„CfA: Praxis – Kritik – Transformation“: Dritte Tagung des German Pragmatism Network (GerPragNet), 17.-19. Oktober 2024 an der Hochschule für Philosophie München

*English version below*

Der kritische Impuls des philosophischen Pragmatismus hat sich von Beginn an nicht nur auf bestimmte Weisen des Theoretisierens, sondern ganz wesentlich auch auf die gesellschaftliche Praxis gerichtet. Die vom Pragmatismus angestrebte „Erneuerung der Philosophie“ ist kein bloßer Selbstzweck: Die grundlegende Transformation der akademischen Theoriebildung zielte zugleich auf andere, bessere Formen der Gestaltung von Gesellschaft. So lässt sich der Pragmatismus auch als kritische Theorie im weitesten Sinne verstehen, geht er doch mit dem Anspruch einher, gesellschaftliche Missstände identifizieren und problematisieren zu können, um sie letztlich zu überwinden. Die dritte Jahrestagung des German Pragmatist Network soll das gesellschaftskritische und sozialtransformative Angebot des Pragmatismus erhellen, auf den Prüfstand stellen und, wo erforderlich, weiterentwickeln.

Weitere Informationen bezüglich des Themas sowie möglicher Fragestellungen entnehmen Sie bitte dem Call for Papers.

Für jede Präsentation ist eine Sektion von insgesamt 40 Minuten vorgesehen (20 Minuten Vortrag, 20 Minuten Diskussion). Außerdem besteht die Möglichkeit, eigene Projekte im Rahmen einer freien Postersession zu präsentieren, die für alle pragmatistischen Themen geöffnet ist. Bitte reichen Sie Abstracts sowie Poster-Vorschläge (Deutsch oder Englisch, maximal 300 Worte) per Mail bei Ana Honnacker ein: ana.honnacker[at]hfph.de

Die Konferenzsprache ist Deutsch, englische Vorträge sind aber möglich und willkommen.
Einreichungen werden bis zum 13. Mai 2024 akzeptiert und das Ergebnis des Call for Papers wird im Juni bekannt gegeben.

Für die Keynote-Vorträge konnten Hans Joas (HU Berlin) und Rahel Jaeggi (HU Berlin) gewonnen werden.

Organisation: Prof. Dr. Michael Reder, Dr. Ana Honnacker, Julian Prugger M.A., Danilo Gajic M.A.


The critical thrust of philosophical pragmatism has always been directed at social practices, too. The „renewal of philosophy“ sought by pragmatism was not a theoretical end in itself: the fundamental transformation of (academic) theoretical development aimed simultaneously at other, better forms of shaping society. In this sense, pragmatism can also be understood as a critical theory in a broader sense, as it includes the claim to identify and articulate social problems to ultimately overcome them. The third annual conference of the German Pragmatist Network seeks to illuminate, discuss, and further develop the critical and socio-transformative potential of pragmatism.

Please see the call for papers for further information on possible topics and research questions.

Each presenter will have 20 minutes for their talk, followed by 20 minutes for discussion.
Additionally, there is the opportunity to present your projects in a free poster session, open to all topics in the general field of pragmatist research. Please submit abstracts and poster proposals (in German or English, up to 300 words) by email to Ana Honnacker: ana.honnacker[at]hfph.de

The conference language is German, but English presentations are possible and welcome.
Submissions will be accepted until May 13, 2024, and the results of the call for papers will be announced in June.

Hans Joas (HU Berlin) and Rahel Jaeggi (HU Berlin) have been confirmed as Keynote Speakers.

Organised by: Prof. Dr. Michael Reder, Dr. Ana Honnacker, Julian Prugger M.A., Danilo Gajic M.A.


Call for Papers: „Borders and Boundaries“ – IARPT Annual Conference, June 12-15, 2023 · Katholische Akademie Berlin Borders and Boundaries

The Institute for American Religious and Philosophical Thought (IARPT) is pleased to announce its 2023 international meeting, which will be held at the Katholische Akademie in Berlin on June 12-15 2023. The theme of the meeting is borders and boundaries. Keynote and plenary speakers include Sigurd Bergmann, Anne-Laure Amilhat Szary, Terrence Deacon, John Thatamanil, Robert Yelle, Marcia Pally, Matthew Bagger, and Randall Auxier.

