Call for applications

The Société de philosophie du Québec 2025 conference – “Nature”

The Société de philosophie du Québec (SPQ) is pleased to invite you to its next annual conference, to be held from June 2 to 5, 2025 at Université Laval (Québec City). This event will have special significance, as it will coincide with the 90th anniversary of the Department of Philosophy at Université Laval. Focusing on the theme of “Nature”, the congress will provide an opportunity for all to reflect on the many facets of this fundamental concept from a philosophical perspective.

Enigmatic in its simplicity and unfathomable in its implications, nature remains an inexhaustible source of philosophical reflection. From the physis of the Pre-Socratics to contemporary reflections on the relationship between nature and technology, and between the human and the inhuman, nature – both concept and reality – remains a shifting horizon that constantly defies simple reflection, demanding instead continual re-interrogation. In the age of the Anthropocene, the question of nature is undoubtedly more urgent than ever.

What do we mean by “nature” today? Is it the fixed totality that naturalism aspires to embrace, or, on the contrary, a matrix of beings in perpetual flux, oscillating between order and chaos? What part does the human element play in nature, both within it and aspiring to detach itself from it through artifice and technology? How can we define what seems to be both the world itself and, in another sense, a human construct? Is nature a refuge from artificiality, or an infinitely malleable substrate? Is it order or chaos, good or evil? What boundaries, if any, should be drawn between human and non-human nature, or between the natural and the cultural? And what place should be given to the radical otherness that nature can embody, in the face of contemporary ecological, technological and ethical crises? These are questions that, far from finding definitive answers, continue to fuel contemporary debates.

The proposed contributions can include, but are not limited to, the following categories:

1. Ontology and Metaphysics: How does nature present itself as a principle of existence or being? How can we avoid formulating this problem in terms that predetermine possible answers and judgments, foreclosing the question the moment it is asked?
2. Philosophy of Science and Epistemology: To what extent are contemporary sciences reconfiguring our understanding of nature? Do the paradigms of biology, quantum physics or ecology invite us to reexamine the classic distinctions between nature and culture, subject and object, order and disorder?
3. Political Philosophy and Ethics: What ethical responsibilities do humans have towards nature? How do contemporary political theories bring nature into their reflections on living together and justice? Can ecological issues redefine the social contract? Can nature be “democratized”?
4. Aesthetics: How does the experience of nature shape our aesthetic and sensory perceptions? Is there an intrinsic beauty to nature, or does it only exist through the human gaze?
5. Philosophical Anthropology and the Philosophy of Technology: How does technology redefine the boundaries of nature? To what extent does transhumanist thinking, and more broadly, technical interventions in the living world, question the very essence of what we call “natural”? How can we understand the relationship between the notions of “nature” and “technology” in the light of current times and all that is new and unprecedented therein?
6. Non-Western Philosophy of Nature: How can non-Western philosophical traditions shed light on our conception of nature, allowing us to rethink it beyond classical dichotomies and hierarchies?

Contributions from all philosophical traditions and approaches are welcome. Particular attention will be paid to comparative approaches, especially those between Western and non-Western thought, as well as contributions that take into account thinking arising from decolonialism and ecofeminism. We also invite interdisciplinary proposals, at the frontiers of philosophy and other fields of knowledge, including biology, physics, ecology, anthropology, sociology, nursing, history, and art, with the aim of bringing perspectives into dialogue and enriching our global understanding of nature. Philosophical proposals addressing themes other than nature are also encouraged.

The SPQ values diversity and inclusiveness of proposals, taking particular care to encourage plurality within the discipline. Special consideration will also be given to proposals from members of groups historically under-represented in philosophy.

The conference will be held in-person. Papers must be in French, the official language of the SPQ, and should be submitted by December 20, 2024, using the following form.

If you have any questions, please write to Christian Djoko Kamgain and Étienne Groleau at the following email address.

For more information and to access the SPQ’s website, click here.