April 2026 - News - Philosophy bulletin board

Trans*Formations Talk Luana Pesarini, 30.4. 2026

by Flora Löffelmann

Dear All, please save the date for the next Trans*Formations Event at the Philosophy Institute. For those who do not know the series: This talk and workshop series organized by a bunch of people from the Philosophy Department (BA, MA and PhD) provides insights into recent developments in trans* philosophizing. Thanks to the Vienna Doctoral School of Philosophy (VDP) [1] and queer@hochschulen [2] for their financial support! In the next talk, Luana Pesarini (Goethe Universität Frankfurt) will discuss historical and contemporary theories of the neural basis of transness, and the presuppositions these studies rely on, from a trans/feminist science studies perspective. The next Event will be in English! When & Where: Thursday, 30.4.2026 - 18:00-19:30 at HS 3A, NIG (Universitätsstraße 7) The Trans Brain? History and Current Hypotheses on the Neural Basis of Transness Abstract: Against the background of contemporary debates about the supposed natural basis of sex/gender and the intersection of neurodivergence and transness, the lecture will turn to the history and contemporary theories of the neural basis of transness. Contemporary trans brain hypotheses rest on a whole array of presuppositions: The assumption that brains have a sex/gender; that this brain sex/gender can stand in opposition to the sex assigned at birth; that brain sex/gender develops in response to hormonal changes; that this development has a temporal threshold; and that one can discern transness from a trans-sexed/gendered brain - all of these conveyed through imaging technologies. To fan out the presuppositions that fuel contemporary theories of the neural basis of transness, the lecture will trace its history through the lens of trans/feminist science studies. Starting from theories about the natural bisexuality and plasticity of mammals and their eugenic interpretations at the beginning of the 20th century (Eugen Steinach, Paul Kammerer), the lecture will move through the early hypotheses about the neural basis of transness in the post-Second World War inception of trans medicine in the US (John Money, Robert Stoller, Harry Benjamin), to the first neuroimaging studies on transness in the 1990s and early 2000s, to finish with the neurodevelopmental hypothesis of transness in contemporary neuroscience and a discussion of its impacts on the lives of trans people. Neuronal explanations of transness certainly do not carry the same weight in the debates about the natural basis of sex/gender and transness as chromosomal explanations. Incidents such as the International Chess Federation's ban of trans women from the women's category, the European Society of Endocrinology's considerations about brain scans as "a useful tool for earlier identification of transgenderism in young people," and calls from neuroscientists to intervene in and prevent the development of transness in the brain nevertheless illustrate the current and potentially future power of such explanations over the lives of trans people. Bio: Luana Pesarini is a philosophy-trained sociologist specializing in feminist science and technology studies, theories of materiality, and trans feminism. She is currently working as a doctoral researcher in the German Research Foundation-funded RTG "Fixing Futures. Technologies of Anticipation in Contemporary Societies" at Goethe University Frankfurt, Germany. There will be a Q&A after the talk, as well as snacks and drinks! Please also save the date for the next Trans*Formations Events: A talk on Law and Gender by UK barrister Jane Russell on 15.5., and a full-day event with a focus on Gender Euphoria on 7.6. with, among others, talks by Quill Kukla (Georgetown University) and Eric A. Stanley (University of California, Berkeley). We are thankful to our previous Trans*Formations speakers: Luce deLire [3], Alyosxa Tudor [4], Eric Llaveria Caselles [5], Emelia Stanley, [6] Emma Heaney [7], Juliana Gleeson, [8] Gen Eickers & Sigmond Richli [9], Jonah I. Garde [10] and Anna Klieber [11]! We are looking forward to seeing you at the event, and happy if you forward this invitation and the attached poster to others who might be interested! With all the best, the Trans*Formations Team Links: ------ [1] https://vd-philosophy.univie.ac.at/ [2] https://queer-at-hochschulen.org/ [3] https://philosophie.univie.ac.at/en/news-events/nachrichten-news-events/det… [4] https://philosophie.univie.ac.at/news-events/nachrichten-news-events/detail… [5] https://philosophie.univie.ac.at/news-events/nachrichten-news-events/detail… [6] https://philosophie.univie.ac.at/news-events/nachrichten-news-events/detail… [7] https://lists.philo.at/hyperkitty/list/news@lists.philo.at/thread/GIUSVC6TO… [8] https://philosophie.univie.ac.at/news-events/nachrichten-news-events/detail… [9] https://urise.univie.ac.at/mod/booking/optionview.php?cmid=293&optionid… [10] https://lists.philo.at/hyperkitty/list/news@lists.philo.at/thread/ZUJBVRNM7… [11] https://philosophie.univie.ac.at/news-events/nachrichten-news-events/detail…

