Fordham Philosophy Conference

The conference call for papers is now available. You can download it as a pdf or as a Word doc, or view the text version below:

Fordham Philosophical Society’s
Fourth Biennial Graduate Student Conference

April 11-13, 2008
Fordham University
Bronx, New York

cosmopolitanism in philosophical contexts
the vision of the universal and attachments to the particular

Keynote speaker: Seyla Benhabib (Yale)
Plenary speaker: John Davenport (Fordham)

The current debate between cosmopolitan and communitarian thinkers revolves around the tension between moral universalism and particular cultures. While the conversation has been largely situated in the areas of political science, legal discourse, and human rights, the questions it raises are rooted in broader philosophical discussions. The issues of public reason (and public space), life-world, language and world-view, communication across porous boundaries, rights and the good, and metaphysics of the rights-bearing self both have their origins in and open new possibilities for philosophical investigations. Philosophical discourse itself is challenged in how to take these concrete global problems seriously, including its own situatedness in a particular historical and political context.

We invite papers from all philosophical traditions to address these concerns. Topics could include, but need not be limited to:

• Citizenship, membership or rights for aliens, residents, or indigenous peoples
• Problems of translation; literature, margins, and the untranslatable
• Natural law and public reason
• The local and familiar in relation to the global
• History of cosmopolitanism as a value (for the Greeks, Kant, or more recent thinkers)
• The role of philosophy in these disputes
• Universal or moral rights and political rights
• Political/personal/moral autonomy with respect to community and law
• Social ontology and social groups

The deadline for submissions is December 1, 2007.

Papers and abstracts should be prepared for blind review. Papers should be no longer than 25 minutes
(about 15 pages) in length. Accepted papers will be presented and responded to in hour-long sessions
without the distraction of simultaneous presentations.

Send abstracts or papers to:
conference@fordhamphilosophy.org