Call for Abstracts

First Idealism Summit

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, USA. April 12-13, 2024.

The First Idealism Summit will take place in Chapel Hill, NC April 12-13, 2024 It is intended as a gathering for those who work on contemporary versions of idealism, to exchange ideas, make connections, and discuss recent work. This Call for Abstracts invites submissions of abstracts of papers to be presented at the Summit. Abstracts should not exceed 1000 words, and should be emailed to idealismsummit@gmail.com They can be attached as pdf or docx document, or they can be included in the body of the message. The deadline for submitting abstracts is January 15, 2024. Notifications of acceptances will be sent out as soon as possible afterwards. A keynote address will be given by Michael Pelczar of the National University of Singapore.

Topics of suitable papers include any discussions of issues tied to contemporary idealism. These include, but are not limited to arguments for or against particular forms of idealism, critical discussions of contemporary versions of idealism, presentations of new forms of idealism, new applications of idealism, and so on. It should be stressed that arguments against idealism are just as suitable to be presented as arguments in favor of idealism. Each speaker will have roughly 40 minutes to present their work, followed by an extended discussion period.

In much of the contemporary philosophical scene idealism is dealt with as a position that is mostly of historical interest, and thus most of the work on idealism these days is focused on the study of historically significant idealists, like Berkeley, Kant, Hegel, and many others. The focus of the Idealism Summit is not on work of historical figures, but on the consideration of idealism as a topic in contemporary metaphysics, the philosophy of mind, ethics, and the philosophy of language. Thus papers that are primarily scholarship on historical figures are not ideally suited for this conference, although views or arguments inspired by historical figures are most welcome.

The author of each accepted abstract will be hosted at a local hotel during the conference, and they will be a guest at two conference dinners. However, the budget does not allow for paying travel cost as well. Still, this arrangement will hopefully make it financially possible for many philosophers to present their work. More information about this conference, abstract submission, and other ways to participate besides being a speaker can be found below. For any questions, please contact Thomas Hofweber at hofweber@unc.edu

Guidelines for abstract submission:

The focus of the proposed talk should be some issue tied to contemporary idealism, which is understood simply to contrast with scholarly work on historical figures which were idealists.
Any work on idealism is acceptable, except scholarship on historical figures. The work may be in favor or against idealism, it may concern metaphysics, ethics, the philosophy of mind, and so on. "Idealism" is broadly understood, but no attempts will be made here to define it.
Abstracts may not exceed 1000 words and should briefly outline what you propose to talk about: what topic, what postion you are arguing for or against, and how it roughtly will go. It is not necessary to give a lot of details, as long as it makes sense to the reader and will give them an idea of what the talk will likely be like. 1000 words is the absolute maximum length, shorter is perfectly fine.
The author should be able to present the material at the conference in a roughly 40 minute talk (plus additional time for discussion).
Abstracts should be emailed in any reasonable format (plain text, pdf, docx, etc.) to idealismsummit@gmail.com
For any questions, please contact Thomas Hofweber at hofweber@unc.edu
The deadline for receiving abstracts is January 15, 2024.

Notifications of acceptence will be sent out as soon as possible after the January 15 deadline.

Participation options

All those whose abstract got accepted will be put up at a local hotel during the conference and will be guests at two conference dinners. In case their are multiple authors, the budget only allows for one of them to be put up at a hotel. The budget also does not allow for the reimbursement of travel costs. However, for those whose abstract got accepted, they should be able to fully participate in the conference with little further cost than getting to Chapel Hill.

The conference budget will mostly be spent on hosting and dining the philosphers whose abstract got accepted, rather than to fly in several already well-known philosophers who work on idealism. There will only be one invited speaker, all other slots will be filled through this call for abstracts. The hope is to reach those who work on idealism and who would like to connect with others who do likewise, be they already well-known or not.

Besides participating as a speaker there are also other options to participate in the conference and to be on the program. There is the option to chair a session or to be a mini-commentator / first question asker. Such roles are sometimes required to be occupied to get funding from one's home institution, and anyone who is interested in this should contact Thomas Hofweber at hofweber@unc.edu If there are more abstract submissions than speaker slots these roles will also be offered to those whose abstract was almost, but not quite, selected.

General participation is free, but registration is required. Information on how to register will be posted on this site after the program has been settled.