John Bengson, Paul Boghossian, Keren Gorodeisky, Antti Kauppinnen, Christoph Kelp, Federica Malfatti, Antonia Peacocke, Christian Piller, David Sosa, Markos Valaris |
| Abstract | This invited session’s topics center on the phenomenon of understanding: What is it to understand? How is understanding a good thing, if it is? How does it relate to other cognitive achievements (e.g. to good judgment, or to good action)? One main focus will be on the relation between understanding and rationality: Is understanding an activity of, or a consequence of activity of, a capacity or faculty of Reason (perhaps with a capital “R”)? Can there be understanding without Reason, or vice versa? These questions may be interpreted in terms of whether understanding is normative and, if so, what that amounts to. |
| Women Philosophers from Non-Western Traditions: Eight Intriguing Thinkers | Mary Ellen Waithe (USA) |
| Partecipants | Tamara Albertini, Supakwadee Amatayakul, Therese Boos-Dykeman, Louise Müller, Anne A. Pang-White, Mary Ellen Waithe, Robin Wang, Sandra Wawyrtko |
| Abstract | The works of eight non-western women philosophers from antiquity through the 20th century will be presented in two invited sessions. Session 1: Chair: Mary Ellen Waithe Papers: “Khema of Great Wisdom, Buddhist philosopher from 6th century BCE, India,” (Supakwadee Amatayakul, Thailand/Italy); “Rabi’a al-Adawiya of Basra, 8th century Iraqi Sufi on Ineffability and Divine Love (Tamara Albertini, Switzerland/USA); “The Philosophy of Renxiaowen, Empress Xu of 14th- century China” (Ann A. Pang-White, Taiwan/USA) and “Oodgeroo of the Noonuccal’s Australian aboriginal philosophy” (Therese Boos Dykeman, USA). Session 2: Chair: Therese Boos Dykeman Papers: “Yeshe Tsogyal, 8th century ‘Mother of Tibetan Buddhism’” (Mary Ellen Waithe, USA), “Cao Wenjii, 11th century female Daoist Master” Robin Wang (China, USA), “Buddhism in the work of an 11th-century Japanese Woman Philosopher, Murasaki Shikibu,” Sandra Wawyrtko (USA), and “Yoruban Philosophy of Sophie Bósèdé Olayemi Olúwolé of 20th-century Nigeria” (Louise Muller, Netherlands). |
| Public Governance and Personal Cultivation During the Warring States Period | Tsang-long Liu (Taiwan, China) |
| Partecipants | Tsang-long Liu, Wei-Chieh Tseng, Yu-Zhong Li, Kai-Yuan Cheng, Yann-Ru Ho |
| Abstract | Compared to the knowledge orientation and scientific spirit of ancient Greek philosophy, early Chinese thinkers, particularly those of the Warring States period(475-221BC), exhibit two distinct characteristics. Firstly, many of them displayed a keen focus on issues of political governance. Secondly, they often placed a greater emphasis on personal cultivation over the pursuit of objective knowledge. However, there are still many aspects worthy of exploration, both in terms of the specific implications of these two characteristics and their relationship to each other. In this invited session, five papers will explore the perspectives of Shenzi, Xunzi, Zhuangzi, and Mozi, aiming to offer contemporary readers both inspiration and intellectual challenges. |
| Approaching Philosophy Across Boundaries: Constructive Engagement and Normative Bases | Bo Mou (USA) |
| Partecipants | Soraj Hongladarom, Jianhua Mei, Anthony Chimankpam Ojimba |
| Abstract | This roundtable examines some foundational theoretic and methodological issues involved in one representative strategic approach (sometimes labeled “constructive-engagement” approach) to philosophy across boundaries, which has been theoretically explored and carried out in the reflective practice (especially since the start of this century); among others, the discussion is on the issue of normative bases for cross-tradition engagement in philosophy in two related connections: <1> how it is possible for different philosophical traditions with distinct ultimate realities to have common normative bases for talking about the same things differently and having jointly concerned issues with distinct approaches and thus constructively engaging with (instead of passing by) and learn from (instead of dismissing) each other to make joint contributions to the development of philosophy; <2> how it is possible for plural methodologies in cross-tradition engagement to have unifying normative bases. |
| Author Meets Critics, The Life and Thought of H. Odera Oruka: Pursuing Justice in Africa (Bloomsbury, 2023) by Gail Presbey | Gail Presbey (USA) |
| Partecipants | Gail Presbey, Anke Graness, Benedetta Lanfranchi, Workineh Kelbessa |
| Abstract | This roundtable will be an “Author Meets Critics” opportunity, where panelists will have a chance to comment upon and evaluate the recent book, The Life and Thought of H. Odera Oruka: Pursuing Justice in Africa (Bloomsbury, 2023) by Gail Presbey. The book is an intellectual history of the well known Kenyan philosopher, H. Odera Oruka, beginning with his childhood in Kenya and then his university studies at Uppsala and Detroit with Ingemar Hedenius. The book chronicles how the field of philosophy is always undergoing change, and how Oruka was a key part of the movement to include African philosophy in universities in Africa through his sage philosophy project. It also highlights Oruka’s dedication to many applied ethics issues including the environment and global justice. Oruka was very active in FISP and always attended World Congress meetings. The panelists are each experts in African philosophy who have engaged in their own research and written works in the field. Anke Graness has written a book (as well as several articles) on Odera Oruka’s moral philosophy. Benedetta Lanfranchi has researched the traditional justice mechanisms of the Acholi people of Uganda. Workineh Kelbessa has researched environmental philosophy inspired by Odera Oruka’s sage philosophy methods. |
