Dear all,
It is my pleasure to cordially invite you to the next installment of the
Trans*Formation Talk Series at the Department of Philosophy at
University of Vienna, which showcases exciting new developments in Trans
Philosophy. This Thursday, 26.6., Prof. Emma Heaney from NYU will give
the talk "Provincializing Cisness" at 19:30 in HS 3A, NIG. Everyone is
welcome! Please also forward this invite to others who might be
interested!
Abstract:
Most examinations of sex and gender in the academy take bourgeois
national histories of North America and Western Europe as their frame of
reference. In the histories of Germany, the UK, France, and the United
States, doctors and state bureaucracies incorporated sexual and gendered
social practices into a taxonomy of identities (or even species, as
Foucault puts it,) beginning in the mid-nineteenth century. However, in
many sex-gender systems, including those of the proletarian
neighborhoods of these nations' metropoles, the assumptions that formed
expert orderings did not apply. This lecture surveys the non-cis
vernacular categories that ordered these sex-gender systems. The
relation between race/class and cisness means that there is no absolute
geography to this story. Drawing on source material from Indigenous
Americas to the South Asian subcontinent and from the working-class
neighborhoods of Kansas City to the courts of Nigerian nobility, the
talk will be attuned to a range of sex-gender systems that do not accord
with the categories produced by the Euro- American bourgeois in order
to, as the title suggests, reveal the provincial status of cisness.
The talk will be in English with ÖGS translation.
Bio:
Emma Heaney is a scholar and teacher of feminist theory, comparative
literature, and trans studies. Her first book, _The New Woman: Literary
Modernism, Queer Theory, and the Trans Feminine Allegory [1]
_(Northwestern 2017) is a study of the prominence of the medicalized
figure of trans femininity in works of twentieth-century literature and
philosophy. Her edited collection _Feminism Against Cisness _ [2](Duke
2024) gathers essays that demonstrate the nature and potential of
feminist thought unobscured by the counterrevolutionary mystification of
assigned sex. _This Watery Place: Four Essays on Gestation [3] --- _a
political and phenomenological report from the gestational sensorium
against cisness, capital, and genocide --- is forthcoming from Pluto
Press in November 2025. Her current book project is a sequel edited
collection that draws on the work of scholars from many disciplines and
areas of geographical and historical focus to reveal the provincial
nature of the ideology of cisness. Forthcoming essays theorize the
emergence of the trans-gay distinction in the twentieth century via
literary representations. She is a Clinical Assistant Professor in the
XE program at New York University, where she serves as faculty advisor
for the Advanced Certificate in Experimental Writing.
I want to thank the VDP [4], the Culture & Equality Unit [5] of the
University of Vienna, queer@hochschulen [6], and ACCESTECH / TU Wien [7]
for their financial support dor this event.
Looking forward to seeing many of you at the talk!
All the best,
Flora Löffelmann
Links:
------
[1] https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctv47w5mz
[2] https://www.dukeupress.edu/feminism-against-cisness
[3] https://www.plutobooks.com/9780745350158/this-watery-place/
[4] https://vd-philosophy.univie.ac.at/
[5] https://personalwesen.univie.ac.at/en/culture-equality/
[6] https://queer-at-hochschulen.org/
[7] https://www.experiencing-access.eu/de/news/
Liebe Kolleg*innen,
wir laden Sie zum Workshop *„Klassismuskritik in der
Philosophie(lehre)“* am *2. Juli 2025, 15-18 Uhr in 3A (NIG)* ein, der
sich an alle Lehrenden des Instituts für Philosophie richtet.
*Wie lässt sich kritisches Denken und Handeln in einem Raum fördern, der
nur begrenzt selbstkritisch ist? Und wie lässt sich machtkritisches
Denken und Handeln fördern, wenn die Universität selbst von
Machtverhältnissen geprägt ist, an deren Reproduktion wir als Lehrende
und Wissenschaftler*innen beteiligt sind? *
Im Mittelpunkt dieses Workshops stehen die Auseinandersetzung mit
Klassismus in der Philosophie(lehre), die Reflexion eigener
Lehrpraktiken unter machtkritischer Perspektive sowie die gemeinsame
Entwicklung klassismuskritischer Ansätze für Lehre und Lernräume
(Workshopbeschreibung angehängt).