4 months, 1 week

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TEAP - Alice van’t Hoff “Against higher-order unrestrictedness”, 10 April 2026

by Ludovica Conti

Dear all, we are pleased to announce the fourth talk in our TEAP seminar series <https://sites.google.com/view/themeseap>. The talk is scheduled for Friday, April 10, 11:00-13:00 (CEST), at the following link: https://univienna.zoom.us/j/68312177521?pwd=fdYFFrcK1hg3Qw7GH2nCNVTIdV26rs.1 (ID riunione: 683 1217 7521 Codice d’accesso: 722203) Alice van’t Hoff (University of Vienna) – Against higher-order unrestrictedness Generality absolutists argue that it is possible to quantify absolutely unrestrictedly over everything that there is. A challenge to their view arises if we take seriously the possibility of genuinely higher-order quantification. An influential proposal, first put forward by Timothy Williamson, however, suggests that to conclude on this basis against generality absolutism would be premature. Williamson's claim is that higher-order quantification in our object language is only a threat to generality absolutism if we, misleadingly, adopt a first-order metalanguage. I argue, though, that this approach is subject to a counter-example: intuitively, quantification in many-sorted languages need not be absolutely general. Yet both higher-order and many-sorted systems may involve multiple distinct quantifiers and there are, I claim, no differences of the kind relevant to a quantifier's unrestrictedness that distinguish these two versions of quantifier pluralism. This suggests, contra Williamson and others, that higher-order quantification is a threat to generality absolutism, at least insofar as we take quantification of this kind ontologically seriously. Hope to see you online! Michele Contente, Ludovica Conti and Caterina Sisti

4 months, 1 week

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Workshop - Resisting Othering

by Elise Coquereau-Saouma

Dear colleagues, We cordially invite you all to the workshop *Resisting Othering. Reimagining the Self-Other Relationship Globally*, taking place on 9-10th April 2026. Address: Department of Philosophy, Room 3D, NIG, Universitätsstraße 7 You can find the description and program below, and the details here: https://phaenomenologie.univie.ac.at/forschung/othering/ Registration is not necessary. Best regards, Elise Coquereau-Saouma and Michael Staudigl (Organisation) _____ Description: Otherness is still most often conceived in distinction from the self, as in the figure of the foreigner or the barbarian—the other of my culture. The other thus serves, through a play of resemblance and difference, to delineate who I am and to which societies, communities, cultures, and groups I belong, notably by contrast and opposition. This space between self and other easily takes on an exclusionary value, sometimes with radical consequences: the pariah, the untouchable, or, likewise, the refugee camps behind barbed wire at the border. This binary between self and other can be politically exploited to set different societies, religions, or communal groups against each other. It can also serve as a justification for the exploitation of nature. It can manifest in less visible and less extreme, but no less problematic, examples of othering processes. In this workshop, we aim to question what makes the exclusion of others possible, starting from the very conception of alterity that underpins our models of exclusion. In other words, the goal is to develop conceptual alternatives to these processes of othering. While much of the philosophical literature addressing these issues has emerged from Western traditions, non-Western models of alterity can offer significant and as yet underexplored contributions to these questions. These approaches, rooted in diverse local contexts and practices, may often be more attuned to the specific forms of exclusion and othering encountered in those societies, and thus provide conceptual resources that cannot simply be replaced by universalizing Western frameworks. Accordingly, this workshop seeks not only critical analyses of exclusionary practices, but above all positive theories of relation to the other—approaches that move beyond the binary of self and other and ground new models for thinking alterity. We invite contributions that articulate such alternative frameworks, whether through concepts of nondualism, interdependence, relational ontology, or other traditions of thought that resist the reduction of alterity to opposition. Our aim is to foster a space for proposals that do not merely critique, but actively reimagine the self’s relation to the other, drawing on the richness of non-Western traditions to shape a genuinely global theory of alterity relevant for our time. _____ Program: 9 April 9:00–10:00 “I am Thou” and “I with Others = We”: Nondualism Debated in Ramchandra Gandhi and N. V. Banerjee’s Philosophies Elise Coquereau-Saouma, University of Vienna 10:00–11:00 The I, the Other and the Thou in Mutual Self-Negation: A Phenomenological Account of Intersubjectivity in Nishida Kitarō’s Philosophy of Basho Georg Harfensteller, University of Vienna 11:30–12:30 The Self–Other Relationship in African Philosophy: Ubuntu and Igwebuike in Comparison Emmanuel Ossai, Lancaster University 14:00–15:00 From Universal Compassion to Alienation: Contrasting Models of Self–Other Relations in Early and Later Jain Philosophy Dimitry Shevchenko, Hebrew University 15:00–16:00 Is India Civilized? Rethinking the Self–Other Relationship with William Archer (1856–1924), John Woodroffe (1865–1936), and Aurobindo Ghose (1872–1950) Pawel Odyniec, Karlstad University 16:30–17:30 Having the Savage: On Matters of Self, Other, and How to Humanise Our Monsters Manu Sharma, University of Vienna 10 April 9:00–10:00 “The Empire Strikes Back”: Notes on Barbarians, Cannibals, and Terrorists Michael Staudigl, University of Vienna 10:00–11:00 Othering as Experiential Maladaptation: A Phenomenological Account Sergio Pérez-Gatica, University of Tübingen 11:30–12:30 Relational Thinking? On the Challenges of Relational Epistemologies Anke Graness, Hildesheim University 14:00–15:00 Philosophy as Resistant Praxis: Buddhist Perspectives Fabien Muller, Tampere University 15:00–16:00 Agency as Relationally Emergent: Defending Confucian Role Ethics against Collectivist Misreadings Thomas Moore, Sheffield University 16:30–17:30 Imagining an-other: On the Figure of Otherness in Global Romanticism Michael Zangerl, University of Vienna