| ARISTOTLE. CONTEMPORARY PERSPECTIVES ON HIS THOUGHT. FIRST SESSION: ARISTOTLE AND THE SCIENCES: PHYSICS, BIOLOGY, PSYCHOLOGY. A CONTEMPORARY INTERDISCIPLINARY APPROACH | Demetra Sfendoni-Mentzou |
| Partecipants | Demetra Sfendoni-Mentzou, Dermot Moran, Dimitra Balla, Luca Maria Scarantino, Ennio de Bellis |
| Abstract | The Interdisciplinary Centre for Aristotle Studies, A.U.Th. (DI.K.A.M.), is holding three Sessions on “Aristotle. Contemporary Perspectives on his Thought.” The first Session will investigate in light of contemporary science fundamental ideas of Aristotle’s “physikē epistēmē (φυσική επιστήμη, science of nature), which has traditionally been considered as a failure, starting with the protagonists of Scientific Revolution. Demetra Sfendoni-Menzou will argue, contrary to the traditional view, that Aristotle’s image of nature is one of his most fruitful ideas, and that the insights gained from Aristotle’s work are becoming increasingly relevant to contemporary Science. This can be understood through an interdisciplinary approach, a view which is the core concept of the Interdisciplinary Centre for Aristotle Studies, of A.U.Th. (DIKAM). Dermot Moran will examine Aristotle’s studies of animals, focusing on two very different, highly complex, and intelligent animals—the octopus and the elephant. The aim is to illustrate how the Stageirite’s views countered much of the incorrect lore that subsequently came to dominate late classical, medieval and pre-nineteenth-century biology. Dimitra Balla will deal with Aristotle's ideas on the "nature of species," a concept which in the post-Darwinian era has become a key point of controversy in Philosophy of Biology. Ennio De Bellis will focus on the role of Aristotle’s inductive and deductive process in light of the epistemology of our days. Luca M. Scarantino will reflect on the need for a drastic cross-cultural turn to make sense of the cultural, social, and political complexity of our world. |
| ARISTOTLE. CONTEMPORARY PERSPECTIVES ON HIS THOUGHT. SECOND SESSION: ARISTOTLE'S INSIGHTS ON ETHICS, POLITICS, PAIDEIA AND THEIR RELEVANCE TODAY. | Demetra Sfendoni-Mentzou |
| Partecipants | Demetra Sfendoni-Mentzou, Stelios Virvidakis, Nikolaos Paraskevopoulos, Chelsea Harry, George Stremplis, Christos Pechlivanides, Elsa Nicolaidou |
| Abstract | The panel of the second Session reflects on the idea that our pursuit of Eudaemonia, the ultimate goal of Aristotle’s Ethics, is threatened today by all kinds of global challenges and develops a discussion on how we could find a way out of what is threatening our ε ὖ ζ ῆ νν. Demetra Sfendoni-Mentzou will briefly elaborate the interconnectedness between, ethics, politics and paideia in Aristotle’s insurmountable treatises: Nicomachean Ethics, Eudaemian Ethics and Politics; Stelios Virvidakis will analyze the idea of the synergy of Aristotle’s intellectual virtues and moral virtues, as they appeared in the time of the pandemic; Nikolaos Paraskevopoulos will deal with Aristotle’s conception of justice in the age of algorithms, by reflecting on the question, “How much algorithmic calculus helps today to solve problems and reach fairness?” by examining new horizons, emerging obstacles, and open paths to find answers and solutions; Chelsea Harry will discuss the context and meaning of euzen and eubio that Aristotle uses to describe non-human species’ wellbeing in his zoology, before suggesting its relevance for global issues in such cases, as sustainability, animal ethics, and anthropogenic climate change; George Stremplis will attempt to shed light on Aristotle's eco-ethical insights, providing a foundation for contemporary discussions on sustainable practices, ethical responsibilities, and the intrinsic value of Nature; Christos Pechlivanides will examine the nature and the acquisition of ἠθικαί ἀρεταί (ethical virtues) in relation to δύναμις and ἐ νέργεια; Elsa Nikolaidou will analyze the concept of “first entelechy” in Aristotle’s De anima, in light of contemporary developments in Biology regarding the definition of life and its implications in Bioethics. As an example she will take the case of microbes. |
| ARISTOTLE. CONTEMPORARY PERSPECTIVES ON HIS THOUGHT. THIRD SESSION: THE LEGACY OF ARISTOTLE AND CONFUCIUS FOR FACING GLOBAL CHALLENGES IN OUR ERA. | Demetra Sfendoni-Mentzou |
| Partecipants | Demetra Sfendoni-Mentzou, Wen Haiming, Bryan Van Norden, Wei Yanhua, Riccardo Pozzo, Jeffrey Sachs |
