CfP: Comparative History of Philosophy, Università degli Studi di Milano
Call for Abstracts
Comparative History of Philosophy
9th June 2017
Doctoral School in Philosophy and Human Sciences, University of Milan
Confirmed Keynote: Prof. Enrico Pasini (University of Turin)
History
of philosophy has grown into one of the main fields in philosophical
research, with a flourishing and ever-expanding scholarly literature.
Specialization followed, almost as a natural consequence of the
growth of history of philosophy. Philosophers now specialize in a
variety of specific historical periods and topics, such as Eastern
Philosophy, Late Antiquity, the Middle Ages, Early Modernity,
Post-Kantian Continental Philosophy, Early Analytical Philosophy and so
on.
In
recent years, the methodological side of historical philosophical
research has attracted the attention of both philosophers and
historians. This has happened, we believe, as a consequence
of the maturity of history of philosophy and because it raises specific
meta-philosophical and historiographical questions. In 2016, two
international conferences were dedicated to this topic: the
international Symposium of the Swiss Philosophical Society
in Geneva and the 17th Graduate Philosophy Conference at the
Boston College. In 2017, the conference “Distant Reading and Data
Driven Research in the History of Philosophy”, held in Turin, added the
digital humanities approach to the debate.
We announce a call for papers for an exploratory, one-day symposium on the idea of a
comparative history of philosophy to be held at the University of Milan on 9th June 2017.
The
aim of the workshop is to discuss the methodology of the history of
philosophy by focusing on the role that a comparison between different
philosophies and periods might play. We believe
that a comparative history (or histories) of philosophy is a new approach to the discipline worthy of more scrutiny.
While
in other human and social sciences, such as sociology, geography and
history, the comparative method has a strong tradition, in history of
philosophy (at least in the last decades) it
has not been widely used by scholars, who in general preferred to focus
on particular subjects. We think that it is time to discuss the idea of
comparison as a tool of the historian of philosophy.
We invite proposals for papers on the following topics, but not limited to:
- Trans-historical trends in history of philosophy
- Comparison of different epochs in the history of philosophy, even very distant in time (e.g. Late Scholasticism and contemporary analytic philosophy)
- “Continuist” (e.g. Claude Panaccio, Robert Pasnau) versus “discontinuist” (e.g. Alain de Libera) readings of the history of philosophy: which contribution can the comparative study of history of philosophy bring to this debate?
- Evaluating the possible application of specific categories, born to describe a particular period, to other periods in the history of philosophy
- Meta-philosophical significance of the comparative method: what insight can it give on the nature of philosophical research?
- Longue durée approaches to the history of philosophy
- Comparative history of philosophy and the problem of periodization in the history of philosophy: when and how does a philosophical epoch end or begin?
- Paradigm theory: what use, if any, in history of philosophy?
- The "social dimension" of philosophical production: today and yesterday
Given
the exploratory nature of the workshop, we encourage innovative
research, especially by young researchers. We are committed to a gender
balance and equal opportunities.
Proposal (max. 500 words)
must be sent by 3rd April, 2017 (notification of acceptance or refusal by
2nd May 2017), in word or pdf formats, to
comparative.histphil@gmail.com
Important dates
Application deadline: 3rd April, 2017
Notification of acceptance: 2nd May 2017
Workshop date: 9th June 2017
Scientific committee: Marialuisa BALDI (University of Milan), Mauro BONAZZI (University of Milan), Guido BONINO (University of Turin),
Guido CANZIANI (University of Milan), Giovanni GELLERA (Université de Lausanne)