EMPATHIES    Download: CfP flyer - submission closed

For a number of years now, empathy has been a central topic of public and academic debate and research. It is the subject of artistic, moral and psychological reflections and commands interest from the humanities and hard sciences alike, often being a driving motor of knowledge production. It is time to take stock and consider the heterogeneity and complexity of empathy, the values different societies and cultures have attached to it and the various approaches that frame its investigations.

The SLSAeu Conference 2017 provides a cross-disciplinary platform for the discussions of the following interrelated subthemes :
(1) Empathy, Morality, Ethics
(2) Empathy, Narrative, Imagination
(3) Empathy and the Nonhuman
(4) Collective Empathy
For details please go to the "Streams" page.

Transversal aspects: We especially welcome abstracts that facilitate discussion of the synchronic (cultural) and diachronic (historical) diversity and differences in the manifestation of empathy and address issues of gender, race/ethnicity, dis/ability, religion, law and other categories of analysis.

Formats: To facilitate dialogue, we encourage proposals not only for formal paper sessions (4 speakers, 20-minute papers) but also for posters (A0) and, above all, for roundtables. The typical roundtable (120 minutes) will include 6 or 7 presenters, including a moderator, who will each speak for 10 minutes, leaving ample time for exchanges with the audience. The roundtable participants should come from at least three different disciplines, preferably from science (medical and technology fields included), the humanities/social sciences and the arts (literature, media, visual and performative). The roundtable may also focus on a book (fiction, philosophy, science etc.) or a specific controversial argument.

Anyone with a roundtable idea still seeking like-minded presenters should post via the SLSAeu mailing list. Please subscribe here.