CFP: Philosophy and Museums

Deadline: 15th May 2013

Conference: 24th – 26th July 2013

Glasgow

Description: There has been much interest lately on the part of academics, museum professionals and policy makers on interactions between universities and museums. Critical theory, influenced by Continental philosophy, has had a shaping role on the discussions which have taken place; however, so far there has been little attention to what the insights of philosophers in the Anglo-American tradition might bring to the table. This conference will highlight the scholarship of philosophers in the Anglo-American tradition who have engaged with museums and taken seriously the philosophical questions they raise.

Keynote speakers:

  • David Brown (St Andrews), ‘Contexts and Experiencing the Sacred’
  • Ivan Gaskell (Bard Graduate Center, New York), ‘The Museum of Big Ideas’
  • Garry Hagberg (Bard College, New York), ‘Word and Object’
  • Michael Levine (University of Western Australia), ‘Museums and the Nostalgic Self’
  • Beth Lord (University of Aberdeen), ‘“A Sudden Surprise of the Soul”: Wonder in Museums and Early Modern Philosophy’
  • Graham Oddie (University of Colorado at Boulder), ‘What do we see in Museums?’
  • Julia Rosenbaum (Bard College, New York), ‘A Curious Case of Collecting’
  • Constantine Sandis (Oxford Brookes), ‘Replicas and the Role of Museums’
  • Charles Taliaferro (St Olaf, Minnesota) with Jil Evans, ‘How to Get into a Work of Art’
  • Philip Tonner (Hutchesons’ Grammar School, Glasgow), ‘Museums, Ethics and Truth’

Call for papers: Papers should take 30 minutes to present and be submitted in a form suitable for blind review. Our aim is to involve speakers with a variety of perspectives. It is intended that papers presented at the conference should be suitable for publication as a special supplementary volume of Philosophy (scheduled to appear with Cambridge University Press in 2014). It is a condition of accepting the invitation to participate in the conference that we would have the first right of refusal on a final version of any paper delivered at the conference.

The deadline for submissions of papers is 15th May 2013. The conference fee will be waived for accepted speakers and lunch and dinner for three days will be provided. Speakers are expected to cover their own travel and accommodation costs.

Papers should be submitted, and enquiries addressed, to Dr Anna Bergqvist (a.bergqvist@mmu.ac.uk).

Conference website