| Abstract | The Third Session is co-organized by the China Confucius Foundation and the Interdisciplinary Centre for Aristotle Studies, A.U.Th; its central idea is a corollary of the “ Aristotle- Confucius Symposium on Ancient Wisdom for Modern Challenges” (2022 &2023 in Greece and 2024 in China). As we are facing great challenges on a global scale, we need to give proper value and recognition to our philosophical heritage and make an appeal to the insights of the two most emblematic figures in the intellectual history of mankind, representatives of two of the oldest civilizations in the world, Confucius and Aristotle. In this context, Demetra Sfendoni-Mentzou will present a brief evaluation of Aristotle’s timeless contribution to philosophical and scientific thought; Haiming Wen will analyze Confucian intentionality based on Confucian benefiting people, which is inherently “a rigorously logical worldview” and a “scientific methodology;” Bryan Van Norden will discuss a framework for understanding and comparing virtue ethics that emphasizes four questions: “what is it to live well? what character traits are needed to live well? how does one cultivate those character traits? what is human nature like such that the answers to the preceding questions are plausible?”; Wei Yanhua will develop Confucius’ view of life and death, Riccardo Pozzo will elaborate on the idea that Aristotle and Confucius provide us with thoughts that are unrivaled to tackle the challenge of achieving the Sustainable Development Goals, as expressed in the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development; Jeffrey Sachs will elaborate the connections of our ancient wisdom traditions with our pressing 21st-century challenges. |
| Philosophy of Music | Dmitri Tymoczko (USA) |
| Partecipants | Guy Dammann, John Dyck, Jenny Judge, Christopher Peacocke, Ian Quinn, Dmitri Tymoczko, Philippe Schenkler |
| Abstract | Music and philosophy have long been in conversation, yet often seem to talk past one another. Our workshop brings together leading thinkers in linguistics, music, and philosophy to consider issues such as the nature of musical expression, musical ontology, the role of criticism, and the nature of musical symmety. We end with a one-hour roundtable in which participants will comment on issues raised in the preceding talks. |
| Workshop in Philosophy of Language | Una Stojnić (Serbia) |
| Partecipants | Elisabeth Camp, Fabrizio Cariani, Bianca Cepollaro, Sam Cumming, Manuel García-Carpintero, Kathrin Glüer, John Hawthorne, Cameron Domenico Kirk-Giannini, Harvey Lederman, Karen Lewis, Teresa Marques, Peter Pagin, Paolo Santorio, Julia Zakkou, Una Stojnić |
| Abstract | Workshop in Philosophy of Language focuses on the current rich body of work in the intersection of philosophy of language, linguistics, and cognitive science, with a special focus on its significance for the foundational issues in philosophy of language and the theory of meaning. The workshop brings together some of the leading researchers in the field. |
| L’inattualità profetica della fantasia e dell’immaginazione umana | Ivano Sassanelli (Italy) |
| Partecipants | Oronzo Cilli, Andrea Monda, Massimi Losito |
| Abstract | La complessità del mondo contemporaneo chiede di essere abitata in un modo capace di cogliere le sfide del nostro tempo percorrendo vie inedite: una di queste è certamente la letteratura fantastica. Essa possiede un carattere di inattualità che, lungi dall’alienare il soggetto dal mondo in cui vive, lo restituisce al senso profondo dell’esistenza. Infatti, grazie alla fantasia, l’essere umano è capace di creare bellezza, di riscoprire verità dimenticate e di mostrare la bontà del reale che si gli squaderna dinanzi agli occhi. Anfitrione di questo ambito di conoscenza è J.R.R. Tolkien che, a giusta ragione, è stato definito Il signore della fantasia. Attraverso Lo Hobbit e Il Signore degli Anelli egli ha mostrato quanto le grandi imprese epiche possano unirsi alla semplicità del quotidiano. Per questo sarà necessario esplorare la sua vita e le sue opere, cercando di comprendere quale profezia inattuale esse comunicano alla società contemporanea. Inoltre, si mostrerà lo sguardo anticipatore che la fantasia e l’immaginazione umana possono avere circa alcune tematiche bioetiche di grande rilevanza per il mondo d’oggi. |
| Avenirs de la Phenomenologie | Joseph Cohen (Ireland) |
| Partecipants | Andrea Bellantone, Gérard Bensussan |
| Abstract | Notre dessein n’est point de se réclamer d’une tradition aussi importante soit elle, ni même d’auteurs et de penseurs, philosophes et chercheurs qui l’auront constituée, mais de penser, à partir du croisement entre historialité et religiosité, des possibilités novatrices au nom des avenirs de la phénoménologie. Quelles orientations peuvent encore indiquer des avenirs pour la phénoménologie ? D’où la phénoménologie peut-elle puiser des ressources créatrices et vers quels caps peut-elle proposer des directions nouvelles ? En quoi et comment, à partir de quels appels et en fonction de quelles Lois, la phénoménologie peut-elle redessiner ses avenirs ? Notre questionnement se veut ainsi multiple et diversifié, ouvert à la fois à une certaine relecture de notre tradition philosophique ainsi qu’à l’impulsion qui, selon nous, y œuvre toujours, celle de la transformer et de la métamorphoser, voire de la suspendre et de l’interrompre en l’engageant au-delà d’elle-même dans l’invention de performatifs hétérogènes et irréductibles à ce qu’elle aura pu prévoir ou imaginer. Qu’en est-il des avenirs – si avenir il y a – de la phénoménologie ? Marqueront-ils, et comment, une certaine reconduction, voire une re-constitution de la phénoménologie ou bien seront-ils entièrement imprévisibles, inconstituables et impensables ? Et si oui, depuis quel lieu pouvons-nous penser l’imprévisible et l’impensable inconstituables? |