4 months, 2 weeks

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Summer School on Trust & Cooperation (Vienna, 13-17 July, 2026): Call for Participation - Deadline April 14

by Eva Saskia Titia Erika Hijlkema

Trust & Cooperation - Vienna Summer School 2026 Accepting applications until April 14! Confirmed instructors: Leah Henderson [1] (University of Groningen), Benjamin McMyler [2] (University of Minnesota), Kieran Oberman [3] (The London School of Economics and Political Science), Guest speakers: Keith Harris [4] (University of Vienna) more to be confirmed! dates: July 13-July 17, 2026 deadline: April 14, 2026 (see below for further details) location: Neues Institutsgebäude (NIG), Universitätstrasse 7, 1010 Wien, Department of Philosophy, University of Vienna [5], Austria Call for Participation Over the course of five days participants will have the opportunity to engage with renowned experts in discussions on the topic of trust and cooperation on the interpersonal and institutional level, as well as within the contexts of climate change and immigration. Trust and cooperation have become front and center issues in today's world. The nature of global challenges - from refugees seeking asylum to the ecological crises of climate change and biodiversity loss - renders cooperation ever more crucial to overcoming them. Key questions revolve around the nature of trust and the nature of cooperation respectively, as well as around the relationship between trust and cooperation, intersecting the fields of social and political philosophy, as well as applied ethics and political epistemology. We welcome applications from PhD students (prioritized), advanced MA students and postdoctoral researchers in philosophy and related disciplines. Participants will explore current research in these fields, attend keynote lectures, thematic discussions and interactive workshops, as well as present their own work, and receive valuable feedback from invited scholars. The goal of this Summer School is to provide doctoral students with direct access to leading researchers whose work--whether directly or indirectly--relates to these themes. Application & Fees We welcome applications from PhD students (prioritized), advanced MA students and postdoctoral researchers in philosophy and related disciplines. Two modes of participation are possible: 1) attendance, 2) presentation - if they would also like to give a presentation. To apply for participation, please send the following documents to Joachim Raich (joachim.raich(a)univie.ac.at [6]): * Curriculum Vitae (max. 2 pages) * Statement of Purpose (no longer than 1 page), explaining the relevance of the summer school to your study, research, teaching and/or other professional work. * Statement of Financial Aid (optional). We can offer limited partial financial support (including the coverage of the school fees) to the participants whose home institutions cannot cover their expenses. We therefore ask the applicants who wish to be considered for funding to briefly describe their situation in the statement. * Abstract (optional; max. 250 words). If you would like to present your work at the summer school, please send us a short abstract of your presentation. The presentations should be related in a significant manner to the themes of trust and/or cooperation (from any philosophical perspective) and should be about 20 minutes long to leave enough time for discussions. Since the number of slots for student presentations is limited, this will help us decide on how to allocate them. The maximum number of participants at the summer school will be 25. Full attendance is worth 4 ECTS. The summer school fee is 75 Euros. The fee includes the student union fee of 25 Euros, which is required by Austrian law to register at the University of Vienna and to receive a certificate of completion of the summer school. Please, submit your application by April 14, 23.59 CET. Contact Email: joachim.raich(a)univie.ac.at [6] We will notify you of the decision by end of April. Diversity Statement We strongly encourage applications from members of disadvantaged and underrepresented groups. Organizing Committee Chiara Dankl Ali Emre Benli Eva Hijlkema Joachim Raich The VDP Summer School 2026 is funded by the Vienna Doctoral School of Philosophy (University of Vienna). Visit the website for more information! [7] Links: ------ [1] https://lhenderson.org/ [2] https://philpeople.org/profiles/benjamin-mcmyler [3] https://www.lse.ac.uk/people/kieran-oberman [4] https://www.knowledgeincrisis.com/people/keith-harris [5] https://www.univie.ac.at/en [6] http://webmail2016.univie.ac.at/./#NOP [7] https://philosophie.univie.ac.at/news-events/nachrichten-news-events/detail…

4 months, 2 weeks

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