SSPP Panel at SPEP

2nd CFP: Roundtable on Marx’s Capital

The Society for Social and Political Philosophy is pleased to issue a
CALL FOR PARTICIPANTS
for a Roundtable on Marx’s ‘Capital’

Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas, February 24-27, 2011

Keynote address by Harry Cleaver
Associate Professor of Economics at the University of Texas at Austin, and author of ‘Reading Capital Politically’

The SSPP’s second Roundtable will explore Volume One of Marx’s ‘Capital’ (1867). We chose this text because the resurgence in references to and mentions of Marx – provoked especially by the current financial crisis and global recession, but presaged by the best-seller status of Hardt and Negri’s ‘Empire’ and Marx’s surprising victory in the BBC’s “greatest philosopher” poll – has only served to highlight the fact that there have arguably not been any new interpretive or theoretical approaches to this book since the Althusserian and autonomist readings of the 1960s.

The question that faces us is this: Does the return of Marx mean that we have been thrust into the past, such that long “obsolete” approaches have a newfound currency, or does in mean, on the contrary, that Marx has something new to say to us, and that new approaches to his text are called for?

The guiding hypothesis of this Roundtable is that if new readings of ‘Capital’ are called for, then it is new readers who will produce them.

Therefore, we are calling for applications from scholars interested in approaching Marx’s magnum opus with fresh eyes, willing to open it to the first page and read it through to the end without knowing what they might find. Applicants need not be experts in Marx or in Marxism. Applicants must, however, specialize in some area of social or political philosophy. Applicants must also be interested in teaching and learning from their fellows, and in nurturing wide-ranging and diverse inquiries into the history of political thought.

If selected for participation, applicants will deliver a written, roundtable-style presentation on a specific part or theme of the text. Your approach to the text might be driven by historical or contemporary concerns, and it might issue from an interest in a theme or a figure (be it Aristotle or Foucault). Whatever your approach, however, your presentation must centrally investigate some aspect of the text of ‘Capital’. Spaces are very limited.

Applicants should send the following materials as email attachments (.doc/.rtf/.pdf) to papers@sspp.us by September 15, 2010:
• Curriculum Vitae
• One page statement of interest, including a discussion of a) the topics you wish to explore in a roundtable presentation, and b) the projected significance of participation for your research and/or teaching.

All applicants will be notified of the outcome of the selection process via email on or before October 15, 2010. Participants will be asked to send a draft or outline of their presentation to papers@sspp.us by January 15, 2011 so that we can finalize the program.

Updates

Sorry for the light posting. The Society has been busy over the last few months, even if the blog has not.

The SSPP panel at SPEP — Anarchism and Philosophy — attracted quite a crowd, wit people standing and sitting on the floor. Conversation rotated around the degree to which anarchism was taken seriously as theory, as philosophy, and whether this was the right question altogether. Is there something in anarchist thought that is inherently hostile to systematization? Conversely, when anarchists have turned to philosophical theories, what have been the hesitations? What political failures could be traced to failures of the imagination, and how can some strains of anarchist thinking help us to overcome these failures?

Our panel at the APA Eastern — Envirnmental Philosophy as Political Philosophy — was also well attended and lively. I’m hoping to bring some first hand reports to the blog soon.

Finally, several SSPP members presented at the Historical Materialism conference in NYC in January. The conference was quite lively, quite youthful, and quite exciting, and every panel seemed to attract more people than the room could hold.  Bill Lewis presented on Henri Lefebvre’s philosophy of science; Hasana Sharp presented on Spinoza’s theoretical antihumanism; Jason Read presented on transindividuality and species being; and I presented on Paolo Virno’s reading of Aristotle.  I haven’t memorized the membership, so if other members presented, please let me know and I’ll add you to the list.

