Call for Abstracts: International Symposium "The Unconscious in Philosophy and Culture – The Challenges of Contemporaneity"

Institute of Philosophy at Ivane Javakhishvili  Tbilisi State University is pleased to announce the  international symposium  "The Unconscious in Philosophy and Culture – The Challenges of Contemporaneity". The Symposium Will take place in Tbilisi, Georgia on June 22-23, 2017

Institute of Philosophy at Tbilisi State University welcomes you to the 2017 international symposium "The Unconscious in Philosophy and Culture – The Challenges of Contemporaneity" in Tbilisi, Georgia. The symposium is dedicated to the 90th anniversary of prominent Georgian Philosopher and Apollo Sheroyzia.

The symposium will be organized by Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University, which already hosted several international scientific meetings. 

Tbilisi State, the first-ever national university in the Caucasus, was opened in 1918 laying the foundation for a European-type higher school in Georgia. The ancient educational tradition established in Georgia is continued today in the largest institution of higher education in the region, Tbilisi Stet University, the venue of the conference. The venue provides excellent location for all scientific events, plenary and session meetings, exhibitions and side events as well. 

The venue city, Tbilisi, is an ancient and beautiful capital city in Eastern Georgia, nowadays it is one of the most cosmopolitan cities in the country.  Georgias ancient and vibrant capital city spreads out on both banks of the Mtkvari River, and is surrounded on three sides by mountains. Tbilisi was found in the mid-5th century AD by the King Vakhtang  I Gorgasali. The city is famous with it historical sites and especially with its old town.  This area is well-known for its sulfur bathhouses fed by natural hot springs. 

The easiest entry point for international visitors is Tbilisi International airport; accommodation and travel in Georgia is not expensive and Tbilisi provides a great opportunity to add vacation and exploration time to your conference visit.  

The theme for the 2017 symposium “The Unconscious in Philosophy and Culture – The Challenges of Contemporaneity” aims to present and discuss some of the challenges faced by the complex notion. How should we represent the space of the unconscious - as a bodily phenomenon or as a feature of the "mind"? Should we imagine it as an inner theatre of representations, as Freud suggests, or as a factory, as Deleuze and Guattari propose? How should we imagine the boundary between consciousness and the unconscious - as a leap or as a continuous passage? According to the answer to these questions, the very ontological status of the unconscious varies: is it phenomenons one might study objectively, or does it remain an irreducible part of the subjective? And, how shall we understand the relation between the individual and the collective unconscious? How to assess the role of culture and cultural productions in the shaping of unconscious processes? The Unconscious has become a topic in other traditions, such as phenomenology, philosophy of language and logics, moral and aesthetic thinking and more recently also the cognitive neurosciences.

However Institute of Philosophy is committed to a conference that reflects the broadest disciplinary range within Philosophy, psychology, etc. The symposium encompasses topics across the disciplinary spectrum in philosophy, as well as interdisciplinary and multi-disciplinary approaches to the subject.  The themes around the history of Unconscious are only indicative, and not in any way intended to be a definitive list. The symposium content will be defined by the range and breadth of your suggestions and the symposium committee looks forward to receiving many different and stimulating proposals.

The symposium structure is expected mainly to consist of traditional panel sessions with papers, and proposals for panels of papers are very welcome indeed. All proposals are expected to include the opportunity for discussion.

Institute of Philosophy had established the practice of publishing a definite number of papers from each symposium n an edited bilingual collection-“Philosophical-Theological Reviewer”. The symposium committee looks forward to continuing this tradition, and may request session chairs to nominate work for consideration by the editors.                                                                                                                                            

We would be glad to welcome you at Tbilisi State University. We hope you will enjoy this view over the rim of your own discipline and take advantage of the interdisciplinary exchange to stimulate your ideas.

To highlight the range and diversity of topic,  the institute of Philosophy  issuing an open call for the 2017 symposium proposals whose deadline, not to be missed, is May 20, 2017

Submit your topic abstract (“work in progress”) to our staff email address: PhilosophySymposium@tsu.ge    

Please limit your topic abstract to a maximum of 300 words including brief mention of any relevant supporting information.  All proposals must include the name and institutional affiliation of the proposer.

Warm welcome to all of you,

Head of the Institute of Philosophy

Professor Demur Jalaghonia, 

Head of Anthim  Iverianul Scientific- Research 

Center for Philosophy and Theology

Associated professor Anastasia Zakariadze