Call for papers: Reason, Activism, and Change
University of Windsor
October 3-5, 2008
Keynote speaker: Dr. Val Plumwood
Australian Research Fellow at the Australian National University, Social & Political Theory and the Centre for Resource & Environmental Studies
Whether we seek to redress existing social inequities such as sexism, or halt the decay of our natural environments, the concerted operation of reason and activism aids the achievement of changes we want. Reason should inform activism, and activism can affect reasoning. Both may respond to or affect changes in social and physical circumstances.
The Canadian Society for Women in Philosophy invites philosophical papers from diverse academic areas, including logic & argumentation, environmental philosophy, epistemology & metaphysics, philosophy of science & technology, legal theory, social & political philosophy, ethics, and moral psychology.
Possible topics include, but are not limited to:
· Forms of reasoning that encourage or discourage activism
· Whether and how activism can be taught, and how it can be involved in other professional practices
· How activism affects reasoning and justification
· What sort of reasoning entrenches existing views and what encourages change
· Whether terrorism can be reasonable, or morally justified
· The affects of social activism and change on science and technology
· How science and technology impact on the environment and on health
· Androcentrism, anthropocentrism, and the environment
· The logic of change: in bodies, in the environment, or of the beliefs held by a person or group of people
Submissions of long abstracts (1000 words) are invited (for eventual presentations of 20 minutes, or not more than 3000 words). Email your abstract as a double-spaced Word attachment, prepared for anonymous review, as well as your full contact information, to:
Dr. Catherine Hundleby
Department of Philosophy, University of Windsor
hundleby@uwindsor.ca
DEADLINE: March 14, 2008. Early submissions are encouraged, while we regret that late submissions cannot be accepted.