As sites of power manifested, borders and boundaries characterize some of the prevailing
developments of our time, encompassing families separated, hope and hopelessness, and the limits of civil and political order. Christian Parenti has written that “the border becomes a text from which to read the future—or a version of it” (2011). This conference theme finds inspiration in Parenti’s metaphor, both by recognizing a radical openness to the present situation and insisting on the capacity of theology, philosophy, ethics, and other associated disciplines to rewrite better outcomes and mitigate those that are catastrophic.

For more information on the theme of the meeting and potential topics, please see the Call for Papers.

Proposals should contain a descriptive title and a brief (no more than 500 words) but informative and readable description of the paper to be presented. Proposals should also include a brief (150-word) biographical sketch of their authors. Proposals should envision paper readings of approximately twenty minutes followed by moderated questions from the audience. All proposals should be sent in Word/PDF format to the program chairs: Gary Slater (garyslater@uni-muenster.de) and Lisa Landoe Hedrick (landoe@uchicago.edu). The deadline for submissions is February 15, 2023. Potential funding for travel and lodging is available in the form of the W. Creighton Peden Scholarship; please visit www.iarpt.org for more information, and please indicate your interest in this option upon the submission of your proposal. Responses to paper proposals can be expected by March 15, 2023.

„Comprehensive Worldviews“: Zweite Tagung des German Pragmatism Network (GerPragNet), 1.-3. Juni 2023 in Koblenz [Verlängerung der Abgabefrist des Call for Papers bis zum 05.03.2023]

Menschen neigen dazu, sich in ein mehr oder minder artikuliertes Verhältnis zum Ganzen ihrer erfahrbaren Wirklichkeit zu setzen und entwickeln dabei Religionen und Weltanschauungen unterschiedlichster Art, können aber auch zu der Idee einer integrativen Gesamtperspektive ein höchst kritisches oder ablehnendes Verhältnis entwickeln. In beiden Fällen artikulieren sie Erfahrungen vor dem Hintergrund einer qualitativen Weltbeziehung.
Unter den klassischen Pragmatisten haben sich besonders William James und John Dewey, in einer sehr speziellen Perspektive auch Charles Peirce, mit diesem hartnäckigen, vielleicht nicht universellen, aber doch weit verbreiteten menschlichen Bedürfnis beschäftigt. Peirce entwickelt eine spekulative Kosmologie und Metaphysik, die an seine Kategorienlehre anknüpft. James versucht im „Will to Believe“, eine komplexe Antwort auf die Frage zu finden, was wir wann und unter welchen Umständen zu glauben berechtigt sind, Dewey geht noch einen riskanten Schritt weiter, indem er einen „Common Faith“ der Menschheit aus der disparaten Fülle religiöser Überzeugungen extrahieren will.
In jedem Fall, so die Idee hinter der Tagung, stellt der klassische Pragmatismus reichhaltige Ressourcen zur reflexiven Auseinandersetzung mit dem skizzierten Thema bereit, die die etablierten Diskurse bereichern und verändern können, insbesondere dadurch, dass von einem differenzierten Erfahrungsbegriff und den Bedingungen und Grenzen seiner Ausweitung auf die Wirklichkeit im Ganzen ausgegangen wird.

Als Keynote-Speaker konnten wir Prof.’in Dr. Annette Langner-Pitschmann (Goethe-Universität Frankfurt a.M., Professur für Theologie in globalisierter Gegenwart) und Prof. Dr. Sami Pihlström (Universität Helsinki, Professor für Philosophie der Religion) gewinnen.

