Social Bonds: From Self to Polis
10th Annual Graduate Conference in Philosophy
University of Toronto, May 14-15, 2010Keynote Speaker: Raymond Geuss, University of Cambridge
Call for Papers
How are the social, political, and moral demands of ‘life together’ conditioned by what we feel for one another? Do our affective ties to each other represent certain limitations on ethics and politics, or, on the contrary, their very foundations? To what extent are these social bonds perspicuous to reason and philosophy?
The graduate students of philosophy at the University of Toronto invite papers exploring these issues for their 10th annual graduate conference. We welcome perspectives from all fields in philosophy, as well as those making connections to other disciplines. Submissions engaging the history of philosophy are especially encouraged. Possible topics include, but are not limited to:
- ‘thick’ descriptions of political participation and identity
- the dynamics of affiliation or alienation
- tensions between patriotism and cosmopolitanism
- the nature of solidarity and/or affirmation
- different kinds of love (eros, philia, agape)
- the importance of ‘negative’ affects: hate, envy, shame, disgust, etc.
- connections between virtue and desire
- the ‘rationality of emotions’
- phenomenological interpretations of ‘Being-with’ (Mitdasein)
- respect/recognition in Kantian and post-Kantian theories
- sympathy in Adam Smith, Hume, Rousseau or others
- Augustine’s “two loves formed two cities”
The deadline for submissions is JANUARY 17, 2010. Papers should be sent as an email attachment in either .doc(x) or .pdf format to torontophilgradconf@gmail.com. Submitted papers should not exceed 4000 words (30 minutes) and must be prepared for blind review. In a separate attachment, please include your name, academic affiliation, email address, paper title, word count, and an abstract of no more than 200 words. Limited travel stipends are available, with special funds for exceptional papers in ancient and medieval philosophy.