Eurograd message

                Dear colleagues and friends,
<br>Sorry for cross posting. Can you please forward this call to colleagues who
<br>may be interested to contribute to this workshop?
<br>
<br>Please let me know if you have any questions or remarks,
<br>Vincent Blok (https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Vincent_Blok)
<br>
<br>
<br>The World Undone
<br>Technology at the End of the World
<br>
<br>Call for Papers for a Philosophy of Technology Workshop at Wageningen
<br>University, the Netherlands
<br>
<br>June 25-26 2020
<br>
<br>Context and Aims
<br>
<br>The advent of the Anthropocene compels philosophical attention to nothing
<br>other than the end of the world. For Clive Hamilton, the alarming findings of
<br>Earth System Science tear the ontological fabric of the known world apart,
<br>thus occasioning new questions regarding the nature of the world and the kind
<br>of human beings at its centre (Hamilton, 2017). More radically, Timothy Morton
<br>declares the end of the world as the meaningful background against which
<br>inner-worldly beings stand out, thus inevitably inaugurating a flat ontology
<br>in which all beings are enmeshed in an intricate play of inter-objectivity
<br>(Morton, 2013). On the other hand, philosophers like Jean-Luc Nancy summon
<br>philosophy to the task of thinking a new creation of the world to surmount the
<br>comprehensive dominance of calculation, economy, and technology witnessed in
<br>the "global unworld" of the Anthropocene (Nancy, 2007), while others reflect
<br>on new alliances of Earth and World (Blok, 2019).Whilst arguably relevant to
<br>all thought, these motives specifically entreat philosophy of technology. Not
<br>only is the Anthropocene a profoundly technological or techno-scientific
<br>phenomenon (Lemmens et al. 2017; Steffen et al. 2015), but philosophy of
<br>technology generally concerns the relation between technology and world,
<br>whether this relation is understood in terms of mediation and world-shaping
<br>(Ihde 2012; Verbeek 2005), techno-geographic milieus (Simondon, 2016),
<br>parliaments of things, quasi-objects, and agencies (Latour 2014, Serres 1982,
<br>Simons 2017), or according to an ontological consideration (Zwier & Blok 2017;
<br>2019; Blok, 2017).
<br>This workshop accordingly aims to examine how philosophy of technology should
<br>respond to the end of the world. We welcome fundamental reflections pertaining
<br>to the technological world on an increasingly inhospitable Earth, as well as
<br>contributions that explore concrete eco-technologies such as biobased
<br>technology, artificial intelligence, or blockchains for sustainable
<br>development.
<br>Questions to be addressed may include:
<br>
<br>        What does the notion of world mean in the philosophical tradition,
<br>and how does this compare to contemporary voices that reject or revise this
<br>notion?
<br>
<br>        What is the status of Earth and World in the Anthropocene?
<br>
<br>        How does technology figure in earth-system science?
<br>
<br>        What role does technology play in Earth-shaping and world-building?
<br>
<br>        What is relation between (techno-geographic) milieu, world and the
<br>Anthropocene?
<br>
<br>        How to understand the relation between technological progress and
<br>ecological regress?
<br>
<br>        What does a redistribution of voices and agency entail with respect
<br>to the world-ending, Earth-shaping, and world-building capacities of humans
<br>and non-humans?
<br>
<br>        How to conceive of terrestrial concern and responsibility in the wake
<br>of the Anthropocene?
<br>
<br>Submission Process and Deadlines
<br>Abstracts (max. 750 words) will be reviewed by way of a double-blind review
<br>process.  Abstracts should be submitted by 15-1-2020. After notification of
<br>acceptance, contributors are expected to arrange their travel and stay
<br>themselves. Based on the results of the workshop, we consider to publish a
<br>special issue or edited volume. For informal enquiries regarding topics,
<br>approaches, or other, please contact Vincent Blok
<br>(vincent.blok@wur.nl).
<br>
<br>Organization
<br>Vincent Blok, Wageningen University & Research (vincent.blok@ru.nl)
<br>Jochem Zwier, Radboud University Nijmegen
<br>
<br>References
<br>Blok, V. (2017). Earthing technology: Toward an eco-centric concept of
<br>biomimetic technologies in the Anthropocene. Techn: Research in Philosophy
<br>and Technology. DOI: 10.5840/techne201752363
<br>Blok, V. (2019). Nothing else matters: Towards an ontological concept of the
<br>materiality of the Earth in the Age of Global Warming. Research in
<br>Phenomenology, 49(1), 65-87. DOI: 10.1163/15691640-12341411
<br>Hamilton, C. (2017). Defiant earth: The fate of humans in the Anthropocene.
<br>John Wiley & Sons.
<br>Ihde, D. (2012). Experimental phenomenology: multistabilities. Suny Press.
<br>Morton, T. (2013). Hyperobjects: Philosophy and Ecology after the End of the
<br>World. U of Minnesota Press.
<br>Nancy, J. L. (2007). The creation of the world, or, globalization. Suny
<br>Press.
<br>Latour, B. (2014). Agency at the Time of the Anthropocene. New Literary
<br>History: A Journal of Theory and Interpretation 45(1): 1-18.
<br>https://doi.org/10.1353/nlh.2014.0003
<br>Lemmens, P., Blok, V., & Zwier, J. (2017). Toward a Terrestrial Turn in
<br>Philosophy of Technology. Techn: Research in Philosophy and Technology,
<br>21(2/3), 114-126.
<br>Serres, Michel. 1982. Gense. Paris: Grasset.
<br>Simondon, G. (2016). On the Mode of Existence of Technical Objects. University
<br>of Minnesota Press.
<br>Simons, M. (2017). The Parliament of Things and the Anthropocene: How to
<br>Listen to 'Quasi-Objects'. Techn: Research in Philosophy and Technology,
<br>21(2/3), 150-174.
<br>Steffen, W., Broadgate, W., Deutsch, L., Gaffney, O., & Ludwig, C. (2015). The
<br>trajectory of the Anthropocene: The great acceleration. The Anthropocene
<br>Review, 2(1), 81-98.
<br>Verbeek, P. P. (2005). What things do: Philosophical reflections on
<br>technology, agency, and design. Penn State Press.
<br>Zwier, J., & Blok, V. (2017). Saving Earth: Encountering Heidegger's
<br>Philosophy of Technology in the Anthropocene. Techn: Research in Philosophy
<br>and Technology, 21(2/3), 222-242. DOI: 10.5840/techne201772167
<br>Zwier, J., & Blok, V. (2019). Seeing Through the Fumes: Technology and
<br>Asymmetry in the Anthropocene. Human Studies, 1-26. DOI:
<br>10.1007/s10746-019-09508-4
<br>
<br>Dr. Vincent Blok MBA
<br>Associate Professor in Business Ethics, Philosophy of Technology and
<br>Responsible Innovation
<br>
<br>Wageningen University
<br>Business Management and Organisation Group and Philosophy Group
<br>Hollandseweg 1, 6706 KN, Wageningen (Building 201)
<br>De Leeuwenborch, Room 5060 or 4068
<br>T: +31 (0) 6 146 156 40
<br>E-mail: vincent.blok@wur.nl
<br>Website: www.vincentblok.nl
<br>https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Vincent_Blok
<br>https://wur.academia.edu/VincentBlok
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