Organisation: Dr. Tina Massing, Prof. Dr. Matthias Jung
Kontakt und Anmeldung: Dr. Tina Massing: tagung@gerprag.net


Call for Papers

*English version below*

Wir möchten dazu einladen, Vortragsvorschläge zum gesamten Spektrum des Tagungsthemas einzureichen. Besondere Aufmerksamkeit wird Einreichungen zukommen, die sich mit folgenden Fragen auseinandersetzen:

  1. Weltanschauungen („Comprehensive Worldviews“) im Allgemeinen,
  2. Weltanschauungen und die Wissenschaften (sowohl Geistes- als auch Naturwissenschaften),
  3. Pluralismus und Kontingenz ernst genommen – sind Weltanschauungen obsolet?
  4. Die Spannung zwischen normativem Egalitarismus und der Partikularität von Weltanschauungen,
  5. Überzeugungen und Wahrheitsansprüche in pragmatistischer Perspektive,
  6. „Ethics of belief“ (die Clifford-James-Debatte und ihre Relevanz für heute),
  7. Die Reichweite und die Bedeutung der Idee eines „übergreifenden Konsens“.

Jedes angenommene Paper erhält einen 20-minütigen Zeitslot. Um garantieren zu können, dass genügend Zeit für die anschließende Diskussion bleibt, ist dieser Zeitslot fest und kann nicht überschritten werden.

Außerdem wird es eine 90-minütige Postersession geben, die für alle pragmatistischen Themen geöffnet ist.

Bitte reichen Sie Ihre Paper sowie Poster-Vorschläge (Deutsch oder Englisch, maximal 300 Worte) bei Tina Massing ein: tagung@gerprag.net

Die Konferenzsprache ist Deutsch, englische Vorträge sind aber möglich und willkommen.

Einreichungen werden bis zum 05. März 2023 akzeptiert und das Ergebnis des Call for Papers wird spätestens Ende März bekannt gegeben.


We invite presentation proposals covering the entire range of the topic. Special attention will be given to papers dealing with the following questions:

  1. Comprehensive Worldviews in general,
  2. Worldviews and the sciences (both the humanities and the “hard” sciences),
  3. Pluralism and contingency taken seriously – are comprehensive worldviews obsolete?,
  4. The tension between normative egalitarianism and the particularity of worldviews,
  5. Beliefs and truth-claims in a pragmatist perspective,
  6. The ethics of belief (The Clifford-James debate and its importance for today),
  7. The scope and importance of the idea of an “overlapping consensus”.

Each accepted paper will be given a 20 minutes-slot. In order to ensure sufficient time for discussion, this time-slot is fixed and cannot be exceeded.
We will also have a 90-minute postersession, open for all pragmatist topics.

Please submit both your paper and your poster proposals (German or English, max. 300 words) to Tina Massing: tagung@gerprag.net

Submission deadline is March 5th, 2023 and the result of the call will be announced by the end of March at the latest.

CfP: Women in Pragmatism Workshop, 2 August 2022, University College London

The original Call for Papers can be found here.

Organisers: Chiara Ambrosio and Núria Sara Miras Boronat

The Women in Pragmatism Workshop will take place at UCL on 2 August 2022. It will consist of two interactive sessions (scholars circle; three minute presentations), where all attendees will be able to share work-in-progress, and an interactive mentoring session. The day will conclude with a roundtable presentation and the launch of the book Women in Pragmatism: Past, Present and Future, edited by Michela Bella and Núria Sara Miras Boronat.

Call for papers

The organisers welcome contributions from women, non-binary, gender non-conforming, and all trans colleagues working on any area of pragmatism. We specifically require that participants present work in progress, on which they are seeking feedback in a collegial and supportive environment. As the workshop will run just before the European Pragmatism Conference, we cannot accept submissions that have been accepted for the European Pragmatism Conference.

There are two routes to participate with a contribution to the workshop. Please choose your preferred format, and submit only to one of the following:

 Three-minute presentations

The organisers invite submissions for three-minute presentations. Presenters will submit a title and three slides in advance of the conference (see instructions below), and all three-minute presentations will be compiled together for presentation at the sessions. After the presentations, the audience and speakers will be divided in groups for in-depth discussion of the presentations, followed by a plenary discussion which will bring all the groups together.

