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Phenomenology and the Sciences

Annual Conference of the Central and East European Society for Phenomenology

Padova, 13 - 15 September 2022

From its very beginning, phenomenology has shown a strong connection with scientific thought and the sciences. Husserl has repeatedly proposed phenomenology as the fundamental ground stone for a stable edifice of science. From his early works to the very last one, the Crisis, phenomenology has been entrusted with the task of enabling a mature and well-founded mathesis universalis. The lack of such a foundation has been considered as the reason for the crisis of European sciences, which amount to a lack of organic unity among them, of a clear understanding of their fundamental concepts, and of legitimation of their procedures. For Husserl, these aporias go hand in hand with a crisis of humankind itself.

CFP is closedOriginal Call for Papers

University of Padova and the Central and East European Society for Phenomenology

announce Call for Papers for

 

The 7th Annual Conference of the Central and East European Society for Phenomenology 

 

Phenomenology and the Sciences

 

September 13-15, 2022

Padova, Italy 

 

From its very beginning, phenomenology has shown a strong connection with scientific thought and the sciences. Husserl has repeatedly proposed phenomenology as the fundamental ground stone for a stable edifice of science. From his early works to the very last one, the Crisis, phenomenology has been entrusted with the task of enabling a mature and well-founded mathesis universalis. The lack of such a foundation has been considered as the reason for the crisis of European sciences, which amount to a lack of organic unity among them, of a clear understanding of their fundamental concepts, and of legitimation of their procedures. For Husserl, these aporias go hand in hand with a crisis of humankind itself.

Husserl’s (more or less orthodox) followers, and, more generally, scientist and philosophers, who have found some kind of inspiration in Husserl’s phenomenological project, have variously tried to implement the idea, according to which phenomenology should prepare the ground, clarify the basic concepts and practices, as well as the relationships between different scientific disciplines. Just to mention some, think of Alfred Schutz for sociology, Hermann Weyl for Physics, Oskar Becker for mathematics and geometry, Ludwig Binswanger and Erwin Straus for psychopathology, Roman Jakobson for linguistics, Aron Gurwitsch for psychology. Moreover, within the so-called phenomenological tradition the concept of science itself, and its meaning for human life and human society have been a recurrent topic, even before the publication of the Crisis, in the thought of Heidegger, and later in the works of authors like Enzo Paci, Jan Patočka and Roman Ingarden.

That said, what can phenomenology say nowadays concerning the sciences? Is phenomenology able to provide the ground stone Husserl dreamt of, or, as he himself says in the Crisis, “der Traum ist ausgeträumt”? If this is the case, what is the position that phenomenology can assume towards sciences? Can phenomenology itself be considered as a specific science? Can phenomenology offer any contribution to scientific research, both basic and applied? Should phenomenology be understood as a kind of epistemology? Or is there a specific field of research that pertains specifically to phenomenology and that is not on a pair with epistemological reflection?

Possible topics involve, but are not limited to:

-       phenomenological foundations of specific scientific disciplines

-       phenomenological clarification of the concept of science

-       the methods of phenomenology in the context of scientific methods

-       phenomenology and the question of interdisciplinary research

-       phenomenology and the role of science

-       Husserl and his followers on the crisis of sciences

-       phenomenological clarification of non-science

-       phenomenology and epistemology

-       phenomenology and the human sciences (humanities)

 

Scholars interested in presenting a paper, are invited to submit an abstract of ca. 150 words (see below for more), by May 15, to the following address:

 

ceesp.7.conference@gmail.com

 

Please, use the “CEESP Conference proposal” in the heading. Up to 40 papers will be accepted. Notifications will be sent out by June 15. Registration fee: 70 EUR.

 

Accepted submissions:

 

Individual papers

Please submit an anonymized abstract of the proposed contribution (ca. 150 words) and a cover letter with affiliation and contact information. A regular time slot is approx. 40 minutes (30 min for presentation + 10 min for discussion).

 

Thematic panels

The proposal should consist of abstracts for 3 papers as part of one panel (ca. 150 words per abstract) as well as a separate cover letter with affiliations of the panelists and contact information. The panelists will have approx. 120 minutes in total at their disposal for the discussion of the proposed topic.

 

Onsite Organizing Committee: Andrea Altobrando, Simone Aurora