The call for papers is now closed. We thank all participants for their submissions. Evaluation results will be announced on March 17. Registration will reopen on April 10.
Description
The tenth SoPhA Congress will take place in Nantes on June 30, July 1, and July 2, 2025, hosted by Nantes University and the Atlantic Center of Philosophy (CAPhi, Nantes). The main theme of the congress is “Action”. However, as for previous editions, contributions on any topic related to analytic philosophy, broadly understood, are welcome.
Abstract submissions for the 2025 SoPhA Triennial Congress are now closed.
The SoPhA (Societé de Philosophie Analytique) invites researchers in analytic philosophy to submit proposals for either a talk in a thematic session or the organization of a symposium. While contributions on "Action", the main theme of the congress (see below), are encouraged, submissions on any topic within analytic philosophy are more than welcome. Talks can be in French or English.
For a 30-minute individual talk, please submit a short abstract of 300 words (excluding references), in English or French.
For the organization of a symposium, please send a short abstract outlining the general theme, along with a brief description of each presentation (4 speakers maximum, 1000 words maximum in total). Please specify the overall duration of the session in your submission. Symposia sessions will last between 1 and 3 hours, depending on the organization proposed by the contributors.
Contributions within the following fields are welcome:
- Philosophy of action (main theme) - Philosophy of science - Epistemology - Philosophy of mind - Philosophy of language - Logic, philosophy of logic, philosophy of mathematics - Metaphysics - Ethics and moral philosophy - Aesthetics - Political philosophy, philosophy of law, social philosophy - Philosophy of religion
Theme
Action, in analytic philosophy, has become an object of philosophical investigation in its own right since the 1950s. The literature on the subject is immense, and is linked to various fields of research in contemporary philosophy: philosophy of mind, free will, social ontology, philosophy of law, ethics, decision theory, cognitive science, and so on. The next SoPhA Congress will focus, among other things, on different ways of conceiving and approaching the philosophy of action.
Here are just a few of the many possible topics for submissions:
Practical intentionality. How should we understand practical intentionality? How, if at all, does it differ from other forms of intentionality? How can we distinguish between intentions in action, intentions for the future and planning? The rationality of action. What is the nature of reasons for action? Are they psychological states or states of the world? Should we opt for internalist or externalist theories of reasons?
Practical reasoning. How can we understand the logic of practical reasoning? What role does decision theory play in this analysis? Is there a specifically practical logic?
Doing/permitting and aiming/predicting. Is allowing an event to occur the same thing as actually producing the event? Is it possible to distinguish between the agent's intended purpose and the intended consequences of their action, as the doctrine of double effect does? What are the ethical consequences of such distinctions?
Practical knowledge. How can we account for practical knowledge, i.e. the apparently immediate awareness that agents have of the actions they are performing or preparing to perform?
Know-how. Can an agent's practical dispositions and know-how be explained in terms of propositional attitudes, or in some other way?
The ontology of action. When I tilt the bottle to pour myself a glass of water, do I perform one or more actions? Can questions regarding the ontology of action, and in particular its criteria of identity, receive definitive answers?
The causal theory of action today. Should the widely accepted causal theory of action once again be challenged by non-causal theories of action, in the wake of the Anscombian conception of action? What credence should be given to the new volitionist theories, for example?
The general category of activity/passivity. Are there natural actions, such as the action of acid on metal, or of a sleeping pill on alertness, or is such language merely metaphorical? Are human actions categorically different from these sorts of actions, or are they merely a species of the genus “activity”?
Collective action. We sometimes act together. Is collective action simply an aggregation of individual actions, or should we give it a special status?
Free action and responsibility. Does the rationality of action ensure that it is free? Is free action the unconstrained exercise of decision-making power? How ought we to understand the debate between compatibilism and incompatibilism today?
History of the philosophy of action. How did the philosophy of action, as a field of philosophical inquiry, come into being and develop?
Registration Fees
Junior : 50€
Senior : 90€
Registration will reopen starting April 10.
Scientific Committee
Philippe de Brabanter Bianca Cepollaro Mikaël Cozic Vincent Descombes Anna Giustina Rachel Goodman Aidan Gray Alexandre Guay Max Kistler Kathrin Koslicki Stéphane Lemaire Olivier Massin Elisabeth Pacherie François Recanati Lea Salje Christine Tappolet Claudine Tiercelin Frédérique de Vignemont
Organizing Committee
Géraldine Carranante Bruno Gnassounou Cyrille Michon Michael Murez Vasiliki Xiromeriti
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