CFP: Hannah Arendt Circle Conference 2009, University of Arkansas, USA

The Departments of Philosophy, Communications, and Foreign Languages at the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville will be hosting the third independent conference for the Hannah Arendt Circle March 27-29, 2009.

We invite individual submissions for papers on any aspect of Arendt’s work, including critiques and applications of her thinking.

Please send an abstract of the paper, by e-mail (750 word limit). Abstracts should be formatted for anonymous review and submitted to the program committee chair, Karin Fry at kfry@uwsp.edu on or before November 14th, 2008.

Please indicate “Arendt Circle submission” in the subject heading, and include the abstract as a “.doc” attachment to your message. Program decisions will be announced by the end of December.

Program Committee: Karin Fry, University of Wisconsin Stevens Point, , Tama Weisman, Quincy University, Irene McMullin, University of Arkansas

Our first two independent meetings were outstanding, and we are looking forward to the same camaraderie and intense discussion of Arendt’s work at this year’s conference. Each speaker will have approximately 35 minutes for paper presentation and discussion combined -papers should be a maximum of 3000 words (15-20 minutes).

The University of Arkansas is located in the beautiful Ozark Mountains. Lodging has been reserved at Carnell Hall: 1-800-295-9118. See also www.innatcarnallhall.com.

Program and other information will be available no later than January 2009 at: www.arendtcircle.com

PhD positions at Lund University, Sweden

LUCID – Lund University Centre of Excellence for Integration of Social and Natural Dimensions of Sustainability

We invite applications for up to twelve PhD positions within the frame of the new interdisciplinary research programme called LUCID at Lund University. The PhD programme starts in Spring 2009.

LUCID is a Linnaeus programme sponsored by The Swedish Research Council (VR and Formas) for the period 2008-2018. LUCID is coordinated by the faculty independent Centre for Sustainability Studies at Lund University (LUCSUS). Linnaeus Grants are awarded to exceptionally strong environments performing research of the highest international quality and aiming at innovative research.

LUCID aims at creating completely new and unique synergies across natural and social sciences in order to develop new integrated theories and methods for addressing complex sustainability issues. The research is anchored in natural scientific understanding, social science theories and ethical considerations. Four global challenges are in focus: climate change, water scarcity, loss of biodiversity and land use change. Two scientific approaches: problem solving and critical research, will be combined to understand how society handles and should handle these global challenges. The research will offer theoretical, methodological and practical contributions to the broad and emerging field of sustainability science.

Qualifications

We are looking for highly motivated applicants with a Bachelor or Master degree relevant to LUCID such as: development studies; environmental studies; global studies; earth system science; sustainability studies or in one of the disciplines participating in LUCID: economic history; human ecology; philosophy or cognitive science; physical geography; political science; human geography; sociology of law; and sustainability science.

Successful candidates will be part of an interactive team and contribute to the development of a young, vigorous and interdisciplinary research environment.

Application instructions

Please apply to the LUCID PhD programme. Please send a curriculum vitae, names of three references and a three page research plan closely related to the LUCID research themes. For more information and instructions for applicants see (http://www.lucsus.lu.se/lucid ). Closing date 31 October 2008.

PhD Candidate Position at the Freie Universität Berlin, Germany

Exzellenzcluster “Languages of Emotion”
Wiss. Mitarbeiterin / Wiss. Mitarbeiter
limited to September, 30th 2010
BAT IIa, 50%

The project “Aesthetic modulation of affective valence” carried out at the Research Cluster “Languages of Emotion” at the Freie Universität Berlin invites applications for a PhD-candidate position (tariff “Wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter, BAT IIa, 50%” limited to 30.09.2010 ). The project is supposed to run for two years, potentially three years. For more detailed info about the cluster and the project see www.loe.fu-berlin.de.

Starting out from the old paradox of the pleasure taken in aesthetic representations of horrible or other unpleasant phenomena, the project’s interdisciplinary research team will investigate modulations of affective valence by aesthetic processes. To this end, it bridges theory in aesthetics and neurocognitve psychology and carries out experimental research on hypotheses derived from this dual approach.