| Rethinking the Enigma of Evil in History | Joseph Cohen (Ireland) |
| Partecipants | Nicholas de Warren, James Dodd, David Carr |
| Abstract | According to which law and from which horizons are the multiple and diverse and yet each time unique and irrepleacable occurrences of evil in human history experienced? According to which law and from which horizons are evils in history perpetrated and endured by our humanity and furthermore in view of which intent are these remembered, witnessed, attested in our lived-present and for our future? From these preliminary questions, this session will seek to deploy phenomenologically the contexts from which the question of evils in history has been posed in our philosophical tradition as well as in which manner it requires to be posed anew, rethought and reformulated in our philosophical contemporaneity. Indeed, if the enigma of evil cannot be reduced to a simple absence of what “ought to be” or a “privatio bonni”, nor thinkable as a negative moment or a dialectically necessary crisis in the essential becoming of “Reason in History”, according to which logos are we phrase its occurrences in our history? |
| Another Beginning? | Joseph Cohen (Ireland) |
| Partecipants | Andrew Benjamin, Ilit Ferber, |
| Abstract | From which pulsion or impulsion, passion or emotion does the immemorial idea of engaging another beginning for thinking emanate? According to which Law have we imagined such other beginnings in our philosophical tradition and in which manner have we either justified or squandered such alterations, transformations, revolutions? These preliminary questions seek to open towards an interrogation on our relation to history, its meaning, its inheritance in our philosophical contemporaneity and simultaneously on the necessary conditions for overcoming and the possibilities of surpassing this relation, towards which heading, if such a heading can be determined. However, our task is also, and perhaps more profoundly, to develop the premises of a renewed manner of thinking again, of re-thinking otherwise, this profound historical and philosophical desire, that of beginning anew in philosophy. |
| Revealing Technology | Joseph Cohen (Ireland) |
| Partecipants | Jean Luc Marion, Maurizio Ferraris |
| Abstract | Heidegger significantly marked, in The Question Concerning Technology (1954), how and why technology is also a revelatory mode of the truth of Being. Taking our lead from this hypothesis on the essence of technology, we will carry through a philosophical dialogue as to what is meant in and through this “revelatory mode” at work in and through the expansion of technology. Our task will thus be to question towards which history is technology projecting our thinking and action? That is, towards which future is the increasingly accelerating development of technology revealing for us today? And also, which past is our technological becoming revealing and archiving for our humanity? Certainly, our interrogation will confront the daunting question of contemporary nihilism, but we shall also seek to rethink, through the relation between revelation and technology, the dynamic between faith and knowledge and the novel possibilities or the irredeemable impasses of the political in our contemporaneity. |
| The Principle of Reflection in Logic and the Issue of a Logic of Women | Alberto Peruzzi (Italy) |
| Partecipants | Giovanni Sambin, Silvia Pittarello |
| Abstract | The search for the dynamics underlying logic aims at explaining it as a cultural product rather than a priori. The reflection principle shows that inference rules of all logical constants, in any logic, arise from the dynamics between language and metalanguage. This offers the ideal framework to test the robustness of Kosta Dosen's principle, that a logic is characterized merely by its structural rules, through a thought experiment: what might be a logic of women? Based on studies of the female brain, we focus on the ingredients that characterize women's reasoning and investigate which structural rules might best describe them. |
| The philosophical relevance of a novel paradigm shift in classical field theories | Alberto Peruzzi (Italy) |
| Partecipants | Paolo Maria Mariano, Marcelo Epstein |
| Abstract | The unifying program concerning representations of the thermomechanics of complex bodies, those with active microstructure, has induced a paradigm shifts in the traditional format of Continuum Thermomechanics, the one sculptured by Truesdellian school. In question is the notion of observer, observable entities, and the meaning of invariance requirements with respect to the way different observers construct a representation of phenomena. A key question concern the meaning of the new discovered role of a covariance requirement for the second law of thermodynamics, which offers a unifying perspective and display a universal character whose philosophical meaning requires to be discussed. |
| The Soul, the souls: Psychology, Ethics, and Politics in Plato and the Platonic Tradition | Flavia Palmieri (Italy) |
| Partecipants | Christoph Helmig, Filip Karfík, Flavia Palmieri, Franco Trabattoni, Francesco Verde |
