ECREA Section for the Philosophy of Communication First Bi-Annual Conference
25 YEARS OF UNIVERSAL PRAGMATICS
FACTS and FICTIONS
08-09 NOVEMBER 2007 | UNIVERSITY OF SURREY | GUILDFORD
Rethinking communication theory seems to be in vogue again. Even though it is dangerous to seek to predict future theoretical trends, the field of communication theory seems likely to continue to generate much attention. And yet, this field still disguises what might be uncovered: its analytical background and the constraints resulting from an implicit incorporation of philosophical thinking into current communication theory in its various manifestations.
This first conference of the Philosophy of Communication Section sets out to create an environment in which to discuss the analytical and philosophical determinants of communication theory. Theories in the rich field of communication and media studies sometimes appear numbed by their own belief in a phenomenology grounded in technical-instrumental analyses. Terms like media and medium are held to refer unquestioningly to an ontological foundation. And whilst several sciences focus on aspects of uncertainty and risk in communication and information processing, communication and media studies pursue their crusade in the name of an approximate measurement of medial effects.
Socio-political and ethical interpretations of communication and media need to be linked to recent advances in communication theory, and to epistemological accounts of communication and media. A critical interrogation of the potential for the self-reflection of communication theory is therefore opportune. This conference is the first of ECREA’s Philosophy of Communication Section biannual conference series. It tries to uncover new pathways deriving from a renewed examination of communication theories’ philosophical axioms and fundamentals.
The organizers invite contributors to submit an abstract of 400 words (approx.) with a brief biography including contact information on a separate cover sheet before July 1st 2007 for the reviewing process. The objectives of the Philosophy of Communication Section emphasize support of early career researchers. On this note, the section encourages PhD-students’ contributions and offers a dual review process for those contributions whose first submission might need some revision. To participate in this process, papers should be submitted before June 15th 2007. The section is planning a collection of essays entitled Beyond Universal Pragmatics and will select the best contributions for inclusion in the book series Interdisciplinary Communication Studies.
Contributions should be written and presented in English.
papersubmission@philosophy-of-communication.eu
www.philosophy-of-communication.eu
Many thanks to James Bohman and William Rehg for their work putting together the ‘Habermas’ entry at the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
Saturday July 7th, Greenwich University, Maritime Campus, Old Royal Naval College, London: 10am – 5pm
‘My book on Kant is different, I like it very much, I wrote it as a book on an enemy, in it I was trying to show how he works, what his mechanisms are…’ Gilles Deleuze, Letter to Michele Cressole
‘Our age is properly the age of critique, and to critique everything must submit.’ Immanuel Kant, Critique of Pure Reason
This conference aims to explore and dramatise the conceptual relations that exist between Gilles Deleuze and Immanuel Kant. Deleuze offers us a ‘transcendental empiricism’ in direct contrast to Kant’s ‘transcendental idealism’ and the combination of their common ground and their stark oppositions makes this a particularly fertile realm of thought. There has been a growing recognition of the importance of the connections between Deleuze and Kant and this conference aims for the first time to place these relations centre stage. We are strongly encouraging both Deleuzian and Kantian scholars to come together in a constructive encounter that has critical importance for the wider philosophical community.
Keynote Session
Dr Paul Davies (Sussex University) and Dr Daniel W. Smith (Purdue University)
There is no registration fee for the conference. To register simply e-mail volcaniclines@hotmail.com in order to give us an idea of the numbers.
Please note that our call for the submission of full papers is still open – the deadline is 31st May. See www.deleuzeagreenwich.blogspot.com for the full call for papers and guidelines.
Conference organisers: Matt Lee and Edward Willatt.
Volcanic Lines – deleuzian research group, an initiative of the Greenwich University Philosophy group.
Scientology has been in the news more often than usual this week thanks to the Panorama controversy. Most people are of the impression that it is a celebrity cult, but don’t know much about the beliefs that Scientologists hold. This is understandable, given the lengths that they go to to control the dissemination of their creed since one must pay as much as $100,000 to learn its secrets. Fortunately, the guys at South Park have provided a condensed version. This really makes things a lot clearer.
This science article from the Wall Street Journal discusses recent American research into a neurobiological basis for morality.
“Knock out certain brain cells with an aneurysm or a tumor, they discovered, and while everything else may appear normal, the ability to think straight about some issues of right and wrong has been permanently skewed. “It tells us there is some neurobiological basis for morality,” said Harvard philosophy student Liane Young, who helped to conceive the experiment.”
In fact, the research actually suggests not that moral decisions are simply a matter of biology, but that emotional factors in moral decisions (such as the killing of an innocent person) can be artifically inhibited. This is surely a less significant finding than it first seems. Even if we know that much of our moral activity is implicit or unconscious, we are still able to reconstruct the arguments behind our own decisions.
