First Call for Papers

Phenomenology and its Futures
29-31 March 2013
Department of Philosophy, University of Johannesburg, South Africa

Organized by Rafael Winkler and Catherine Botha

Theme:

Born in 1900-1901 with the publication of Husserl’s Logical Investigations, phenomenology has since undergone many changes, developments and critiques both in its methods and tasks. Serving in Husserl as a critical method of reflection on consciousness and its cognitive achievements against its naturalization in the natural sciences, phenomenology has also inspired authors such as Max Scheler, Martin Heidegger, Jean-Paul Sartre, Gabriel Marcel, Simone de Beauvoir, Maurice Merleau-Ponty, Jean-Luc Nancy, Michel Henry, Emmanuel Levinas, Hans-Georg Gadamer, Paul Ricoeur and Jacques Derrida to address the question of value, the meaning of being, existence, the lived body, the Other, life, art, history and language in original and fresh ways.

The aim of this three-day international conference is to bring together philosophers and postgraduate students from different institutions in South Africa and abroad to reflect on the fate of phenomenology in the 21st century. It will accept papers on any area in ‘phenomenology’ broadly defined, including papers that take a phenomenological approach to social and psychological issues and that aim to trace the history of phenomenology in South Africa.

Submission: Please prepare a 700 word abstract for blind review and send it to ujphenomenology@gmail.com. The full paper should be no more than 3500-4000 words (the conference format allows for a 25-30 min. presentation followed by a 30-35 min. discussion). The deadline for submission of abstracts is Friday the 11th of January 2013. Notification of acceptance will be sent latest by Friday the 1st of February 2013. Presenters will be asked to make their papers available in advance for the conference booklet.

Proceedings: The South African Journal of Philosophy will be dedicating an issue to selected, peer-reviewed proceedings of the conference. To be considered for the issue a paper of no more than 6000 words needs to be presented at the conference and submitted to the SAJP Editor (Abraham Olivier – aolivier@ufh.ac.za) and Guest Editors (Rafael Winkler and Catherine Botha) on or before Friday the 3rd of May 2013.
Conference fees: The fee for the three-day conference for participants is R600 (R200 a day). It is free of charge for all participating graduate and PhD students.

Bursaries: Bursaries will be available for travel and accommodation.
Accommodation: Lodging for conference participants has been arranged at Plumpudding Guesthouse (http://www.plumpudding.co.za/) and The View (http://www.theviewhotel.co.za/), which are walking distance from the UJ Auckland Park Campus. The current rate at Plumpudding Guesthouse is R650 per night inclusive of breakfast.

For more information about the conference, visit the Department’s website: http://www.uj.ac.za/philosophy). Alternatively, please contact Rafael Winkler (rwinkler@uj.ac.za) or Catherine Botha (cbotha@uj.ac.za).