Call for Applications: Ca’ Foscari University Venice Summer School Of Phenomenology And Phenomenological Philosophy – Life After Life (July 2023).
CALL FOR APPLICATIONS
CA’ FOSCARI UNIVERSITY VENICE
DEPARTMENT OF PHILOSOPHY AND CULTURAL HERITAGE
SUMMER SCHOOL OF PHENOMENOLOGY AND PHENOMENOLOGICAL PHILOSOPHY:
LIFE AFTER LIFE
VENICE, JULY 3-7, 2023
DEADLINE: May 10, 2023
Only a limited number of students will be admitted. Priority will be given to Master and PhD students. There will be no attendance fee.
Seminars will be led by:
- Daniele de Santis
- Nicolas de Warren
- Matteo Giannasi
- Sara Heinämaa
- Burt Hopkins
- Sophie Loidolt
- Claudio Majolino
- Gian Luigi Paltrinieri
- Emiliano Trizio
Questions concerning what becomes of us after death, to where we might journey and to how we might endure after ceasing to exist, have long fascinated human beings. In our present day and age, although a concern with life after death in either religious or metaphysical senses might be seen as having been consigned to entertaining mythology or philosophical archaism, the question of “life after life” can arguably be considered, in novel and challenging ways, as presenting one of the more pressing concerns for philosophical reflection. The production of waste (plastics, nuclear materials, etc.), global climate change, pollution, and other phenomena have thrown into a sharper profile the many senses in which our present activities shall affect future generations, thus giving a resonance and impact to our actions that will far exceed the span of our lives. Politically, many of the difficulties facing us today can likewise be seen in terms of “life after life:” is utopia still a meaningful category and aspiration, or are we condemned to “no future” where it is easier to imagine the end of the world than the end of capitalism? But it is not only nor exclusively with regard to the deep time of the future that the question of “life after life” affects us today. “The past is never dead. It’s not even past,” William Faulkner once memorably wrote. Reparations for injustices of the past, the hauntings of past moral harms, and question of forgiveness in the name of the dead can be seen as some of the numerous issues that animate the problem of “life after life” with regard to the past. In a more speculative way, are we witnessing a post-human age populated with projects of overcoming biological death, escapism from the planet earth, and other technological dreams of achieving “immortality”? Given this broad and rich spectrum, what ways of thinking are available within phenomenological approaches to address this host of issues under the title “life after life?” Is a phenomenology of being with the dead, of the dead being with us, of non-existing future beings, etc., possible? And how would such possibilities need to conceptually take shape and find articulation, indeed, receive a distinct phenomenological voice and vision?
Applicants should send a CV and a sample of writing (optional) to [email protected]
Deadline for submission: May 10, 2022
Notification of acceptance: May 12, 2022
A number of students will present short papers on the topic of this year’s edition. Each student presentation will last twenty minutes and will be followed by a thirty-minute discussion. Once the selection of this year’s students has taken place, we will circulate a call for abstracts among those admitted to the School.
Abstracts of the seminars, info about faculty, and the program will be available on the website: www.phenomenologyinvenice.com
The School does not cover any expenses for travel, food, and lodging.