Nietzsche said something to the effect that knowledge of the chemical composition of water is useless to a drowning man. Even if we overlook the fact that all of the subjects are brain-damaged, surely knowledge of any possible empirical correlation between particular moral activity and particular brain states is subject to the same criticism. Morality is the expression of autonomy, not neuroanatomy. Furthermore, even if a universal brain structure that dealt with moral activity could be identified, the divergence of moral beliefs between people (some of whom have developed very similar environments) clearly indicates that this cannot be a satisfactory explanation.
Let’s assume that such a correspondence can be demonstrated. Will this bring us any closer to a consensus on morality? I am deeply sceptical, since it could only demonstrate an innate capacity for morality; but this isn’t even denied by even the most extreme cultural relativist. Furthermore, if we can show that someone has a particular anatomical predisposition to behaviour we consider immoral, does this mean we would not hold them responsible for what they do? I think not.
In this video, Jürgen Habermas outlines the broad contours of his work (deliberative democracy and communicatve rationality). The discussion isn’t very theoretical, but certainly gives a flavour of the Habermasian project.
Monsters and the Monstrous: Myths and Metaphors of Enduring Evil
Monday 17th September – Thursday 20th September 2007
Mansfield College, Oxford, United Kingdom
This inter-disciplinary and multi-disciplinary conference seeks to investigate and explore the enduring influence and imagery of monsters and the monstrous on human culture throughout history. In particular, the project will have a dual focus with the intention of examining specific ‘monsters’ as well as assessing the role, function and consequences of persons, actions or events identified as ‘monstrous’. The history and contemporary cultural influences of monsters and monstrous metaphors will also be examined.
Perspectives are sought from those engaged in the fields of literature, media studies, cultural studies, history, anthropology, philosophy, psychology, sociology, health and theology. Ideas are welcomed from those involved in academic study, fictional
explorations, and applied areas (e.g. youth work, criminology and medicine).
Papers, reports, work-in-progress and workshops are invited on issues related to any of the following themes:
- The “monster” through history
- Civilization, monsters and the monstrous
- Children, childhood, stories and monsters; monsters and parents
- Comedy: funny monsters and/or making fun of monsters (e.g. Monsters Inc, the Addams Family)
- Making monsters; monstrous births
- Mutants and mutations
- Technologies of the monstrous
- Horror, fear and scar
- Do monsters kill because they are monstrous or are they monstrous because they kill?
- How critical to the definition of “monster” is death or the threat of death?
- Human ‘monsters’ and ‘monstrous’ acts? e.g, perverts, paedophiles and serial killers
- The monstrous and gender
- Revolution and monsters; the monstrous and politics; enemies (political/social/military) and monsters
- Iconography of the monstrous
- The popularity of the modern monsters; the Mummy, Dracula, Frankenstein, Vampires
- The monster in literature
- The monstrous in popular culture: film, television, theatre, radio, print, internet. The monstrous and journalism
- Religious depictions of the monstrous; the monstrous and the supernatural
- Metaphors and the monstrous
- The monstrous and war, war reportage / propaganda
Papers will also be accepted which deal solely with specific monsters.
Papers will be considered on any related theme. 300 word abstracts should be submitted by Friday 11th May 2007. If your paper is accepted for presentation at the conference, an 8 page draft paper should be submitted by Friday 24th August 2007.
300 word abstracts should be submitted to both the Organising Joint Chairs; abstracts may be in Word, WordPerfect, PDF or RTF formats.
Rob Fisher
Wickedness Net
Freeland, Oxfordshire
United Kingdom
monsters5@wickedness.net
Stephen Morris
Independent Scholar
New York, USA
USA
smmorris58@yahoo.com
Call for Papers for the 3rd Annual Joint Conference of the Society for European Philosophy and the Forum for European Philosophy at The University of Sussex, Falmer, Brighton, UK. The conference will be held on September 8th-10th 2007.
The FEP-SEP Joint Conference offers faculty and graduate students the opportunity to present papers in any area of European (Continental) Philosophy.
Conference Web site: http://www.sussex.ac.uk/Users/jgf21/FEPSEP/
Plenary Speakers: Frederick Neuhouser, Cristina Lafont, Alex Dűttmann, and Rűediger Bittner
Abstracts of no more than 300 words to be submitted by June 1st 2007 to Juliana Cardinale, either in electronic form to: j.cardinale@lse.ac.uk or by mail to: Forum for European Philosophy Room J5, European Institute, Cowdray House, Portugal Street, London School of Economics, London, WC2A 2AE.