Two Job Openings at John Jay

Assistant Professor of Philosophy, tenure track, beginning Fall 2010.  4-3 course load, semester system. Tenure-track faculty are eligible for a total of 24 hours of reassigned time in their first five years to engage in research and publication. We seek teachers and researchers committed to public higher education. Usual committee work and non-teaching duties. AOS: Philosophy of Law. AOC: Open. Qualifications: Ph.D. required for appointment to Assistant Professor; we will consider candidates within one year of completing their PhD for the rank of Instructor. Scholarly promise and demonstrated excellence in undergraduate teaching are required. Applicants should send a letter of application, CV, recent writing sample, three letters of recommendation, statement of teaching philosophy, sample syllabus, and teaching evaluations to Professor John P Pittman, Chairperson, Philosophy (Law Search), John Jay College of Criminal Justice, 899 Tenth Avenue, Suite 325T, New York, NY 10019. Complete applications must reach the department by 30 November 2009 for proper review. Faxed materials will NOT be accepted. The department will hold interviews at the APA Eastern Division Meeting in New York City, December 27-30,2009. Inquiries may be directed to the chairperson by email at jpittman@iiay.cuny.edu or by telephone at (212) 237-8331. John Jay College is an EO/AA/IRCA/ADA Employer.

 

Associate/Full Professor of Philosophy, Director of the Institute for Criminal Justice Ethics and Criminal Justice Ethics (Routledge) journal editor. Beginning Fall 2010. Ph.D. required. This appointment is envisioned at the Full Professor level; however, extraordinary candidates at a lower rank will be considered. Opportunity to teach in the Criminal Justice – and, through the CUNY Graduate Center — Philosophy doctoral programs. We seek a researcher and teacher committed to public higher education. AOS: Criminal Justice Ethics, or a willingness to move in the CJE direction and one of the following AOS: Professional Ethics/Applied Ethics, Human Rights, Political Philosophy; AOC: Open. Expectations: Distinguished scholarship and ideally national/international recognition. Editorial experience. Track record of grant achievement. Interest in organizing ICJE sponsored workshops/conferences. Demonstrated excellence in teaching. Applicants should send a letter of application, CV, recent writing sample, three letters of reference, sample syllabus, statement of teaching philosophy, and teaching evaluations to Professor John P Pittman, Chairperson, Philosophy (CJE Search), John Jay College of Criminal Justice, 899 Tenth Avenue, Suite 325T, New York, NY 10019. Complete applications must reach the department by 30 November 2009 for proper review. Faxed materials will NOT be accepted. The department will hold interviews at the APA Eastern Division Meeting in New York City, December 27-30,2009. Inquiries may be directed to the chairperson by email at jpittman@iav.cunv.eduor by telephone at (212) 237-8331. John Jay College is an EO/AA/IRCA/ADA Employer.

CFP: Roundtable on Marx’s Capital

The SSPP is pleased to issue a CALL FOR PARTICIPANTS for a

 Roundtable on Marx’s Capital

  Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas, February 24-27, 2011

Our second Roundtable will explore Volume One of Marx’s Capital (1867).  We chose this text because the resurgence in references to and mentions of Marx – provoked especially by the financial crisis, but presaged by the best-seller status of Hardt and Negri’s Empire and Marx’s surprising victory in the BBC’s “greatest philosopher” poll – has only served to highlight the fact that there have not been any new interpretive or theoretical approaches to this book since Althusser’s in the 1960s.

The question that faces us is this: Does the return of Marx mean that we have been thrust into the past, such that long “obsolete” approaches have a newfound currency, or does in mean, on the contrary, that Marx has something new to say to us, and that new approaches to his text are called for?

The guiding hypothesis of this Roundtable is that if new readings of Capital are called for, then it is new readers who will produce them.

Therefore, we are calling for applications from scholars interested in approaching Marx’s magnum opus with fresh eyes, willing to open it to the first page and read it through to the end without knowing what they might find. Applicants need not be experts in Marx or in Marxism.  Applicants must, however, specialize in some area of social or political philosophy.  Applicants must also be interested in teaching and learning from their fellows, and in nurturing wide-ranging and diverse inquiries into the history of political thought.

If selected for participation, applicants will deliver a written, roundtable-style presentation on a specific part or theme of the text.  Your approach to the text might be driven by historical or contemporary concerns, and it might issue from an interest in a theme or a figure (be it Aristotle or Foucault).  Whatever your approach, however, your presentation must centrally investigate some aspect of the text of Capital.  Spaces are very limited.