If you would like to submit a three-minute presentation, please fill in this form by 30 June 2022, at midnight (CET). The form only asks you for your contact details and the title of your presentation. Send your three slides (in PowerPoint format) to Chiara Ambrosio at c.ambrosio@ucl.ac.uk by 30 June 2022.

Scholars Circle

This is a format launched this year at the SAAP Conference, and we are grateful to Judy Whipps and Barb Lowe for bringing it to our attention! Participants submit a 300-400 word abstract of a work in progress. Facilitators will then create “Circles” consisting of 3-4 individuals, grouping the participants with attention to abstract content, scholarly experience, and stage of academic career (e.g. graduate students, tenured professors, instructors, tenure-track instructors, independent scholars, etc.). Participants will then share and receive feedback on their work within their circles, and 20-30 minutes at the end of the session will be used to have a representative of each group relay back key highlights from the discussion to the other groups.

If you would like to submit a work in progress for a Scholars Circle session, please use this form and submit an abstract by 30 June 2022 (midnight CET).

Deadline: 30 June 2022
Contact: Chiara Ambrosio (c.ambrosio@ucl.ac.uk)
Date: 2 August 2022
Location: University College London

CfP: Democratic Education Revisited: The Approach of Pragmatism

For further information regarding the Call for Papers, please click here.

Keynote Speakers
: Julian Culp (Paris), Andrea English (Edinburgh), Jeff Frank (Canton, NY), Joshua Forstenzer (Sheffield), David L. Hildebrand (Denver), Katariina Holma (Oulu), Natalia Rogach Alexander (New York), Maura Striano (Naples).

There is a limited number of spots available for papers pertinent to the topic of the conference (all talks will be on-site; no zoom). Young scholars are especially encouraged to apply. We are committed to creating a friendly and vibrant environment where to receive constructive feedback and inspiration. If you are interested, please send an abstract (word or pdf) of no more than 400 words to michael.festl@unisg.ch by 31 January 2022 or earlier. We will notify you whether you can take part in the conference by the end of February.

Deadline: 31 January 2022
Contact: Michael Festl (michael.festl@unisg.ch)
Date: June 9 – 11 2022
Location: Dewey-Center St. Gallen, Switzerland

Call for Individual Papers

The call for individual papers will open on 4 January 2022.

The organizers invite presentation proposals exploring and applying pragmatist ideas to issues and debates in all fields of philosophical and social inquiry, as well as debates in the natural, biomedical and social sciences. Pragmatism being the overall theme of the conference, we encourage the presentation title to reflect explicitly its connections with the theme of the conference. Presentations that explore issues at the interface of Pragmatism and social justice, critical race theory and intersectionality are especially welcome.

Submissions from women scholars and other underrepresented groups in philosophy are especially welcome. This conference follows the BPA/SWIP good practice guidelines

45 minutes (including discussion) will be allocated for each individual paper presentation. The time is fixed and cannot be exceeded. We expect presenters to reserve at least 10 minutes for discussion. The submission abstracts are expected to include a clear description of the paper’s contents and its contribution to its field of inquiry.

Please submit your paper proposal via our online electronic form. Submissions deadline is at midnight (Central European Time) on 7 February 2022. Please follow the instructions (including word limits) given and save the contents of your submission separately in case of technical difficulties. We expect to announce the results of the call by 14 March 2022.

Call for Papers: Richard Rorty Society

The Richard Rorty Society invites papers on the topic of “Richard Rorty’s Anti-Authoritarianism” from current and recent graduate students (within three years of receiving their PhD) or those who do not yet hold a PhD for a paper competition to coincide with its 2021 meeting. The meeting will be hosted online by David McClean of Rutgers University, School of Arts and Sciences, Newark, NJ.

We will dedicate a panel to a discussion of the winning paper at the Richard Rorty Society’s online mini-conference, to be held October 14 and 15, 2021 (US Eastern Time). In addition to a panel dedicated to discussion of the winning paper, the RRS is offering a prize of $500 (USD) and editorial support for potential publication in a relevant, peer-reviewed journal.

Please click here for further information.