In a series of behavioural, psychophysiological, and neuroscientific (fMRI) experiments, questions of affective responses to audiovisual stimuli in aesthetically framed situations will be addressed. Field work will be combined with laboratory work in an effort to elicit experimentally controlled emotional processes of a beholder in an aesthetic situation. The project is led by Thomas Jacobsen and Winfried Menninghaus.

Prerequisites for applicants: Master Degree in Film Studies, Art History or Comparative Literature.

The successful candidate is expected to bring his/her expertise in aesthetic issues (primarily visual arts) to bear on the planning, carrying out and documenting of experimental research in the psychology of aesthetic perception.

Freie Universität Berlin is an equal opportunity employer.

Letters of application along with CV, and two-page research plan quoting the above shown reference code LoE-AMAV-1 should be submitted by October, 16th 2008 to Freie Universität Berlin, Cluster “Languages of Emotion”, Dr. Günter Schmidt-Gess/Prof. Dr. Winfried Menninghaus, Habelschwerdter Allee 45, 14195 Berlin (Dahlem).

PhD Studentship in Political Philosophy at the University of Exeter, UK

Application deadline: 12th October 2008

We are looking to appoint to a fully-funded 3 year PhD studentship in Political Philosophy as part of an Arts and Humanities Research Council project on justice.
The project is being led by Dr Keith Hyams and Dr Robert Lamb in the Department of Politics, University of Exeter. The successful applicant will work on a doctoral thesis in an area of contemporary Anglo-American analytic political philosophy of their own choosing, and will play a role in the organisation of annual workshops and a conference. Candidates should have:

• First Class or Upper Second Class Honours degree in an appropriate discipline.
• Masters degree incorporating study of Political Philosophy (desirable but not essential where equivalent skills can be demonstrated).
• Background in contemporary analytic Anglo-American political philosophy.

The studentship

The AHRC studentship will include:

• University fees (UK and EU rates) for candidates with a ‘relevant connection’ to the UK or EU.
• Maintenance (approximately £13,000 pa) for three years for candidates with a ‘relevant connection’ to the UK.

For more information about the AHRC’s UK/EU residency requirements and its doctoral awards visit www.ahrb.ac.uk

Procedure for applying

Informal enquiries should be sent to Dr Robert Lamb or Dr Keith Hyams.
Applications should be sent to Mary Carter by 12 October 2008. There is no need to apply separately to the AHRC. Applications should include:

• a recent CV
• a sample of work, such as a Masters essay or dissertation extract, approx 3-6000 words.
• a research proposal, approx 500 words, detailing the nature of the doctoral research you plan to undertake. The doctoral research may be in any area of contemporary analytic political philosophy, but a willingness to engage in the project research on egalitarian justice may be an advantage.
• a statement of other awards applied for and expected notification dates
• academic transcripts of undergraduate and postgraduate grades.
• two academic references, sent under separate cover (in certain circumstances one reference may be non-academic – please enquire if applicable).

Visit www.exeter.ac.uk/politics for more information.

CFP: Metaphysics of Science Conference 2009 at the University of Melbourne, Australia

Metaphysics of Science Conference: Call for Papers

University of Melbourne 2-5 July 2009
Deadline: 30 January 2009

We invite offers of papers for a conference on the metaphysics of science, which is to be held at the University of Melbourne from 2-5 July 2009. The conference is a collective initiative of the philosophy programs at La Trobe, Monash and Melbourne Universities, as well as the Centre for Time at the University of Sydney. Further information about the conference is available on the conference website:

http://www.philosophy.unimelb.edu.au/research/events/09/metaphysics-of-science/

To propose a paper, please submit a 500 word abstract to Howard Sankey (chs@unimelb.edu.au) before the deadline of 30 January 2009.

Because of space and time constraints, there may be a need to place limitations on the number of papers that we accept for the conference. If we are unable to make a decision on whether to accept a paper based on the abstract, we may request that a full-length version of the paper be submitted for consideration. We hope to be able to inform potential conference participants whether their paper is accepted by mid-February 2009.

The Metaphysics of Science conference is scheduled to lead into the annual conference of the Australasian Association of Philosophy (AAP), which will be held in Melbourne commencing the evening of 5 July. In the event that we are unable to accommodate all papers within the Metaphysics of Science conference, we expect to hold a number of metaphysics of science streams within the AAP conference programme.

