August 2023 Newsletter

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    Swiss Philosophy Newsletter

    Dear *|FNAME|* *|LNAME|*

    We are pleased to send you the August newsletter. The topic of this newsletter is research.
    If you want to philosophise seriously, you cannot avoid thorough research. Aware of this fact, we have greatly expanded the range of resources on our portal. No matter what kind of information you are interested in, there is something for everyone. For the auditive among you, we have completely revised and expanded our list of podcasts. For the visual, there's a veritable flood of new video material. And for those of you who are still faithful to the tradition of reading, we have collected a lot of blogs and open access resources worth reading. At the same time, we have compiled a chronological list of all articles published so far to make it easier to search for specific contributions.
     
    This adds the function of an individual research hub to the unique offer of Philosophie.ch, and we hope that this will make the search for meaning on hot holiday days a little sweeter for you, dear readers. Or as Carl Friedrich Gauss would have put it: "It is not knowledge but learning, it is not possessing but acquiring, it is not being but becoming that grants the great pleasure".
     
    However, in order to take concrete account of research, we have created a fifth main section in which the philosophical research location of Switzerland is to be illuminated by means of overview pages.
    As a supplement to the list of current research projects, we would like to invite you to write a brief description of your research project. As always, suggestions and contributions of any kind are welcome.
     
    If, despite an unquenchable thirst for knowledge, you still find the time to recommend our newsletter via link, we would be extremely grateful.
    Of course, we are also very happy about other forms of support, be it financial or in terms of content! We have also announced new competitions, jobs and internships.

     
     
    News

    Monte Verità, August 20-24

    You can finally register for the Monte Verità Congress! Discuss your research projects with us during three days high above Lago Maggiore. 


    Philosophy Olympiad 2023
     
    Like last year, the SwissPhilO association is again organising a Philosophy Olympiad for high school students. The deadline for entries is 26 November 2023. More information.

    Biannual symposium of the Swiss Philosophical Society (SPG, SSP, SFI)

    The Swiss Philosophical Society will hold its biannual congress in Bern from 28 to 30 August 2023. The theme is "Concepts and Their Uses". Look at the announcement and the programme


    Congrès de l'ASPLF, Neuchâtel, 22.-26. August

    The "Association des Sociétés de philosophie de Langue Française" organises a congress every two years, which will take place this year in Neuchâtel. More information. The congress is organised by the "Groupe Neuchâtelois" of the Société Romande de Philosophie.

     
    Contributions
     

    Posthumous interview with Adam Smith (Article in German)
    Few metaphors have been used more in an attempt to explain how the economy works than Adam Smith's "invisible hand". Of course, this is not undisputed, because depending on the interpretation, the picture of an economy and the resulting society changes completely. What exactly did Adam Smith himself mean by it, and would he have agreed with the common interpretations and political consequences? Find out in the posthumous interview with the founder of classical national economics originally published in “Republik”.

    This essay delves into the ethical relationships between agents and addressees, specifically focusing on vulnerability and dependence. Jørgen Meyer draws inspiration from Judith Butler's "Precarious Life – The Powers of Mourning and Justice" to establish a framework that highlights address, discourse, and grief as key concepts in this discussion. Ultimately, the aim is to underscore how recognizing vulnerability and dependence as integral components of ethical relationships can have significant implications for our understanding thereof.

    The Interactive Historical Atlas of the Disciplines
    The Interactive Historical Atlas of the Disciplines serves as a comprehensive tool for organizing vast amounts of data related to the structure and evolution of science. It presents a genealogical tree that traces back through human knowledge, encompassing all disciplines throughout history. As such, this atlas can be regarded as an intricate cartography methodically mapping out the changes undergone by various fields over centuries.

    Jan Westerhoff - a distinguished professor in Buddhist philosophy at Oxford University and expert on Madhyamaka philosophical tradition - shares insightful interpretations of key concepts such as svabhāva or intrinsic nature, which were initially defined during Abhidharma times but later reinterpreted by Nāgārjuna. He further explores causation and its relationship to intrinsic nature along with differing views between Abhidharma and Madhyamaka regarding human conceptualization.

    Stories of flight
    In addition to the loud political debates on the topic of "migration", the voices that actually have the most to contribute are often silenced: those of the refugees themselves. In order to give them a chance to speak, the project "Fluchtgeschichten" was launched some time ago. This month you will learn what freedom means for refugees in Switzerland, what hurdles are involved in the decision to flee and how a successful arrival can affect a person's life.

    Open Access
    In August, Philosophie.ch offers no less than three articles on open access in English. The first explains the concept of open access and evaluates its positive aspects and main difficulties; the second deals with the specific topic of hybrid open access, a hybrid form in which content can be made openly accessible via a journal subscription; the third addresses the topic of career advancement in the context of open access.

    Virtual Creativity
    Anaïs Giannuzzo describes virtual reality experiences she had with a stereoscopic headset, such as floating through post-apocalyptic environments, exploring the changing gravitational forces in a flat, solving puzzles and drawing 3D shapes, and argues that these experiences were creative in different ways.

     

    Send us your seminar papers!
    Studying philosophy means a lot of writing. To ensure that these often unnoticed achievements also receive some attention outside the walls of university, we offer the opportunity to publish them on our portal.
     
    Features and Projects
     

    Book reviews and notes
    Philosophical reading can be a real time-eater. Those who still try to keep up with the flood of publications usually realise in frustration after a short time that it would probably take several lifetimes to master this atlas act. To make it a little easier to choose what to read in the limited time available to us, we have revised our reviews and book notes page and made it clearer.

    Blockchain Hub and Cryptophilosophy
    Now it's official: a research institute with a total of nine chairs on blockchain technology is being established at the University of Lucerne. But what are the philosophical implications of this technology? How is it changing our society and what are the reasons for advocating or rejecting it? In order to get to the bottom of these and other questions, we already created the new thematic focus "Kryptophilosophie" in spring, which will attempt to map this discourse.

    Press Review
    We are not only interested in press reports about us, but in media publications of philosophical content in general. After a failed experiment of a press review (which philpublica does much better), we would now like to start an (exclusive ;-)) press club. Please give us tips on philosophical content and get in touch if you are interested!

    Swiss Philosophical Preprint Series
    The philosophy portal runs an archive - protect your drafts, teaching materials, handouts and powerpoints from plagiarism and make them freely available under a Creative Commons licence! Simply send your material to info@philosophie.ch.
     
    Calls and Announcements
     

    Job Offers
    Do you want to join our team? This time we are looking to fill three new positions (stakeholder management, content management and webmaster). If you are interested after reading the job advertisements, please contact us at info@philosophie.ch.

    Essay Competition: The Soundtrack of My Mind

    In connection with the Agora project, Philosophie.ch is organising a competition to combine music and philosophy. Entries of any kind and in any format, in German, English, French or Italian, are requested by 31 August to info@philosophie.ch. The three winners will each receive CHF 100 in prize money. 


    Essay Competition: Suicide
    In our new essay competition, we venture into the delicate topic of "suicide" (also a new thematic focus). The deadline for entries is the 1st of November 2023. We are also looking forward to contributions on the philosophy of medicine, health and the meaning of life!

    As a philosophy portal, we would like to address not only philosophy students but also psychology students. To this end, we have also written an essay competition for the thematic focus on philosophical questions in psychology.

    Zurich Philosophy Festival 2024
    The 6th Zurich Philosophy Festival will take place from 25 to 27 January 2024 at the Mühle Tiefenbrunnen in Zurich. The programme will be announced in early November. Find more information about the festival and the 2023 edition here.

     
     
     
     
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