We are glad to give notice that a call for papers for the Workshop on Teleology in Hegel’s Logic, to be hold in Valencia, October 19-21, 2020, is open until July 15, 2020.
Below you can find the text of the call.
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Workshop on Teleology in Hegel’s Logic
University of Valencia (Spain), October 19-21, 2020*
Hegel’s philosophy is commonly regarded as a teleological system, in which a set of forms of consciousness and spiritual constellations (ethical, social, political, artistic, religious, philosophical) are depicted as having historically developed in order to fully disclose their inner truth. A key chapter of the argument of the Science of Logic, the core of Hegel’s system, right before its conclusive section on the ‘Idea’, is indeed devoted to teleology as such. However, the chapter on ‘Teleology’ in the Logic hardly supports the standard view of a progression of attitudes and forms of life driven by an attracting historical final cause. ‘Teleology’ rather vindicates Kant’s concept of inner purposiveness, which is the concept of a self-maintaining and self-producing system. In light of this fact and challenging the standard picture, new approaches to Hegel’s reception of this notion have recently inspired original work on Hegel and topics like life, mind, action, and history.
The purpose of the workshop is to further the understanding of the role of the chapter on ‘Teleology’ in Hegel’s Science of Logic. We will welcome contributions on issues like:
- The relation of ‘Mechanism’ or ´Chemism´, or both, to ‘Teleology’.
- Hegel’s discussion of Kant’s third antinomy of reason and/or his antinomy of judgement in ‘Teleology’.
- The influence of Aristotle’s understanding of nature and life on the chapter ‘Teleology’ and those following it (‘Life’, ‘The idea of knowledge’, ‘The absolute idea’).
- The argument in the different sections of ‘Teleology’ on the subjective purpose, the means, or the realised purpose.
- Connections between the concepts of inner purposiveness, life and organism in the Logic or elsewhere in Hegel’s work.
- The different versions of ‘Teleology’ in the Science of Logic and the three editions of the Encyclopaedia of Philosophical Sciences.
- The role of the ‘Objectivity’ section in the Doctrine of the Concept of the Science of Logic.
- Historical approaches to the contents of ‘Teleology’, including comparison of Hegel’s standpoint to those of other philosophers (such as Spinoza, Leibniz, Wolff, Jacobi, Fichte, or Schelling), or scientists (such as Blumenbach, Haller, Treviranus, Buffon, and others).
- Purposiveness as the notional core of Hegel’s concept of idea.
- Hegel’s account of purposiveness in light of contemporary theoretical approaches in the philosophy of mind, the philosophy of action, or the philosophy of biology.
Contributors should submit a long abstract (1,000 words) or a full paper (for a 30 minutes talk) prepared for blind peer-review before July 15 to edgarmaraguat@gmail.com. Acceptance will be announced before July 31.
Organised by: Edgar Maraguat (University of Valencia) and James Kreines (Claremont McKenna College).
Confirmed speakers: Christopher Yeomans (Purdue University), Christian Spahn (Keimyung University), Andrea Gambarotto (University of Padua).
Funded by the Research Council of the Spanish Government (Project no. PGC2018-093363-B-I00).
* If legal restrictions on traveling and/or gathering apply in October due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the workshop will run online. Organisers will announce the format and program of the workshop in August.
