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Call for Papers "Toward Perpetual Peace: On the Distinction between North, East, South, West" 3rd International Peace Workshop Internationales Forschungsnetzwerk für Transzendentalphilosophie und Deutschen Idealismus Bogaziçi University Istanbul (Turkey) 25-27 June 2009 __________________________________________________ The Internationales Forschungsnetzwerk Transzendentalphilosophie / Deutscher Idealismus organises in 2009 the Third International Peace Workshop. Our theme this year is "Toward Perpetual Peace - On the Distinction between North, East, South, West." The workshop will take place in Istanbul, at the Bogaziçi University. The expected dates of the workshop are from the 25th till the 27th of June 2009, although those dates may possibly change. The Bogaziçi University may offer some accommodations for lecturers. The compass rose: relativity and necessity of boundaries After having explored the philosophical meaning of the concept of peace and some of its particular applications in 2008 in Berlin, we would like to pursue our questioning on peace in considering the causes of the political, economical and cultural conflicts challenging peace. We would like the approach the differences where those conflicts find their origin through the image of the compass rose and its four cardinal points. The philosophical interest of this image is that it insists on the relativity of any kind of difference, as well as on its necessity. North, East, South and West are completely relative to the point where the observer is: it has no meaning if there isn't a centre, if there isn't a fixed point where the compass rose is bound to. But in the same time, such a fixed structure of orientation is absolutely needed in order to be able to orientate oneself through our thoughts: without the idea of the cardinal points, the compass cannot function anymore. We would like to suggest both a deconstruction and a reconstruction of the compass rose. The compass rose is a colonial symbol: it connotes navigation, exploration, mapping, and its Eurocentric imperial history still conditions our divisions of the world (the south, the middle-east, the north, etc), and in this sense it needs to be critically deconstructed. But in the same time, a reconstruction of some kind of structures is needed, since categories are absolutely necessary to our concrete life. The workshop understands itself as an experiment: the goal is to bring together philosophers from radically different perspectives and push them to an explicit confrontation of their point of views. Our questions are purposively provocative: the idea is at first to challenge cultural boundaries. Because the 2009th Peace Workshop will happen in Istanbul, we suggest to our lecturers to confront directly to the questions relating to Turkey, its culture, identity, religion, and to its social, political, juridical and economical concerns, but as well to questions concerning the relationship between Europe and the so called Greater Middle-East, Turkey and Arab world, Islam and other religions, the status of modernity and tradition. What can Europe bring to Turkey? What can Turkey bring to Europe? What shouldn't they bring to each other? Which relationships could or could not have today Islamic, Christian, Ottoman, Arab, European, Greek traditions? What can they bring to each other? What are the points of conflicts? How can they be solved? What are the ones of harmony? How is peace possible within those issues? Those are some of the questions we would like to be addressed during the workshop. Toward Perpetual Peace: for a transcendental understanding of peace Toward Perpetual Peace (Zum ewigen Frieden) is the title of Kant's famous text published in 1795. But far more than being a title of a particular book, this notion summarises a truly philosophical understanding of peace. It immediately presents peace as an utopia, a "good place" (eú-topos), and in that sense, it is not there yet, it "has-to-come", a "nowhere" (ú-topos). Peace is counter-factual: it is an absolute that isn't yet reached and toward which one has to progress. But in the same time, peace is a pantopia, an "everywhere place" (pán-topos): peace, in being more the process of reaching an ideal peace than the state of peace itself, and in this sense, it is always completely present. This is, quickly drawn, the so-called transcendental point of view on peace: the point of view of the conditions of possibility of peace for the human being. This places our workshop on a radical prospective point of view: we want to address peace in order to contribute to its realisation within the conditions of our contemporary world. And from this point of view, our question becomes: How can transcendental philosophy help us to realise peace? Modalities of the workshop: Interaction between Philosophy and Civil Society We invite lecturers to participate in this dynamic understanding of peace by presenting philosophical propositions which try, once more, to negotiate the process of creating peace. The workshop is an incitation to rethink the concept of peace, its meaning and possibility, in an independent and critical way. All the lecturers will present in their papers strong affirmative philosophical positions that are original ways to understand and achieve peace. The lectures should be as independent as possible from author's interpretations, and focus on systematic reflections. Contributors from both continental and analytic philosophical traditions are welcome to contribute. Non-philosophers are also welcome to propose a paper: However, the papers should approach the question not only from an empirical point of view (historical, political, economical, etc), but at first from a conceptual perspective, and present a solution or a problem relating to a general understanding of peace. The form of the lecture should be accessible by specialists and non-specialists alike. Interested people can send a max. 500 words abstract, including a title, before the 10th of February 2009. Organisation: Kai Gregor, Zübeyde Karada and Serguei Spetschinsky Information: http://www.a-priori.eu Contact: Zübeyde Karada Email: [email protected] Serguei Spetschinsky Email: [email protected] __________________________________________________ InterPhil List Administration: http://interphil.polylog.org Intercultural Philosophy Calendar: http://cal.polylog.org
