Conference

Philosophy and Social Science

Institute of Philosophy, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic

Jilska 1, 110 00 Prague 1, Czech Republic, European Union

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The conference is annually held at the Institute of Philosophy at the Czech Academy of Sciences in Prague. The colloquium was once a prominent part of the regular activities of the Dubrovnik Inter-University Centre for Post-Graduate Studies, before the outbreak of the civil war in ex-Yugoslavia. For the past 30 years the colloquium, whose first directors were Jürgen Habermas and Gajo Petrovic, has been held under the general title "Philosophy and the Social Sciences". In 1992, the tragic developments in former Yugoslavia forced us to relocate temporarily to the island of Ischia in Italy. Since 1993, the colloquium has generously been given a home by the Institute of Philosophy at the Czech Academy of Sciences in Prague. It is organized in cooperation with Charles University, Prague.

Although the political and intellectual context has changed dramatically since the early seventies – the Czech Republic and other Central and Eastern European countries are now part of the EU – the tradition of critical social thinking and political theory still marks the character of the conference. We construe this tradition in the broadest possible way; those who have attended in the past will be familiar with the special spirit of international intellectual dialogue and genuine pluralism which characterizes it. New and alternative voices, ideas and perspectives are always welcome at the conference.

The directors of the colloquium are Maeve Cooke (University College Dublin), Alessandro Ferrara (University of Rome, “Tor Vergata”), Rainer Forst (University of Frankfurt), Nancy Fraser (New School), Marek Hrubec (Czech Academy of Sciences, Prague), Maria Pia Lara (Universidad Autònoma Metropolitana, Mexico City), Hartmut Rosa (University of Jena), and Bill Scheuermann (Indiana University).

Jean L. Cohen (Columbia University, New York), Peter Dews (Essex University), Axel Honneth (University of Frankfurt) and Frank Michelman (Harvard University) have been appointed “honorary directors”; we all are very grateful to them for having served for many years with great enthusiasm and efficacy.

This year, the conference will be held from Thursday, May 10 through Sunday, May 13, 2007. The colloquium will begin on Thursday at 09:00 and end on Sunday at 13:00. The directors have selected four special, but broad thematic complexes around which the conference programme will be organized. These complexes are as follows:

(1) War and Peace in the Global Age

(2) Beyond Capitalism?

(3) Theorizing Communication: Cultural Industry or Public Sphere?

(4) Forms of Critique: Justice or Happiness?

On each morning of the colloquium, we will hear either several keynote lectures or one keynote-lecture and several slightly shorter papers discussing major issues. Afternoons will be devoted to panel or workshop sessions consisting of two or three papers, and the directors will, insofar as possible, organize these sessions around one of the four main themes. Thus we encourage the submission of papers dealing with one or another of these themes (deadline for the submission of a short abstract: February 28). We will, however, also be happy to arrange afternoon panels or workshop sessions for papers on topics outside the listed themes but within the traditional, broader areas of interest of the colloquium. In particular, we would like to encourage participants to organize, in cooperation with the directors, afternoon-workshops that are centred around alternative critical approaches, pressing political questions (like the situation in the Middle East), or new social movements (e. g. Attac). These workshops should provide a broad forum for discussions and should be stimulated by a number of short statements rather than lengthy papers. If you have suggestions for workshops of that sort and/or are willing to help us organize them, please let us know.

The program of the 2007 conference is here.