*Workshopleitung:*
Dr. Lisa Scheer (Zentrum für Lehrkompetenz, Universität Graz)
Eine Vorbereitung ist nicht erforderlich. *Anmeldung bitte über diesen
Link
<https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSe69hi_Gi3ulm8-mtn-L0Twgxc1TMd36GS…>.*
Wir freuen uns auf einen anregenden Austausch!
Irene Salzmann & Leonie Möck
organisiert im Rahmen von UPsalon & mit Unterstützung der VDP
***********
Dear colleagues,
We invite you to participate in the upcoming workshop *“Classism in
(Teaching) Philosophy” on July 2 2025, 3-6 PM, room 3A (NIG)*, which is
open to all teaching staff of the Institute of Philosophy.
*How can critical thinking and practice be promoted in a place that is
only self-critical to a limited extent? And how can power-critical
thinking and practice be promoted when the university itself is
characterized by power relations which we as teachers and academics
reproduce too?
*
Key themes of the workshop include reflecting on class-based exclusion
and privilege in philosophy, developing strategies for class-critical
teaching, exploring the boundaries and possibilities of academic freedom
and institutional constraints (full description of workshop attached).
*Workshop facilitator:*
Dr. Lisa Scheer (Competence Center for University Teaching, University
of Graz )
No prior preparation is required.*Please register using the following
link
<https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSe69hi_Gi3ulm8-mtn-L0Twgxc1TMd36GS…>.*
We look forward to your participation and to engaging discussions!
Irene Salzmann & Leonie Möck
organized with UPsalon & supported by the VDP
--
Leonie Möck, University Assistant (Prae Doc)
Philosophy of Media and Technology
University of Vienna
Universitätsstraße 7 (NIG), 1010 Vienna
leonie.moeck(a)univie.ac.at
Dear all,
We are very happy to invite you to the 14th annual graduate conference
of the Vienna Forum for Analytic Philosophy "Filtering Truth: A Graduate
Conference on Epistemic Bubbles, Echo Chambers and the Spread of
Misinformation"! The event aims to bring together graduate students and
experienced researchers whose work touches on the philosophical
challenges posed by socio-epistemic structures in which the transmission
of truth is "filtered", i.e., systematically modified. Here are the
details of the conference at a glance:
Dates: 3-5 July, 2025
Venue: Room 3D, NIG, Universiättsstraße 7, 1010 Vienna AND via Zoom (for
link see below)
Keynotes:
* Keith Harris (University of Vienna)
* Giulia Napolitano (Erasmus University Rotterdam)
* Megan Fritts (University of Arkansas, Little Rock)
* Benjamin Elzinga (Georgetown University)
To view the program and the abstracts for the talk, visit:
https://wfap.philo.at/conferences/14th-wfap-graduate-conference/ [1]
To receive the Zoom access details or to ask questions about the
conference, contact: filteringtruth(a)gmail.com
We are looking forward to seeing you all at our event!
Best,
Veronika Lassl
Acting-Chair - Vienna Forum for Analytic Philosophy
wfap.philo.at
Links:
------
[1] https://wfap.philo.at/conferences/14th-wfap-graduate-conference/
Dear all,
The PACE and KiC Projects cordially invite you to the next talk of the Metaphilosophical Talk Series by
Catarina Dutilh Novaes, VU Amsterdam
Title: Synthetic philosophy and the social epistemology of argumentation
Date: June 25th, Wednesday
Time: 16:45-18:15
Location: SE 2H, Neues Institutsgebäude (NIG/2. Stock)
Abstract:
A methodological orientation that has gained some traction within philosophy in recent years is so-called ‘synthetic philosophy’ (Schliesser 2024). It is characterized by extensive engagement with research in relevant (empirical and conceptual) disciplines to inform philosophical inquiry, and by the attempt to formulate unifying explanations for findings coming from different fields. Thus understood, I have myself been deploying the synthetic method for many years (Dutilh Novaes, 2012) (Dutilh Novaes, 2020), even if not using the term itself (which I adopted circa 2018). Other self-declared synthetic philosophers include Philip Kitcher (Kitcher 2012) and Neil Levy (Levy 2021).
