10th International Graduate Conference in Philosophy
University of Essex, 28th April 2007
"Two Hundred Years of Hegel’s Phenomenology of Spirit"

Few texts in the history of European philosophy have been as provocative – or divisive – as the Phenomenology of Spirit, and few philosophers as influential as Hegel. The Phenomenology introduced a new method in philosophy; working through the analysis of shapes of human consciousness, the disclosure of their logical structures and immanent tensions, the description of their disintegration and their subsequent reconstruction. With the Phenomenology, history entered into philosophical reflection in an entirely new way. Hegel has been productively interpreted by thinkers from a diverse range of traditions. These appropriations – idealist, materialist, existentialist, socialist, political, economic – have remained immensely influential for social, ethical and political thought.

Now, 200 years after it was first published, how should we understand its legacy as an object of fascination, bewilderment and inspiration? The aim of this conference is not primarily to explore the structure, method, and content of this inexhaustible text. Rather, we invite papers which address the way in which the Phenomenology of Spirit has functioned as an inspiration, an example, and perhaps a warning for later thinkers. We are equally interested in papers which deal with topics from the fields of enquiry opened up by Hegel. We are particularly keen to receive proposals for papers on:

• Philosophy’s relation to its own history

• Recognition as an ethical and political category
  

• Modernity and the problem of ‘Diremption’ (Entzweiung)
  

• Religion and Enlightenment

• Skepticism and Philosophical Knowledge
  

• Marxist appropriations of Hegel

• Critique of Transcendental Philosophy

The Department is able to provide those giving papers with limited financial assistance for travel and accommodation, but we encourage you to ask for travel grants from other bodies, e.g. home institutions. Papers should be suitable for a 30 minute presentation. Abstracts of 500 words should be sent in triplicate by 31st January, 2007 to:

Graduate Conference
Department of Philosophy
University of Essex
Wivenhoe Park
Colchester CO4 3SQ
UNITED KINGDOM
email queries: pygradc@essex.ac.uk

http://www.essex.ac.uk/philosophy/department/10th_Grad_Conf_cfp.pdf