| Abstract | Throughout the history of philosophy, the term 'soul' has emerged as one of the most recurrent and widely discussed concepts. The notion is already present in the Homeric poems and the Orphic-Pythagorean movements, but it acquires particular significance with Socrates, who makes it a focal point of his philosophical mission, considering it fundamental to ethics even in the absence of a precise definition of its nature. In particular, it is within the philosophical framework elaborated by Plato that the soul is endowed with a definitive ontological structure and assigned a designated role within the cosmos, especially with the introduction of the World Soul. This panel aims to elucidate the main conceptual nodes that have shaped the various conceptions of the soul throughout the history of Platonism and beyond, whether through divergence or continuity. Accordingly, the panel will especially investigate the ethical and political implications and repercussions that the different conceptions of 'soul' have brought about. |
| Workshop on Philosophical Heritage of the Turkic peoples | Niginakhon Shermuhkhamedova (Uzbekistan) |
| Partecipants | Shermukhamedova Niginakhon, Seytakhmedova Natalia, Nazariev Ramazon, Ayazhan Zagikyzy, Bokoshov Jamgyr, Nishanova Nodirakhon, Rakhid Ulusel, Muhammadieva Oynisa, Kodirov Javlonbek, Byulegenova Bibikhon, Namazova Yulduz, Rakhimov Mukhsin, Babaeva Asal, Barlibaeva Gauhar, Nuriddinov Erkin, Kochetova Zina, Abdullaeva Nasiba, Khidirov Mustafo, Shomurodov Bokhodir, Adil Asadov, Korganova Saipjamal, Nazarov Khondamir, Khudoyberganov Ravshonbek, Ruzmatova Gulnoz, Karabaev Usman, Sobirova Markhabo, Sherova Dilorom, Ibaydullaev Temur |
| Abstract | The relevance of this table is determined by the need to unite scientists and philosophers to implement the main goals and objectives of the General Assembly of the Union of Turkic Universities, which is the first inter-university association of universities of the Turkic states, since the main function of the General Assembly of the Union of Turkic Universities (TURKUNIB) is to improve the quality of the scientific and educational space of the Turkic world and preparation of integral scientific and educational complexes on the history of the Turkic people to form in the minds of students a sense of pride in the historical past and their worldview is modernized. This round table will be the logical beginning of the unification of Turkic philosophers within the framework of which the primary integrated space of the Turkic world will be discussed, expressing in oral folk art and differentiation in the modern world in which nationally oriented ideology is clearly expressed. The round table is attended by leading experts of the Turkic world who will actively take part in the logical, epistemological and moral aspects of the philosophy of the Turkic peoples. |
| Cassirer’s Conception of Man and Symbol | Yen-Yi LEE (Taiwan, China) |
| Partecipants | SUN Yunping, Ya-Hsien HUANG, Tzu-ying SU, Yen-Yi LEE |
| Abstract | We know that Cassirer defines man as “animal symbolicum”, man is the being that may create, use, and know the symbols which are foreign to the resting animals. The symbolization is an exclusively anthropological phenomenon. In fact, Cassirer contends that man can know nothing other than such man-made things, transforming Kant’s cognitive categories in the transcendental sense into his own idea of symbol. What then is man, since symbolization is man’s unique phenomenon? In contrast to the other animals that are bound upon the immediate sensory world, man can be detached from it. Symbolic system serves as the buffer zone to help man to delay in response to any stimuli. With the help of symbols, man finds a newly symbolized world as a cultural one. Culture as a symbolized system is to be understood in the collective sense. Therefore, man is always a social being. |
| Berggruen Prize Essay Competition: Fostering East-West Philosophical Dialogues on Contemporary and Future Challenges | Robin WANG (Usa) |
| Partecipants | Dawn Nakagawa, Jenny Bourne, Bing Song, Lorenzo Marsili, Luca Maria Scarantino, Xiangchen Sun, Natalie Nenadic, Robin Wang |
| Abstract | Past thinkers questioned governing understandings of contemporary life. They identified a crisis and charted new concepts to help us see and navigate it. Such questioning comes from life experience, knowledge across disciplines, geographies, traditions, and cultures, and deep knowledge of philosophy’s past. Our panel centers on the essay genre, made famous by Montaigne, to revive it as a means of identifying contemporary challenges through original concepts that are also significant for the future. We compare the essay’s nature, argument structure, and achievements in Eastern and Western traditions, including related forms in Daoism, as experience-based, experimental exercises in addressing difficult questions, which also convey philosophy’s unfinished nature. This genre inspired the Academy of Dijon’s essay contest, launching Rousseau’s Discourses. Emerson developed it as free variations on a theme. And it characterizes Arendt’s oeuvre, developed from studying Montaigne and Emerson. |
| Philosophies of Labour III - Work and Democracy | Giovanni Mari - Giorgio Fazio (Italy) |
| Partecipants | Giorgio Fazio, Mattia Gambilonghi, Nicola Marcucci, Silvia Mocellin, Leonard Mazzone, Laura Pennacchi, Ingrid Salvatore |
