2010

As old as philosophy itself, phenomenology can be traced back to the works of Plato and Aristotle. Yet the term reached its fame when Edmund Husserl, following Franz Brentano’s re-introduction of the scholastic concept of intentionality, developed a method of describing phenomena that he formally named phenomenology.Since Husserl’s project of turning phenomenology into a science that would provide a transcendental theory of meaning, phenomenology diverged in various directions. From Heidegger’s existential analytic to Sartre’s existentialism and Marleau-Ponty’s phenomenology of perception, to the radical thought of Levinas and Derrida; if there is a common characteristic that unifies these directions under the name of phenomenology, it is perhaps an exigency for a new beginning.

Within this broad understanding of the practice of phenomenology, we invite papers seeking to continue and/or reconfigure its legacy. ‘Launches and re-launches’ is a graduate conference in phenomenology, organized by graduate students forgraduate students. It aims to bring together postgraduates engaging in original research on phenomenology and thus to promote contemporary studies in this field.

Keynote Speakers: 

–Dr. Lawrence Hatab (Old Dominion University) “Dasein: the early years”

–Dr. Robert Bernasconi (Pennsylvania State University) “Totality and Infinity and its reception”