In this talk, I will present and defend the synthetic philosophy orientation, illustrating it in particular by means of my research project on the social epistemology of argumentation in recent years. The foundational idea of this research, i.e., the ‘glue’ that allowed for synthesis, is a conceptualization of argumentation as a form of _epistemic exchange_. On the basis of this conceptualization, I engaged extensively with research on exchange in the social sciences (in particular sociology and anthropology) to inform my inquiry into the socio-epistemic mechanisms at play in argumentative processes, and in particular the role of power relations therein. The presentation will include a brief preview of my forthcoming monograph _Reason and Power in Argumentation_, which summarizes the main findings of the project.
We look forward to seeing you!
Best wishes,
The PACE/KiC organising team
https://pace.phl.univie.ac.at/https://www.knowledgeincrisis.com/

Liebe Institutsangehörige!
Herzliche Einladung zur Buchpräsentation "Soft Skills für eine bessere Welt" am 11.06.2025 um 18h im Lesesaal der FB Philosophie und Psychologie.
Musikalisch begleitet durch das Ensemble "Suono Vero".
https://bibliothek.univie.ac.at/events/008343.html
Worum geht es eigentlich, wenn in Lehrplänen für den schulischen Unterricht von einer "religiös-ethisch-politischen Bildungsdimension" die Rede ist? Und was bedeutet heutzutage noch die "Entwicklung der Anlagen der Jugend nach den sittlich, religiösen und sozialen Werten sowie nach den "Werten des Wahre, Guten und Schönen"? Dass junge Menschen darüber hinaus in "Freiheits- und Friedensliebe an den gemeinsamen Aufgaben der Menschheit" mitwirken sollen, unterstreicht umso mehr die Brisanz dieser Thematik - man denke nur an die zahlreichen Krisen und schweren Konflikte unserer Tage.
Neugierig nachfragend und doch auf unterhaltsame Weise setzt sich Paul R. Tarmann mit den "heißen Eisen" unseres Bildungssystems auseinander: Mit Positionen und Haltungen, die als vorausgesetzt gelten, meist aber gar nicht angesprochen werden. Dennoch handelt es sich dabei wohl um die wichtigsten Fähigkeiten, die man im Leben lernen sollte: Soft Skills, die zu einer besseren Welt beitragen können - und sollen. Trotz des essayistischen Stils geht dieses Buch über einen "Versuch" hinaus, wird hier doch vielfach Erfahrungserprobtes aus schulischem Unterricht und universitärer Lehre vorgestellt.
(Verlagstext)
[cid:image001.png@01DBCA39.18DBDB90]
OR Mag. Sonja Fiala
Leiterin der Fachbereichsbibliothek Philosophie und Psychologie
Fachreferentin für Philosophie
Universität Wien
Universitätsbibliothek
Fachbereichsbibliothek Philosophie und Psychologie
Universitätsstraße 7, 1010 Wien
T: +43-1-4277-15079
sonja.fiala(a)univie.ac.at<mailto:sonja.fiala@univie.ac.at>
https://ufind.univie.ac.at/de/person.html?id=15366https://bibliothek.univie.ac.at/fb-philosophie-psychologie/https://bibliothek.univie.ac.at/fb-philosophie-psychologie/fb_in_medien.htmlhttps://orcid.org/0000-0002-5492-8934
Vorsitzende der Arbeitsgruppe Informationsethik der Vereinigung österreichischer Bibliothekarinnen und Bibliothekare
https://voeb-b.at/voeb-kommissionen/ag-informationsethik/
[cid:image002.png@01DBCA39.18DBDB90]
Workshop: Logical Empiricism and American Pragmatism on Values and Democracy
June 15 (afternoon), 16, & 17, 2025. University of Vienna
Venue: SR 3A (Neues Institutsgebäude, Universitätsstraße 7, 1010
Vienna)
No registration needed. Everyone is invited to attend.
Sunday, June 15
14:0015:00 Christian Damböck (University of Vienna): Toward a Shift in
Narrative: Carnap, Dewey, and Lewis on Values and Practical Decisions.