Call for Papers: Living Democracy

Für die erste Jahrestagung des German Pragmatism Network (weitere Informationen zur Veranstaltung) sind besonders Nachwuchsforscher*innen eingeladen, sich für Projektpräsentationen zu bewerben.

Genauere Informationen erhalten Sie durch Klicken auf das nebenstehende Bild.

Für jede Präsentation ist eine Sektion von insgesamt 50 Minuten vorgesehen (30 Minuten Vortrag, 20 Minuten Diskussion). Abstracts (deutsch/englisch, max. 300 Wörter) können bis zum 2. März 2020 per Mail an honnacker@fiph.de eingesandt werden.

Die Veranstaltung findet vom 3.-5. September 2020 am Kulturcampus Domäne Marienburg der Universität Hildesheim statt.

Deadline: 2. März 2020
Kontakt: honnacker@fiph.de

Veranstaltungsdatum: 3.-5. September 2020
Ort: Kulturcampus Domäne Marienburg, Universität Hildesheim

Call for papers: 47th annual SAAP meeting

The SAAP (Society for the Advancement of American Philosophy) invites papers or proposals on the topic of American Philosophy for their annual meeting in 2020.
While all papers on American philosophy are welcome, some preferences will be given to papers or proposals on „Inter-American-Philosophy“.

Representative topics may include the following:

  1. Past, present and possible future philosophical connections between philosophers and philosophic traditions in different parts of the Americas,
    especially with the Classical American philosophical traditions.
  2. North American and Latin American Philosophy: explorations of the mutual influence of philosophy done in the north and the south or fruitful comparisons of the
    philosophical insights of prominent philosophers on both sides of the continent, including Latinx and indigenous thought.
  3. Examination and elaboration of the important contributions of philosophers in the Americas (e.g., Pragmatism, Mexican Existentialism) to past and present problems
    in the Analytic and Continental traditions.
  4. Philosophers on the common ideals and common socio-political problems of the Americas. For example:
    a) Democracy and decolonialism, its nature, prospects and challenges
    in the Americas;
    b) How philosophy can contribute to the amelioration of the common problems of North and South America.
  5. Philosophical ideas and debates about the identity of the Americas in relation to other nations, regions, and cultures.
  6. Philosophy of technology and science in the Americas, environmental practices and movements throughout the Americas, and Philosophy of Education (including philosophy for children) in and throughout the Americas.

You do not need to be a member of SAAP to submit a paper or proposal via the standard submission tool on the SAAP website. Scholars who are not presently members of the Society, but whose work is in American thought, are especially encouraged to submit.

For further information (funding for graduate students, or requirements for the papers and proposals) see the conference website.

Place: City of San Miguel de Allende, Mexico
Date: 5-7 March 2020
Deadline: 15 August 2019

Conference: The Reception of American Pragmatism in Europe

The conference aims at exploring the different facets of the impact that American Pragmatism has had, has today and could still have on Europe.

There are three core inquiries:

1. First, the conference is interested in the changing cycles of the reception, from the European exorcizing of Pragmatism as a philosophy solely interested in the “cash value” of ideas to its appreciation as the paradigmatic philosophy in a plural and constantly changing world.

2. Second, it investigates how and to what extent we can speak of a unified European reaction to Pragmatism and, at the same time, expounds on episodes of a multifaceted reception that are characteristic of different regions in Europe (e.g. Southern, Central, Eastern Europe, the Nordic Countries, the British Isles, etc.).

3. Third, the conference explores the contributions that American Pragmatism can still make with regard to contemporary European challenges, from the political and economic relations between the EU and the United States, to the formation and the identity of a European community, from immigration to populism, from the crisis of democracy to new social movements, from current scientific and economic challenges to innovative and intelligent solutions for social life. In this context, the relationship between so-called American Pragmatism and Latin/South/Indigenous American philosophy can also be taken into consideration with the aim of gathering new and transformative insights for Europe.

For further information on the conference, please see here (Call for papers).

and the program.

Place: Dewey-Center Switzerland, St. Gallen
Conference Date: June 6-8, 2019
Contact: federica.gregoratto@unisg.ch and michael.festl@unisg.ch