Associate Professor Howard Sankey
School of Philosophy, Anthropology and Social Inquiry
University of Melbourne
Parkville, Victoria
Australia 3010

Phone: (61) (03) 8344-6558
Fax: (61) (03) 8344 4280

http://www.philosophy.unimelb.edu.au/staff/Sankey/

CFP: Postcolonial Studies Association Inaugural Conference 2009 at the Waterford Institute of Technology, Ireland

“Re-Imagining Identity: New Directions in Postcolonial Studies,” Postcolonial Studies Association, Waterford Institute of Technology, May 6-8, 2009.

This inaugural conference of the Postcolonial Studies Association will focus on a broad re-consideration of the cultural, political, theoretical and practical re-imaginings of the concept of ‘identity’ as it relates to the field of Postcolonialism and the wider Humanities and the Social Sciences. The conference aims both to explore current understandings of ‘identity’ in a multicultural, globalised and conflicted world, and to encourage disciplinary self-reflexivity. We welcome papers that interrogate the conceptual category of identity itself, as well as those that relate to the ways specific identities are constructed, assigned or imagined. Questions to be asked will include: ‘What is the future of Postcolonialism as a discipline?’ and: ‘What is the relationship between received understandings of “identity”, specific formulations of key contemporary identities, and our understanding of “the postcolonial”?’

The PSA invites papers from academics working in the disciplines of Literature, History, Cultural Studies, Film, Human Geography, Linguistics, Politics, Psychology, Religious Studies, Art, Music, Media & Communication and related fields. Our aim is to bring together a wide variety of scholarly interests and methodological approaches. Paper or panel topics may focus on the following conceptual intersections:

§ Identity, Religion and Spirituality (the secular & sacred, New Age & alternative spiritualities, the Enlightenment, sectarianism, religious symbolism, fundamentalism)
§ Identity and Time (history, memory, policy, repetition, development, modernity, eternity, death)
§ Identity and Language (language policy, seizing the pen, language as mission and calling; propaganda)
§ Identity and Politics (resistance, war, terror)
§ Identity and Space (regions, blocs, global flows, the EU and the wider world, the environment)
§ Identity, Theory and Disciplinary Boundaries (postcolonialism as a discipline, theoretical approaches, the policing of knowledge, multidisciplinarity, comparative postcolonialisms)

Panels will normally comprise three 20-minute papers. Proposal acceptance is subject to organising committee approval. To submit a paper or panel proposal please contact: Dr Christine ODowd-Smyth – codowdsmyth@wit.ie or psa@postcolonialstudiesassociation.co.uk.

Closing date for abstract submissions: 1 December 2008

For more information please contact:
Dr Gerri Kimber – gerri@thekimbers.co.uk or
Dr Marta Vizcaya Echano – martavizcaya@hotmail.com

Visit the conference homepage here: http://www.postcolonialstudiesassociation.co.uk/id63.html.

CFP: Association for the Study of Nationalities Convention 2009 at Columbia University, USA

“Imagined Communities, Real Conflicts, and National Identities,” Association for the Study of Nationalities, Columbia University, April 23-25, 2009.

The ASN Convention, the most attended international and inter-disciplinary scholarly gathering of its kind, welcomes proposals on a wide range of topics related to national identity, nationalism, ethnic conflict, state-building and the study of empires in Central/Eastern Europe, the former Soviet Union, the Balkans, Eurasia, and adjacent areas. Disciplines represented include political science, history, anthropology, sociology, international studies, security studies, economics, geography and geopolitics, sociolinguistics, psychology, and related fields.

The Convention also features a section devoted to theoretical approaches to nationalism, from any of the disciplines listed above. The papers in this section need not be grounded in an area of the former Communist bloc usually covered by ASN, provided that the issues examined are relevant to a truly comparative understanding of nation-alism-related issues. In this vein, we are welcoming theory-focused and comparative proposals, rather than specific case studies from outside Central/Eastern Europe and Eurasia. A dozen panels are normally featured in the Nationalism section.