15:3016:30 Sander Verhaegh (Tilburg University): Pragmatism and Logical
Empiricism on Values: A Cultural Analysis
17:0018:00 Christoph Limbeck-Lilienau (University of Vienna): Dewey versus
Stevenson on Values
18:3019:30 Cheryl Misak (University of Toronto): The Battle over Value:
Dewey and the Unity of Science
Monday, June 16
10:00-11:00 Thomas Uebel (University of Manchester): The Scientific
World-Conception Reconstituted and Compared with Dewey's Theory of Valuation
11:3012:30 Claudia Cristalli (Tilburg University): Being "of service to man
in his characteristic activity as a valuer": the scientific study of values
in Charles W. Morris
14:3015:30 Roberto Gronda (University of Pisa): Abraham Kaplan and the
American axiological tradition
16:0017:00 Lucas Baccarat (University of Vienna): Bentley and Neurath on
Experience
17:3018:30 Alan Richardson (University of British Columbia): Pluralisms in
the US 1900-1950 and Horace Kallen's criticism of Neurath
Tuesday, June 17
10:00-11:00 Georg Schiemer (University of Vienna): Carnap and Kelsen's Pure
Theory of Law
11:3012:30 Flavia Padovani (Drexel University): Hans Reichenbach and C.I.
Lewis on the pragmatic a priori
14:3015:30 Friedrich Stadler (University of Vienna): Harvard 1939: The
Interaction of European and American Pragmatism
16:0017:00 Matthias Neuber (University of Mainz): Philipp Frank on Values,
Democracy, and the "Humanistic Background of Science"
17:3018:30 Adam Tuboly (Hungarian Academy of Science): From General
Education in a Free Society to Science in a Free Society: Nagel, Kuhn, and
Feyerabend
While previous research at the Institute Vienna Circle has focused mainly on
the encounters between American pragmatism and logical empiricism in the
European context in the decades before and after 1900, this workshop will be
devoted to developments in the United States between the 1930s and 1960s. In
addition, the workshop will focus on the philosophy of values, law, and
democracy as developed in the exchanges and sometimes conflicts between key
members of the logical empiricist movement, including Rudolf Carnap, Otto
Neurath, Hans Reichenbach, and Hans Kelsen, on the one hand, and pragmatists
such as C.I. Lewis, John Dewey, Ernest Nagel, Abraham Kaplan, and Charles
Morris, on the other. Here, broad agreement on the understanding of science
and democracy is accompanied by sometimes sharp disagreement on the
philosophy of values, more precisely, the tension between non-cognitivism
and verificationism regarding values. The aim of this workshop is not only
to reconstruct these tensions, but also to contextualize them historically,
to try to resolve them systematically, and to build bridges to the
contemporary discourse on the philosophy of law, politics, and deliberative
democracy. On the other side of the political spectrum, the liberal
discourse in the US is compared to the fascist discourse on politics and law
as it developed in Europe, and in particular in Nazi Germany.
Literature:
Christian Damböck (2025), "Noncognitive Deliberation. The Political Legacy
of Logical Empiricism", Erkenntnis.
<https://doi.org/10.1007/s10670-024-00911-7>
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10670-024-00911-7
David Dyzenhaus (2023), The Long Arc of Legality. Hobbes, Kelsen, Hart, CUP.
Christoph Limbeck-Lilienau (2010), "Rudolf Carnap und die Philosophie in
Amerika. Logischer Empirismus, Pragmatismus, Realismus", Friedrich Stadler
(ed.): Vertreibung, Transformation und Rückkehr der Wissenschaftstheorie,
Lit Verlag, 85-164.
Giovanni Maddalena and Friedrich Stadler (eds.) (2019), European Pragmatism,
in: European Journal of Pragmatism and American Philosophy,
<https://doi.org/10.4000/ejpap.1459> https://doi.org/10.4000/ejpap.1459.
Cheryl Misak (2000), Truth, Politics, Morality. Pragmatism and Deliberation,
Routledge.
Cheryl Misak (2015), The American Pragmatists, OUP.
Sami Pihlström, Friedrich Stadler, and Niels Weidtmann (eds.) (2017),
Logical Empiricism and Pragmatism, Springer.
George Reisch (2005), How the Cold War Transformed Philosophy of Science. To
the Icy Slopes of Logic, CUP.
Alan Richardson (2003), "Logical Empiricism, American Pragmatism, and the
Fate of Scientific Philosophy in North America", Gary Hardcastle and Alan
Richardson (eds.), Logical Empiricism in North America, University of
Minnesota Press, 1-24.