Applicants should send the following materials as email attachments (.doc/.rtf/.pdf) to papers@sspp.us  by September 15, 2010:

1. Curriculum Vitae
2. One page statement of interest in the Roundtable.  (Please include a discussion of the topics you would be willing to explore in a roundtable presentation.  Please also discuss the projected significance of participation for your research and/or teaching.)

Ben Fowkes’ translation of Capital (Viking/Penguin, 1976) is the official translation for the Roundtable, and should be used for page citations. However, applicants are strongly encouraged to review either the German text of Capital (the 2^nd edition of 1873 is the basis for most widely available texts) or the French translation (J. Roy, 1872-5), which was the last edition Marx himself oversaw to publication; both of these are widely available on-line.

All applicants will be notified of the outcome of the selection process via email on or before October 15, 2010.  Participants will be asked to send a draft or outline of their presentation to papers@sspp.us by January 15, 2011 so that we can finalize the program. 

In order to participate in the Roundtable (but not to apply or to be selected), you must be a member of the Society in good standing. You can become a member of the Society by following the membership link at: www.sspp.us

Vote on New Fee Structure

Vote on the following issue: New fee structure

The executive board would like to reduce our membership fees significantly.  We currently charge between $30 and $45 USD.  Our fees are necessary to support our events, administration costs, and publication schemes, but we are in the process of exploring alternative avenues for publication and society administration at this time.  For a more inclusive society, we move that regular membership be reduced to $5 USD per year.  We will offer a graduated fee structure for those who interested in becoming supporting members at $20 USD/ year, and, as a non-profit organization, we can accept donations as well.

We are asking members to vote YES or NO to “new fee structure” by email, since not everyone will be at SPEP for our annual business meeting. Please vote by 29 October, 2009 from the institutional address we have on file for you: information@sspp.us

CFP: Politics of Hope/Politics of Fear

FOR THE SOCIETY’S MEETING TO BE HELD IN CONJUNCTION WITH

The Eastern APA (American Philosophical Association) in 2010

The SSPP invites papers for two conference panels. We are seeking papers that address issues pertaining to:

Politics of Hope / Politics of Fear

Hobbes famously wrote, “The passion to be reckoned upon is fear.” The connection thus established between the state and fear has been the basis not only of various political regimes, but of political theory by philosophers such as Spinoza, Hegel, Arendt and Massumi. In an age of color-coded warning systems, terrorism, and pandemic disease, the essential link between fear and politics seems beyond dispute, and demands investigation: How does fear work? Does it always reinforce authority, as Hobbes imagined? Can there be a revolt of fear? What is the connection between the fear that the masses fear and the fear they evoke in the corridors of power? More importantly, what remains of fear’s opposite, hope, in this Hobbesian world? How can hope function in a world overrun by fear? Does hope require a vision of a better world? Is there anything beyond the relation of hope and fear, a politics beyond the vacillation of these affects? For this panel we invite papers that examine either the “politics of fear” or the “politics of hope” in terms of both broad theoretical discussions (including examinations of the politics of the affects and imagination) and specific investigations into regimes of fear and hope.

Complete papers of 3000-5000 words (that can be summarized and presented in 20-30 minutes) should be submitted for consideration for the 2010 meeting (deadline: March 1, 2010). The APA Conference scheduled for December 27-30, 2010, in Boston, MA.

Authors should include their name(s) and contact information on the cover page ONLY.

Papers should be emailed as attachments in Word or RTF format to: papers@sspp.us

CFP: Politics and Ontology

FOR THE SOCIETY’S MEETINGS TO BE HELD IN CONJUNCTION WITH

SPEP (Society for Phenomenology and Existential Philosophy) in 2010

The SSPP invites papers for two conference panels. We are seeking papers that address issues pertaining to:

