Call for Papers
CRITICAL THEORY AND REASON
Faculty of Philosophy
Universidad Complutense de Madrid
Madrid, Spain
05–06 March, 2024
The purpose of this two-day international conference, organized by members of the Department of Philosophy at the Universidad Complutense de Madrid (Spain) and the Department of Languages, Literatures and Cultures at King’s College London (England), is to provide a space to explore the relationship between critical theory and reason. This relationship has been a constitutive component of critical theory regardless of whether critical theory is understood narrowly as being tied to the so-called Frankfurt School or more broadly to include discourses (poststructuralism, decolonial/postcolonial theory, gender studies, critical legal theory, critical race theory, and so on) that challenge and denaturalize sedimented approaches and practices. Taking as its point of departure the heterogeneity of critical theory, and aiming to stimulate a reconsideration of the nature and scope of critical theory itself, the organizers invite submissions that deal with the conference theme. These might include but are certainly not limited to:
- Critical theory’s changing relationship to reason
- The critique of instrumental reason/positivism
- Critical theory and dialectics
- Critical theory and the irrational
- The heterogeneity of reason
- Society and reason
- Language and reason
- Reason and affectivity
- Reason and embodiment
- Comparative analyses of critical theory and other traditions (phenomenology, Marxism, pragmatism, psychoanalysis, and so on) on reason
- Critical theory and decolonialization
- Critical theory and gender/sexuality
- Critical theory and science
Those interested in presenting a paper should send a 400 word abstract—outlining the general topic of the paper, the specific problem to be addressed, summary of the debates surrounding that issue, and argument to be developed—suitable for 20 minutes presentation time, and a short (300 word) biography that includes name and institutional affiliation, to criticaltheoryandreason@ucm.es by the 30th November 2023. The language of the conference is English and attendance will be free. Unfortunately, we are not able to provide financial aid.
The conference is hosted by the Department of Logic and Theoretical Philosophy, Universidad Complutense de Madrid (UCM) and forms part of the activities for the following research projects: (1) “The Politics of Reason” (PID2020–117386GA–I00; 2021–2025), financed by the Ministry of Science and Innovation, Government of Spain; and (2) “The Crossroads of the Sexed Body: Cultural Matter and Material Cultures of Sexuality,” (PR27/21-020; 2022–2024), financed by the Government of the Region of Madrid, as part of the multi-year agreement with the Universidad Complutense de Madrid: V PRICIT Regional Plan for Scientific Investigation and Technological Innovation.
Organizers: Emma Ingala, Gavin Rae (Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Spain), and Cillian Ó Fathaigh (King's College London, England)