Call for Papers
Foucault’s 1984 discussion of Kant’s 1784 “What is Enlightenment?” emphasizes the historical ontology of ourselves as our most noble task. Forty years after Foucault’s death (and 300 years after Kant’s birth), society has changed.
Capitalist globalization has slowed, and the forgotten Cold War has been reanimated. Monopolies are increasing, and the neoliberal self-governing of people appears to be undermined by the algorithmization of subtle control techniques.
Accordingly, our meeting invites contributions that discuss the reception of Foucault’s analyses under the lens of recent social change:
Did or in how far did the formation of subject positions in discourses, processes of subjectivation in governmental power practices, or the constitution of ourselves as ethical selves in self-technologies change compared to Foucault’s late account of the subject constitution in neoliberal capitalism? We will rethink and work with Foucault on an updated historical ontology of ourselves.
We welcome proposals on any topic regarding the conference theme and request submission of abstracts (between 150-250 words) by April 1, 2024. We will offer an online submission system (TBA here).
If acceptance notifications are needed prior to the submission deadline, please contact Frank Welz at frank.welz@uibk.ac.at.
The conference will be offered on
Friday, June 21, from 9:00 am to 6:00 pm as ONLINE conference, and on
Friday + Saturday, June 21-22, from 14:00 am to 6:00 pm and 9:00 am to 6:00 pm as ON-SITE conference.
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