Politics and Ontology

We seek to explore and challenge the hypothesis that all political theory presupposes an ontology. From the presumption of universal rationality, to the potency of class consciousness, to the privileges shaped by the social existence of race, gender and sexuality, political order always is or implies an ontological order. In many respects, the ontological question is the political question. Struggles for political change are as much about the expansion (or contraction) of shared ontological categories as they are about the rewriting of legislation or the redistribution of power and resources . The traditional allocation of rights, for instance, has been determined almost entirely on the basis of who, or what, one is presumed to be. While ontology and politics share a long, interconnected history, for much of modern history the connection between them has been downplayed or denied, since liberalism is premised on bracketing such supposedly insoluble and inherently conflictual metaphysical questions. In recent decades, however, this has changed. The explicit investigation of political ontology has taken center stage and, as a consequence, what we understand to be political or ontological has changed as well. Politics is no longer limited to the state, but permeates all of social existence to include the terrain of imagination, emotions, and representation. Ontology is no longer an ultimate foundation, but is constituted through relations of power and affects. In the works of such authors as Gilles Deleuze, Elizabeth Grosz, Giorgio Agamben, William Connolly, Alain Badiou, Jacques Rancière, Jean-Luc Nancy, Antonio Negri, and many others, the subject of political ontology has surfaced in an array of new formulations. For this panel, we invite papers that extend this investigation or that challenge this resurgence, both within the context of work that has already been done and in anticipation of work yet to be conceived.

Complete papers of 3000-5000 words (that can be summarized and presented in 20-30 minutes) should be submitted for consideration for the 2010 meeting (deadline: March 1, 2010). The SPEP Conference is scheduled for October 2010, in Montreal, Canada.

 Authors should include their name(s) and contact information on the cover page ONLY.

 Papers should be emailed as attachments in Word or RTF format to: papers@sspp.us

Upcoming SSPP Events

1.  2009 Meeting at SPEP: Thursday, 29 October, 2009

General information about the SPEP annual meeting can be found at www.spep.org.

PANEL: Anarchism & Philosophy

Time: 9 am – Noon

Location: Lincoln Room

Moderator: Cory Wimberly, University of Texas – Pan American

• “This Time I’m Serious: Critchley, Anarchism, and the Question of Violence,” Peter Gratton, University of San Diego
• “Demanding Impossible Justice: Thoughts on Post-Foundationalist Anarchism,” Michael Larsen, Point Park University
• “Anarchist Philosophy and Working Class Struggle: A Brief History and Commentary,” Nathan Jun, Midwestern State University
• “Anarchist Meditations,” Alejandro de Acosta, Southwestern University

 

2.  Meeting at APA Eastern: Wednesday, 30 December, 2000

General information about the APA Eastern Division meeting can be found at: http://www.apaonline.org/divisions/eastern/index.aspx

PANEL: Environmental Philosophy as Political Philosophy

Time: 1:30-4:30 p.m.

Location: TBA

Moderator: Trent Hamann, St. John’s University

• “Creative Evolution, Today: Bergson and Contemporary Biology,” Michael Vaughan, University of Warwick-United Kingdom
• “Between Walzer and Levinas: Political Viability as a Regulative Constraint for Environmental Philosophy,” J. Aaron Simmons, Hendrix College
• “Reviving a Global Ecological Feminism: An Ecopolitics of Homeplace,” Jennifer Scuro, College of New Rochelle
• “Environmental Political Philosophy: On the Future of the Nation State,” Julie Kuhlken (Misericordia University)

CFP: Political Realism in Comparative Perspective

CALL FOR PAPERS
POLITICAL REALISM IN COMPARATIVE PERSPECTIVE
PACIFIC DIVISION MEETING OF THE APA
MARCH 31 ­ APRIL 4, 2010
SAN FRANCISCO, CA

The International Society for the Comparative Study of Chinese and Western Philosophy (ISCWP) is seeking presentations on Hobbes, Machiavelli, or any major Western political thinker committed to developing political principles within constraints set by realistic accounts of human behavior and motivation. Topics might include (but are not limited to) Hobbesian views of human nature, moral or psychological egoism, or realist accounts of state legitimacy.

The chosen presenters will share a panel with experts in Chinese political philosophy, whose papers will focus on an influential school of political realists in China. All presenters must be open to giving comments and criticisms to the other panelists during the discussion period. However, no familiarity with Chinese philosophy is required or even expected.

Guidelines:
Submission Deadline: September 30, 2009.

1. To submit a paper proposal, please provide a 250-300 word abstract. Submissions need to include presenter’s name, institutional affiliation, paper title, and email address.

2. Announcement of papers and/or panels selected for presentation will be made in mid-October.

3. Address all submissions and inquires to: Professor Steve Angle, email: sangle@wesleyan.edu