| Abstract | In recent years in the international philosophical-political debate many theorists argued that there is an inseparable link between the demanding normative principles of a deliberative democracy and a just and transparent organization of the social division of labour. Many political philosophers theorize the necessity of a democratization of the social division of labour, against the backdrop of diagnoses that highlight the link between the crisis of representative democracies, authoritarian regressions, and the neo-liberal transformations that have affected the world of work in recent decades. But what does it mean democratizing labour? To what extent is it possible to make the principles of democracy penetrate the economic sphere of the capitalist market? And can work still constitute a factor of social integration or are we inexorably heading towards a jobless society? |
| Paul Feyerabend’s Philosophy of Science 100th | Babette Babich (Usa) |
| Partecipants | Babette Babich, Paul Hoyningen-Huen, Eric Oberheim, Matteo Collodel, Steve Fuller, Massimo Pigliucci, Mike Stuart, Jamie Shaw |
| Abstract | Celebrating the 100th anniversary of Paul Feyerabend (1924-1994), the Vienna-born physicist and philosopher of science, speakers on this panel will address his radical philosophy of science in Against Method and Science in a Free Society, including his posthumous reflections in The Conquest of Abundance and the intersection of aesthetics and science. |
| Philosophical Anthropology in the Age of Science and Technology: Philosophical Reflections on the Development of Science and Technology on the Image of Humanity | Yen-Yi Lee (Taiwan, China) |
| Partecipants | Ya-Hsien Huang, Tzu-ying Su,Yen-Yi Lee |
| Abstract | This panel aims to rethink the relationship between human beings and technology from the perspective of Chinese and Western philosophies. Technology is a product of human beings. In a certain sense, it can be regarded as symbols used by human beings in a broad sense, and it is also a tool that human beings have to learn in order to understand the world. In this sense, technology as a creation of civilisation is an extension of the human body. It is not necessarily in opposition to human beings or human nature, but rather it may form a whole with human beings and their bodies. By examining the relationship between technology and human beings, we try to think about how "man-made" technology shapes the image of human beings and its limitations. |
| Verso la creazione di una ‘rete’ di studiosi di didattica della filosofia | Annalisa Caputo – Francesca Gambetti (Italy) |
| Partecipants | Anna Bianchi, Annalisa Caputo, Gabriella De Mita, Francesca Gambetti, Luca Illetterati, Alessandra Modugno, Ariele Niccoli, Benedetta Saponaro, Bianca Maria Ventura, Maurizio Villani, Stefania Zanardi |
| Abstract | This panel has two sessions. The first session, introduced by Francesca Gambetti and coordinated by Anna Bianchi, aims to overview the teaching of philosophy in Italy, reflecting on the richness of its tradition and recent experiences and experimentations. The second session, introduced by Luca Illetterati and moderated by Alessandra Modugno, aims to initiate the creation of a network between those who teach philosophy in schools and those who teach it in universities, promoting research and training on disciplinary didactics. Closing summary by Annalisa Caputo. |
| Emergent properties beyond reductionism. Towards a new metaphysics for mind, reality and scientific phenomena | Andrea Velardi (Italy) |
| Partecipants | Timothy O’Connor, Carl Gillett, Joel Walmsley, Margarida Hermida, Olivier Sartenaer, Erica Onnis, Michele Paolini Paoletti, Andrea Velardi |
| Abstract | The aim of session is to address the debate about the re-emergence of the emergentism, a new antireductionist perspective about mind, human being and scientific phenomena that considers reality as an integrated complexity with different higher and lower ontological and epistemological levels and properties. It emphasizes the double dimension of autonomy and dependence of entities and goings-ons regarding lower levels of causation and the evidence that every emergent phenomena, even a strong one, is not utterly autonomous, but saves at the same time a reducible and conversely an irreducible rest. The autonomy is not a matter of a vertical increasing complexity, since even in the physical and chemical domain we can see emergent properties of phenomena. Therefore Emergentism tries to overcome dychotomy between reductionism and dualism to generate a more integrated account of a complex and multilayered reality. Participants will address theoretical issues like: characterization of weak and strong emergence; causal efficacy, novel causal patterns of emergentist phenomena and downward causation; fields of application. They will focus the different accounts of emergentism available in the recent debate and the possibility to provide a pluralistic and liberal account of emergentism attempting to expand the range of strong emergentism. |
| Approaching philosophy across boundaries: constructive engagement and normative bases | Bo Mou (Usa) |
| Partecipants | Soraj Hongladarom, Jianhua Mei, Anthony Chimankpam Ojimba |
