Dependencies and Differences
University of Alberta Philosophy Graduate and Postgraduate Conference
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
6-8 May 2016
We invite graduate students and postgraduates (who have been awarded their PhD no earlier than 2010) to submit papers to the graduate and postgraduate philosophy conference that will take place on 6-8 May 2016 at the University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada.
What does it mean to say that something or someone depends on something or someone else? Why do we differentiate between dependencies in the ways that we do? For example, we speak of differential distributions of socio-economic dependency ("some groups are made to be more dependent than others"), of hierarchical relations of ontological dependency ("some entities are grounded in more fundamental entities"), and of the normative implications of our dependence on certain categories ("some social categories are more valuable than others"). How do various forms of dependency relate to one another and why it is important that we take our dependencies seriously?
Dependence and difference have been key themes in various subfields of philosophy including feminist philosophy, philosophy of disability, animal ethics, and social ontology. This conference seeks to unpack the ways in which notions of dependence can be theorized differently and the dangers that arise when we fail to account for the various factors that affect our conceptions of dependence. Possible questions for consideration include, but are not limited to: How is dependency gendered? How are our social institutions constituted? How do we individuate dependency relations between various kinds and their features? What are the performative, normative, phenomenological, and metaphysical distinctions that matter? What methodologies (interdisciplinary, feminist, archival, genealogical, analytic, etc.) might help us to approach questions about what we value, how we categorize reality, and how we organize experience?
We strongly encourage submissions from all areas of philosophy and from related disciplines, and we especially encourage submissions from women and other groups historically underrepresented in the profession.
Keynote Presentations by
Christine Overall
"What-If Any-Is the Value of Gender?"
Professor and University Research Chair, Department of Philosophy and Department of Gender Studies, Queen's University
Alice MacLachlan
"Navigating Dependencies in Collaborative Reproduction"
Associate Professor, Department of Philosophy, York University
Deadline for submission: extended to 19 February 2016. Submission Guidelines: Papers should not exceed 3000 words. They should be prepared for anonymous review and sent as a PDF file to uofaphilconference@gmail.com. In a separate PDF attachment, please include your name, academic affiliation, e-mail address, paper title, and an abstract of no more than 150 words. For more information, please contact us at uofaphilconference@gmail.com.