Ordinary language philosophy has long insisted that meaning is not the property of an abstract, disembodied speaker. It emerges from use and context, i.e the forms of life that speakers share —and forms of life are, irreducibly, lived in and through bodies. Yet the body itself has remained at the periphery of ordinary language philosophy’s explicit concerns. This conference takes up the question of what ordinary language can do — and cannot do — when it reaches the threshold of embodied experience: pain, gesture, trauma, care, and the fragmented expressions through which a body makes itself understood, or fails to.
Keynotes: Estelle Ferrarese (Université Picardie Jules Verne) and Sarah Drews Lucas (Exeter University)
This is the 5th event in the “Wittgenstein and Women” conference and workshop series (www.wittgensteinwomen.wordpress.com), which was established with the aim of exploring Wittgenstein‘s philosophy as a fruitful resource for feminist and political thought and to support the work of women and other marginalised gender identities. The present conference turns to the body as the site where the possibilities and failures of ordinary language are most acutely at stake, and where the intersection of ordinary language philosophy with feminist philosophy, ethics of care, the philosophy of action, and ordinary anthropology opens new critical terrain.
This is a two-part event, involving a conference and workshops for graduate students (MA- or PhD-students). Papers submitted to the workshops may be works in progress. Workshop papers must be submitted in advance to facilitate group discussions. The workshops will be led by two Keynote Speakers, who will ensure that discussions about the papers take place in a constructive and supportive atmosphere.
All submissions (Workshops & Conference) must be in English. There is no registration fee.
The aim of this event is to support the philosophical work of women and all other marginalized gender identities on Wittgenstein and ordinary language philosophy. You can read more about the Wittgenstein and Women conference and workshop series here: www.wittgensteinwomen.wordpress.com. We therefore invite submissions from women and members of all other marginalized gender identities only.
Proposals should be 500 words in length, including a brief bibliography and keywords.