| Abstract | This roundtable examines some foundational theoretic and methodological issues involved in one representative strategic approach (sometimes labeled “constructive-engagement” approach) to "philosophy across boundaries", which has been theoretically explored and carried out in the reflective practice (especially since the start of this century); among others, the discussion is on the issue of normative bases for cross-tradition engagement in philosophy in two related connections: <1> how it is possible for different philosophical traditions with distinct ultimate realities to have common normative bases for talking about the same things differently and having jointly concerned issues with distinct approaches and thus constructively engaging with (instead of passing by) and learn from (instead of dismissing) each other to make joint contributions to the development of philosophy; <2> how it is possible for plural methodologies in cross tradition engagement to have unifying normative bases. |
| Abduction in Philosophy of Mind | Maria Sekatskaya (Germany) |
| Partecipants | Karim Baraghith, Christian Feldbacher-Escamilla, Jan Michel, Sebastian Scholz, Corina Strößner |
| Abstract | This panel navigates the intersection of epistemology, metaphysics of the mind, and the role of normative considerations in reasoning, alongside the examination of subjective experiences and the concept of free action. Our exploration includes discussions on the cultural evolution of cognitive mechanisms, the legitimacy of abduction as the most rational (or optimal) explanation in behavioural science, and cognitive criteria of naturalness. Central to our discussion is the use of abductive methodology, which integrates metaphysical theories, a priori intuitions, and empirical evidence to find the best explanations of mental phenomena. We will explore how abductive methods can be integrated with the frameworks of cognitive evolution and conceptual spaces, demonstrating that abduction can be used to draw metaphysical conclusions about consciousness and free will. |
| Schould Scientists listen to philosophers? DLMPST/IUHPST panel | Benedikt Löwe (Germany) |
| Partecipants | Rachel Ankeny, Eleonora Cresto, Silvia De Toffoli, Martin Kusch, Mitsuhiro Okada, Zoltan Somhegyi |
| Abstract | X |
| Aristotle-Buddha-Confucius-Islam Symposium: Ancient Wisdom For Modern Challenges | Riccardo Pozzo (Italy) |
| Partecipants | 1. Demetra Sfendoni-Mentzou (Chair), Jeffrey Sachs, Bryan van Norden, SONG Bing, Ludek Sekyra 2. Riccardo Pozzo (Chair), Herta Nagl-Docegal, Li Yong, Robin Wang, Souleymane Bachir Diagne, Fang Xudong, Maria ProtopapaJiang Limei, Cui Xiaojiao, Liu Jing 3. Wen Haiming (Chiar), Yang Guiping, Tamara Albertini, Kurnia Muhajarah, Nurul Ain Binti Norman |
| Abstract | PACT FOR THE FUTURE: The 75th Anniversary of the United Nations was marked in June 2020 with a declaration by Member States that included 12 overarching commitments along with a request to the Secretary-General for recommendations to address both current and future challenges. In September 2021, the Secretary-General Antonio Guterres responded with his report, Our Common Agenda, a wake-up call to speed up the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals and propel the commitments contained in the UN75 Declaration. An action-oriented Pact for the Future is expected to be agreed by Member States through intergovernmental negotiations on issues they decide to take forward. COMPARATIVE PHILOSOPHY: There is a just and linear development of humanity in which everyone must be guaranteed basic rights, the minimum sufficient resources, the satisfaction of basic needs for a life of dignity from all points of view. Hence the 17 Goals and 169 targets of the Agenda 2030. Comparative philosophy brings together scholars from China, Greece, and other parts of the world, to explore how we can help to build a new global ethics for the 21st century, one that addresses global challenges while drawing on the ancient wisdom of China, India, and Greece. DIALOGUE WITH ISLAMIC PHILOSOPHY: Opening up the dialogue of Aristotle-Buddha- Confucius-Daoism with Islamic Philosophy is a major challenge that needs to be tackled. |
| Philosophy as art. Methods, practices, and perspectives from the transcendental turn | Maurizio Maria Malimpensa (Italy) |
| Partecipants | Giulio Amore, Stella Canonico, Andrea Colombo, Giacomo Gambaro, Andrea Gentili, Silvestre Gristina, Maurizio Maria Malimpensa, Davide Puzzolo, Maurizio Trudu, Mattia Zancanaro, Andrea Zoppis |
| Abstract | Transcendental philosophy, from Kant to the present, has provided an understanding of reality as a dynamic structure in which the act of consciousness and that which is external to consciousness are intrinsically related. The fundamental concept central to this relationship is, what is known as, ‘activity’. Activity denotes both a theoretical and practical ‘action’ that is integral to every act of life-cognition and manifests itself as art (both in technical-functional and an aesthetic senses). However, this close relationship with life and practice risks eliminating the specifically philosophical act, which risks reducing philosophy to a mere human science. So the question arises: what space remains in this context for transcendental philosophy in the strict sense as a philosophical reflexive act, that is, as a theoretical action independent of the connection with practice. This panel discussion will raise this question for consideration, exploring both its theoretical and methodological aspects as well as its practical application, and examining the relationships between philosophy and science, philosophy and society, and philosophy as a practical wisdom. In other words, the panel will address the issue of how philosophy can contaminate itself with the real while maintaining its speculative status. |