Alan Richardson (2007), "Carnapian Pragmatism", Michael Friedman and Richard
Creath (eds.): The Cambridge Companion to Carnap, CUP, 295-315.
Thomas Uebel (2015), "American Pragmatism and the Vienna Circle: The Early
Years", JHAP 3:3, 1-35.
Sander Verhaegh (2020), "Coming to America: Carnap, Reichenbach and the
Great Intellectual Migration. Part I: Rudolf Carnap/Part II: Hans
Reichenbach", JHAP 8:11, 1-47.
Organizers: Lucas Baccarat, Christian Damböck, and Christoph
Limbeck-Lilienau
Hosts: Institute Vienna Circle, Vienna Circle Society
Language: English
You are cordially invited to the upcoming workshop at the Institute Vienna Circle:
Life and Work: On Writing About Philosopher’s Lives
13-14 June 2025
Room 3A
Neues Institutsgebäude (NIG), Universitätsstraße 7, 1010 Wien
How do we write about the lives of philosophers, and what brings us to write and read philosophical biographies?
Throughout its history, the discipline of philosophy was shaped by human interaction and personal experience as much as by hard thinking of individuals interacting with the world solely through written word. Trends in intellectual migration (or lack thereof) led to differences between philosophical traditions of different countries. There are multiple examples of friendships and personal networks enabling philosophers to flourish intellectually and in their careers; personal conflicts and character clashes could also nearly break said careers. In the relatively recent past, we have seen women enter academic philosophy, sometimes bringing with them perspectives and insights born directly from their personal experience. Their lives as women and their academic careers were inextricably linked.
This kind of research and writing becomes particularly relevant when philosophy becomes interested in its history not only from a purely conceptual perspective, but as a history of its people and institutions, which existed in a particular time and place. The practice of biographical writing can both result from such interest, and help satisfy it.
The workshop is organised by the MSCA Project "What was and what could have been: Janina Hosiasson-Lindenbaum’s role in the philosophy of probability", led by Marta Sznajder
Programme
Friday, 13 June
9:45 Welcome and introduction
10:00 -11:00 Christian Damböck, Rudolf Carnap in Chicago. The transformation of antimetaphysics
11:30 – 12:30 Patricia Grill, “Revered Miss”: Otto Neurath’s Early Letters and Reflections on Ellen Key
14:30 – 15:30 Matteo Collodel, False Memories and True Lies: Personal, institutional and philosophical issues in intellectual biography writing – The case of Paul K. Feyerabend
16:00 – 17:00 Zofia Hałęza, Philosophy beyond the text: women as architects of intellectual space
Saturday, 14 June
10:00 – 11:00 Sophia Connell, Early analytic women philosophers in Cambridge
11:30 – 12:30 Alan Richardson, When is biography philosophical? Lessons from the life of Hans Reichenbach
14:30 – 15:30 Cheryl Misak, Incorporating Technical Material in an Intellectual Biography
16:00 – 18:00 Marta Sznajder, From a bag of facts to a narrative – Workshopping the biography of Janina Hosiason-Lindenbaum
----
Marta Sznajder
Marie Skłodowska-Curie Fellow
Institute Vienna Circle
University of Vienna
www.martasznajder.com <http://www.martasznajder.com>
marta.sznajder(a)univie.ac.at <mailto:marta.sznajder@univie.ac.at>
The Institute Vienna Circle and the Vienna Circle Society cordially invite
you to the
8th Arthur Pap Lecture
Luca Oliva (University of Houston)
Kinds of A Priori
Thursday, June 12, 2025
5 pm
Aula am Campus
University of Vienna
Hof 1, Eingang 1.11
Spitalgasse 2-4
1090 Vienna
For those who can't make it to Vienna, the event will also be streamed via
YouTube: <https://www.youtube.com/live/DMGipA4G1ks> Link
Registration for the event in Vienna: <mailto:vcs@univie.ac.at>
vcs(a)univie.ac.at
No registration fee
Abstract
In 1944, Arthur Pap analyzed different kinds of "a priori" beyond the
scientific statements that served as the standard reference for the logical
empiricist criticism of the Kantian model. His analysis focuses on the
meanings of formal, material, and functional a priori, engaging primarily
with the arguments of Aristotle, Kant, Schlick, Wittgenstein, Dewey, and
Carnap. In this context, Pap advocates for the reducibility of Kant's
synthetic a priori to the material a priori, while also arguing for the
consistency of the latter with the functional meaning of the a priori.
