Fordham: Grad Conference Call for Papers

Fordham: 11-13 April 2008 | CFP: 1 December 2007

Another conference for graduate students, this time at Fordham University in the Bronx, from 11-13 April 2008. The topic is “Cosmopolitanism in Philosophical Contexts”; the keynote speaker is Yale’s Seyla Benhabib and the plenary speaker is Fordham’s John Davenport. Papers or abstracts should be emailed by 1 December 2007. Here’s the flyer. The description of the conference is as follows:

The current debate between cosmopolitan and communitarian thinkers revolves around the tension between moral universalism and particular cultures. While the conversation has been largely situated in the areas of political science, legal discourse, and human rights, the questions it raises are rooted in broader philosophical discussions. The issues of public reason (and public space), life-world, language and world-view, communication across porous boundaries, rights and the good, and metaphysics of the rights-bearing self both have their origins in and open new possibilities for philosophical investigations. Philosophical discourse itself is challenged in how to take these concrete global problems seriously, including its own situatedness in a particular historical and political context.

We invite papers from all philosophical traditions to address these concerns. Topics could include, but need not be limited to:
? Citizenship, membership or rights for aliens, residents, or indigenous peoples
? Problems of translation; literature, margins, and the untranslatable
? Natural law and public reason
? The local and familiar in relation to the global
? History of cosmopolitanism as a value (for the Greeks, Kant, or more recent thinkers)
? The role of philosophy in these disputes
? Universal or moral rights and political rights
? Political/personal/moral autonomy with respect to community and law
? Social ontology and social groups

Papers and abstracts should be prepared for blind review. Papers should be no longer than 25 minutes (about 15 pages) in length. Accepted papers will be presented and responded to in hour-long sessions without the distraction of simultaneous presentations.