| Philosophy Born of Struggle, Philosophy Born of Massacres: Africa’s philosophical thought on massacres and genocide. | Rozena Maart (South Africa) |
| Partecipants | Rozena Maart, Philile Langa, Andrea Cassatella, Yahya Sserembe, Yosef Sintayehu Jemberie, Jimmy Spire Ssentongo |
| Abstract | This panel discusses the importance of philosophical thought necessary to address questions of violence especially those pertaining to massacres and genocides. The panellists, located in South Africa and Uganda, offer an account of their research work, which because of their conviction and physical location does not allow them to overlook how philosophical thought fails to adequately address questions of violence when theorising on genocides, and massacres of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Namibia, South Africa, Uganda, Rwanda and Ethiopia. Questions of the psyche, law, religion, death-bound subjects, the role of the state, the role of the media, are key features of consideration. Questions pertaining to the afterlife of colonialism, and apartheid, are key to the overall examination. The papers draw on African philosophical thought from thinkers such as but not limited to, Bantu Stephen Biko, Jacques Derrida, W.E.B du Bois, Frantz Fanon, Leonard Harris, Paulin Hountondji, Mahmood Mamdani, Abdul JanMohammed and Edward Said. |
| Between science in practice and metaphysics of science. Ontologies of chance beyond the dual face of probability | Marco Casali (Italy) |
| Partecipants | Francesca Merlin, Mathilde Escudero |
| Abstract | The present symposium aims to open new research directions in metaphysics of science, philosophy of science and philosophy of biology with respect to the ontology of chance. Different areas of philosophy have thoroughly investigated the notion of chance. In this context, there have been several attempts to ontologically account for chance by referring to the interpretation (objective vs. subjective) of probability. Instead, our common starting assumption is that probability and chance are not the same ontological thing, and philosophical works about the ontology of chance ought to exist even beyond its characterization by means of probability. Marco Casali will investigate the possibility of defining chance in molecular biology by attempting to follow recent analyses of the cell in biological practice, paying particular attention to the relationship between stochasticity and canalization. Mathilde Escudero will argue that a good philosophical characterization of chance aimed at accounting for its scientific instantiations must integrate both physical and epistemic elements. To this end, she will defend an agentive and perspectivist conception of chance. Francesca Merlin will reconsider Aristotle’s thought about chance, propose to characterize it in causal terms as a modality of certain causes, and show the relevance of such an ontology of chance in some sciences, in particular biology. |
| Philosophizing in the Community of Inquiry: P4c as Joint Practice of (Dis)Orientation in the Age of Uncertainty | Marina Santi (Italy) |
| Partecipants | Eleonora Zorzi, Maria Martha Barreneche, Daniel Gaivota Contage, Barbara Weber, Stefano Ubertini |
| Abstract | In a post-pandemic world, we need to orient new generations towards well-being and well-becoming below the uncertainty. The lifelong guidance frame (EU, 2000) asks to educational orientation not only to adopt institutional policies and strategies to guide students into the labor market, focusing on the subjective and collective capabilities of living dignified life within flourishing communities. Philosophy for Children (P4C) is proposed as a school guided-experience of inquiry dialogue, introducing students’ experience of (dis)orientation as a generative community commitment. Philosophizing discloses presents by opening to youth the ad-venture of thinking together nurturing imagination and improvisation, ensuring them the right of 'not knowing' as condition for questioning and inquiry about alternative and reinvented futures. The P4C complex thinking surpasses the reductionism of thinking as problem solving and decision making, problematizing the construct of “solo-orientation”, offering jam experience of wandering by wondering to map possible futures, with the awareness that being lost in decision increases the opportunities to find ourselves as part of a human community. |
| Philosophy of emotions: Shared Human Sensibility | Laura Candiotto (Italy) |
| Partecipants | Laura Candiotto; Roberta Dreon; Heidi Maibom; Alfred Archer; Maxwell Gatyas; Anthony Hatzimoysis |
| Abstract | In this panel we will consider and discuss new approaches for tackling human sensibility from an anti-individualistic perspective. Emotions are typically taken to be private states of the body and/or the mind. This is especially true of their feeling component. Thus, it is assumed that one cannot feel another’s pain; my pain is always only my own, although you can feel pain in response to mine. Although resonates with our everyday experience of the embodiment of emotions, this view has some important shortcomings. It seems unable to explain how humans can share emotions and connect to others through them. |