Recent and Upcoming Conferences

Here are some previously unannounced events that happened recently, for those who like to know about what they missed:

• International Conference on Ibn Al Haytham & Challenges for the Future (Paris, Sept. 14-15)
• The University of Toronto 2015 Colloquium in Mediaeval Philosophy (Toronto, Sept. 25-26)

And here are some upcoming events:

• Jean de Salisbury: nouvelles lectures, nouveaux enjeux (Metz, Oct. 1-3, 2015)
• Habitus in Latin Medieval Philosophy (Paris Oct. 14-16, 2015)

And now some events that are far enough away that you might still get yourself onto the program:

• Symposium on Medieval and Renaissance Studies (St. Louis Univ., June 20-22, 2016). CFP deadline: Dec. 31, 2015
• HOPOS: The International Society for the History of Philosophy of Science (Minneapolis, June 22-25, 2016). CFP deadline: Jan. 4, 2016
• Ibero-American Congress of the Spanish Society for Medieval Philosophy: Ramon Llull’s Seventh Centenary: De Relatione (Barcelona, Nov. 14-16, 2016). CFP deadline: July 15, 2016
• Nicomachean Ethics in the History of European Thought (Saint Petersburg, Nov. 18-19, 2016). CFP deadline: Feb. 1, 2016

Philosophae in medias?

During this past summer’s NEH Institute in Boulder, one of the principal topics was the place of women in the history of philosophy. Nearly all the discussion, however, concerned women in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. So, I’ve been wondering, what about women philosophers in the Middle Ages? Is any good work being done? Is anyone teaching this material? What material is there, anyway?

The conversation in Boulder mirrored a larger conversation taking place across the profession. There is, for instance, the Feminist History of Philosophy blog. Andrew Janiak and colleagues at Duke have launched Project Vox, which “seeks to recover the lost voices of women who have been ignored in standard narratives of the history of modern philosophy. We aim to change those narratives, thereby changing what students around the world learn about philosophy’s history.” Janiak, together with Christia Mercer, has even gotten these issues into the Washington Post. But all of these discussions are focused on the post-medieval era.

The APA is collecting syllabi that model diversity and inclusiveness, but so far no one has submitted a syllabus for a medieval course that includes women philosophers.

Moreover, conferences abound, including:

• an interdisciplinary conference at Christ Church (Oxford) on “Women and the Canon” (22-23 Jan. 2016)
• a conference at Duke on New Narratives in Philosophy:  Rediscovering neglected works by early modern women (April 14-17, 2016)
• a Pacific APA session on “Women in the History of Philosophy of Religion” (March 30-April 2, 2016)

So, again, I wonder, is anyone worrying about this stuff in the medieval period? If so, is anyone doing anything about it? Over the next week or two, I’ll post some responses to these questions that I’ve solicited from a couple of scholars who have been thinking about this. But if there’s anyone else out there who wants to share their thoughts, feel free to write up a comment or send a link to a syllabus.

Positions Available

It seems inescapable that, at least in my part of the world, summer is over. So let the blog recommence, first with a notice about two positions being advertised.

• First, a PhD position at Radboud University Nijmegen, to study Aquinas’s psychology. (The deadline, alas, is tomorrow, but better posted late than never.)
• Second, a senior faculty position at Providence College, in “The Philosophical Psychology and Virtue Ethics of St. Thomas Aquinas.” Here the application deadline is October 20th, and yes it is a strictly senior search. (I asked!)
• Third, yet another senior faculty position, in Bonn, in the area of “Medieval Philosophy.” Deadline Nov. 1.

I don’t (ordinarily) post information about junior faculty positions, because anyone in need of a starting position will know to look at philjobs.org. But senior medieval positions are so rare as scarcely to be worth looking for, and so in this case I thought an announcement might be useful.