Oliva's talk will center on the first two meanings. It will specifically
analyze Pap's views on Kant's synthetic-analytic distinction, Leibniz's
notion of true sentences as identities (which relates to Wittgenstein's
notion of tautology), and Hilbert's notion of implicit definitions - adopted
by Schlick and defended by Einstein. Oliva will also consider Pap's later
writings from 1949 and 1957 and assess the claims concerning analyticity,
necessity, and material implication they developed. Supporting references
will include works by Shieh (2006), Stump (2011, 2021), Mormann (2021), and
Limbeck-Lilienau (2025).
Short Bio
Luca Oliva is an assistant professor and the program director of Liberal
Studies at the University of Houston. His research interests lie in
epistemology and philosophy of mathematics but also involve ethics and
metaethics. He has primarily published on issues of analytic Kantianism, the
a priori in logical empiricism (including Wittgenstein), and Rickert's
abstract objects and normativity. His articles have appeared in the Kantian
Review, the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, and collections published
by Cambridge University Press, the North American Kant Society, and De
Gruyter. Oliva teaches theories of knowledge and truth, as well as ethics.
In recent years, he has been a lecturer at the University of Vienna (2019)
and the Institute Vienna Circle (2015, 2017), an academic visitor at the
University of Oxford (2016, 2017), and a visiting professor at the
Universities of Insubria (2024) and Bergamo (2015, 2022) in Italy.Since
2024, Oliva has co-organized the Reconstructing Carnap webinar series
affiliated with the University of Florence. In 2023, he also initiated the
Ethics and Normativity Seminar Series at the University of Houston.
*Erreichbarer Frieden – Eine interdisziplinäre Annäherung*
Friedenskonzeptionen unterscheiden sich in der Art und Weise, wie sie
Frieden begreifen: Philosophische Ansätze diskutieren einerseits ideale
Vorstellungen von Frieden, andererseits konkrete Handlungsnormen, wie
etwa in der Tradition des gerechten Krieges. In der Soziologie wird
erreichbarer Frieden als ein messbarer Zustand der Konfliktbewältigung
verstanden. Politisch könnten wir ihn als Ausgestaltung von
Machtverhältnissen oder die verhandlungsgeleitete, praktische
Umsetzbarkeit eines Nicht-Kriegszustands verstehen. Der Workshop zielt
darauf ab, diese Perspektiven miteinander ins Gespräch zu bringen.
Im Zeitalter der Wiederaufrüstung Europas stellen sich moralische,
politische und institutionelle Fragen nach der Erreichbarkeit von
Frieden: Was macht einen erreichbaren Frieden aus? Wie können wir ihn
disziplinübergreifend begreifen? Macht ein erreichbarer Frieden den
Diskurs über idealisierte Friedensvorstellungen obsolet? Wie lässt sich
ein solcher Friedensbegriff in unser Denken darüber integrieren, was im
Hier und Jetzt getan werden sollte?
*Datum:* Freitag, 13. Juni 2025
*Zeit:* 9:00 – 17:00 Uhr (inkl. Mittagspause von 12:30 – 13:30 Uhr)
*Ort:* Institut für Philosophie, Seminarraum 3A, Universitätsstraße 7,
3. Stock, 1010 Wien
*Vortragende*:
* Max Haller (Universität Graz)
* Georg Kunovjanek (Theresianische Militärakademie)
* Stephanie Fenkart (International Institute for Peace, IIP)
* Angela Kallhoff (Universität Wien)
* Lisa Tragbar (Universität Wien)
* Andreas Oberprantacher (Universität Innsbruck)
Der Workshop ist kostenlos, aber die Plätze vor Ort sind begrenzt. Ich
bitte daher um eine formlose Anmeldung an lisa.tragbar(a)univie.ac.at.
Eine Online-Teilnahme über Zoom ist möglich. Nach Anmeldung schicken wir
Ihnen gern einen Link zu.
Mit freundlichen Grüßen
Lisa Tragbar