Phenomenology has inspired countless pieces of art, literature and music, and has influenced disciplines as diverse as theology, cognitive science, anthropology, ecology, architecture and nursing. Phenomenology can also be seen as a precursor to other philosophical and theoretical movements including post-structuralism, deconstruction, post-modernism and ecocriticism. Through cross-disciplinary questioning and discussion, this One Day Symposium on 24 June 2016 at the University of Kent will reassess extant assumptions about phenomenology. Edmund Husserl thought of phenomenology as a ‘first philosophy,’ a philosophy of a ‘radical beginning.’ Maurice Merleau-Ponty re-evaluates this notion when describing the body-subject as a ‘perpetual beginner’ whose existence is grounded in a continuous interrogation of perceptual experience. Similarly, Martin Heidegger thought of phenomenology as a ‘readiness for the questionable.’ Through effective questioning, this symposium will discuss and compare phenomenological scholarship and practice across academia and other professions and arrive at a clearer sense of why there is a growing interest in phenomenology in the 21st century.
We invite academics and professionals across and far beyond the arts, spanning from literary scholars to art historians, historians, sociologists, criminologists, philosophers, anthropologists, architects, medical practitioners, business professionals, landscape engineers, creative writers, musicians, artists and others.
Keeping in the spirit of the event, we hope that papers will open up, rather than close down, discussion, providing points for phenomenological interrogation and debate rather than offering a finely polished thesis. Thus, please send short abstracts, for a 15-minute paper, consisting of a title in the form of a discussion question and 150 words explaining the focus of your paper to phenomenology@kent.ac.uk by 15 February 2016. Please make it clear if you wish to feature as a respondent too. On the day, respondents assigned to discussion panels consisting of 3 individuals will be expected to reiterate the questions raised, respond and open the discussion to the rest of the audience for further questioning. Please also get in touch if you’re a postgraduate student interested in participating in a round table discussion.
This event is run by the School of English at the University of Kent and supported by Oxford Phenomenology Network. The convenors of the event are Dr Ariane Mildenberg, Dr Cleo Hanaway-Oakley and Matthew Carbery.