2020 Cambridge Conference
Cancelled due to Covid-19 pandemic.
PHENOMENOLOGICAL APPROACHES TO VIRTUALITY
It is with disappointment that the WPI Cambridge Conference, which is scheduled for June 3-5, 2020 in Cambridge, Massachusetts, will be cancelled due to the many issues created by the global epidemic of the coronavirus. The reasons for this decision are many: Most of our conference participants are international and must make flight arrangements in advance, and as we know, the US government has banned flights from Europe and parts of Asia; we do not know when such bans will be lifted. Harvard University, where our conference is held, has sent students home for the remainder of the semester, and the Harvard Faculty Club may be closed as well. Many of our participants have also expressed skepticism about attending our June conference. This decision to cancel this year’s conference was inevitable, but nonetheless difficult.
The enthusiasm over the 2020 conference topics was encouraging and exciting, so as officers of the WPI we have decided to carry over the same topics for the 2021 conference, the specific dates for which will be announced in the early fall; early June 2021 will be likely. Those of you who have written proposals for 2020 can resubmit those same proposals when our Call for Proposals goes out in the fall: Thus, your academic work will not be in vain.
The WPI would like to apologize for any inconvenience this cancellation has caused for our participants, and we look forward to seeing all of our participants and WPI members in June of 2021 in Cambridge. Let all of us think of this change, not as a cancellation, but as a postponement. Most importantly, the WPI wishes all of our participants, members, and their families around the world the best of health and happiness as all of us weather the difficulties ahead together as a global community.
Sincerely yours,
William S. Smith
Jadwiga S. Smith
CALL FOR PROPOSALS
THE WORLD PHENOMENOLOGY INSTITUTE
FORTY-FOURTH ANNUAL CAMBRIDGE CONFERENCE 2020
TOPIC: PHENOMENOLOGICAL APPROACHES TO VIRTUALITY
The 2020 Cambridge WPI Conference will introduce the topic of phenomenological approaches to virtuality. Of some particular interest should be the following:
Husserl’s “unfilled intention” or horizon;
the nature of aesthetic experience (for example: Maurice Merleau-Ponty’s account of painting, Maxine Sheets-Johnstone’s focus on dance);
cognitive science versus phenomenological interpretation of human experience;
Heidegger and artificial intelligence (and the follow-up by Gibson and Dreyfus, among others);
phenomenology and organism-environment systems.
Also, we acknowledge the need of some participants to continue their work on the previous year’s topic, Women Phenomenologists.
We would like to encourage participants representing not only philosophy, but also literary studies, arts, and other areas suitable to phenomenological investigation.
CONFERENCE INFORMATION
June 3 - 5, 2020
Conference Location:
Harvard University Faculty Club, 20 Quincy Street, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA.
- Conference proposals due: April 6, 2020 (300 words or fewer)
- Registration Fee: USD 330.00
Graduate student registration fee: USD 175.00
Emeriti registration fee: USD 200.00.
N.B. Conference registration automatically includes and confers membership in the WPI; it is no longerrequired to make a separate payment for membership dues.
- Please submit proposals to the World Phenomenology Institute’s office by e-mail: office@phenomenology.org
- Graduate students are welcome.
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World Phenomenology Institute
Mailing Address:
20 Kenneth Drive
Bridgewater, MA 02324, USA
Email: office@phenomenology.org