Visit the conference homepage here: http://www.nationalities.org/convention/convention.asp.

New Issue on Jacques Ranciere, ART AND RESEARCH, 2:1 (2008)

ART AND RESEARCH, 2:1 (2008)

The Contents include:

• Editorial: Five Lessons in Artistic Research
• Sophie Berrebi: Everything you wanted to know…
• Jacques Rancière: Aesthetic Separation, Aesthetic Community
• Stephen Wright: Behind Police Lines
• Jonathan Lahey Dronsfield: Nowhere is aesthetics contra ethics
• An Exchange with Jacques Rancière
• Jacques Rancière and Indisciplinarity: an Interview
• Sophie Berrebi: Jacques Rancière: Aesthetics is Politics

Visit the issue homepage at http://www.artandresearch.org.uk/v2n1/v2n1editorial.html.

Research Fellowship at the London School of Economics and Political Science

The Ludwig Lachmann Research Fellowship
Department of Philosophy, Logic and Scientific Method
London School of Economics and Political Science

Salary: £39,167 to £42,780 pa incl

This is a fixed term appointment for three years
The Department of Philosophy, Logic and Scientific is seeking to fill the Ludwig M Lachmann Research Fellowship, a research post in commemoration of the late Professor Lachmann.

The successful candidate will have a PhD and a record of excellence in research in economics and/or philosophy. Particular consideration will be given to candidates with a research interest in the philosophical aspects of economics or the Austrian School of Economics.

The Research Fellow will be expected to complete a piece of work forming the basis of a publication during his or her period of tenure.

Its is expected that the successful candidate will be appointed from September 2009 for a period of up to three years, though it is possible for the appointment to commence earlier in the year. The appointment may be made on a flexible working arrangement.

Informal enquiries can be addressed to Prof. Richard Bradley at r.bradley@lse.ac.uk.

A full application pack can be obtained at www.lse.ac.uk/jobsatLSE. If you cannot download the pack, email HR.Recruit.Res@lse.ac.uk or call 020 7955 6183 quoting reference 01/08/RES.

Closing date for receipt of applications is: 7 November 2008. Regrettably, we are unable to accept any applications received after this date.

We value diversity and wish to promote equality at all levels

Research Fellowship at the University of Oxford, UK

Research Fellow
Faculty Of Philosophy
University of Oxford

Grade 7: Salary in the range £27,466 – £29,138 p.a.

Applications are invited for the post of Research Fellow (Science and Religious Conflict) within a research project funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council. The project is based in the Faculty of Philosophy, and will be directed by Professor Julian Savulescu, who also directs the Oxford Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics, the Programme on Ethics of the New Biosciences, and the Oxford Centre for Neuroethics. The AHRC project will relate closely to these, and starts on 1 January 2009, for three years.

The Research Fellow will conduct research which aims to understand the ways in which cognitive and affective biases and heuristics affect the reasoning, judgments, and ultimately the behaviour of people in states of moral disagreement, and the causal processes which thereby lead to conflict. A secondary aim is to use the case of religious disagreement as a model to draw lessons about the nature and the ethically acceptable management of interpersonal disagreements and conflicts.

The successful candidate will have outstanding analytical skills and the ability to rapidly comprehend new material from a variety of disciplines, including psychology and philosophy. As a key member of the research team (there will be two Research Fellows working on this project), the post-holder must be able to work in a multi-disciplinary team to ensure high-quality academic and policy outputs. AOS is ideally a background in or relevant to Philosophy or Psychology, or a related discipline. Knowledge or experience of Theology would be an advantage.

This position will offer the best candidate excellent career opportunities to work on a project that benefits from stimulating facilities for research and teaching, and the presence of Professor Julian Savulescu, an internationally renowned philosopher and ethicist.
The post will be made on the University’s grade 7 scale, with a salary from £27,466 – £29,138 p.a. with increments in years two and three.

Further particulars, including how to apply, are available at: http://www.practicalethics.ox.ac.uk/ or http://www.philosophy.ox.ac.uk/ or from miriam.wood@philosophy.ox.ac.uk.

The deadline for applications is Friday 7 November 2008.

Interviews are likely to be held in the week commencing 1 December 2008.