If today, freedom can be conceived as a physiological property of human being, such conception trivializes the history of freedom as a philosophical concept. Throughout the history of philosophy, freedom has always been discussed in much larger contexts: If, for example, freedom consists in acting freely in causally determined nature, a conception of human freedom arises only from metaphysical presupposition. The same holds true for an understanding of human freedom as something realizing itself in history, as something that is only possible through grace, or as something that must be won against dominant interpretations of self and world. The concept of freedom is thus not only a topic in practical and theoretical philosophy, but can be understood as a connection of both–and be it in a tension between the two. We are calling for contributions both in the history of philosophy and in a systematic approach to the topic.

Call for papers

If today, freedom can be conceived as a physiological property of human being, such conception trivializes the history of freedom as a philosophical concept. Throughout the history of philosophy, freedom has always been discussed in much larger contexts: If, for example, freedom consists in acting freely in causally determined nature, a conception of human freedom arises only from metaphysical presupposition. The same holds true for an understanding of human freedom as something realizing itself in history, as something that is only possible through grace, or as something that must be won against dominant interpretations of self and world. The concept of freedom is thus not only a topic in practical and theoretical philosophy, but can be understood as a connection of both–and be it in a tension between the two. We are calling for contributions both in the history of philosophy and in a systematic approach to the topic.

For each presentation and its discussion, a time slot of 45 minutes is available. Working languages of the conference are German and English. Presentations can be given in any of the both languages. It is planned to publish the contributions to the conference with the publisher Alber, Freiburg.

Some advanced scholars have been invited to present a lecture. Speakers include Volker Gerhardt, Dietmar Köhler, and Morten Thaning. Latest information soon can be found at http://www.philosophie.uni-freiburg.de/forschung.

Modalities

Offers for contributions to the Junior Conference can be submitted

until 31 January 2012

and are to be sent by e-mail to graduiertentagung@philosophie.uni-freiburg.de. There are two documents (PDF or Word) to be handed in, formatted for blind review: one document with the complete presentation (4,000 words maximum, not including footnotes) without mention of the name; a second document which states name, address and affiliation and gives a summary of the presentation in the same language. The summary should not be longer than 1,000 characters.
Applicants will be informed about the acceptance of their contribution by 20. February 2012. All questions can be sent to the organizers using the e-mail address above.

Organization of the Conference / commission

Diego D’Angelo, Sara Fumagalli, Sylvaine Gourdain, Choong-Su Han, Jakob Heller, Tobias Keiling, Nikola Mirkovic

Generous funding provided by: Internationale Graduiertenakademie/International Graduate Academy Albert-Luwigs-Universität Freiburg

Dates of the Conference

20-21 April 2012