Thinking happens at/in a place. Obviously, there always needs to be a
site or a point of view where thinking occurs—a place at which a
thought manifests, arrives, changes itself and proceeds along in new
ways. At first, this statement sounds trivial and obvious. Of course,
thinking in any manner presumes a place, just as every statement,
every action, every sensation, and so forth does. It appears then
that it would be nearly impossible for thinking to take place without
actually taking place; thinking would simply have no impression or
expression. Certainly, “place” can refer to a manifold of things —
the body (lived and physical), political class, social status,
(socialized) gender, language, cultural networks, lifeworlds, and
last but not least (geographical) landscapes as well as (historical)
time periods. All of these are, within each constellation, not only
the places that condition thought, rather each appears to allow only
a determined, bordered, and restricted type of thinking according to
each sense of place. And yet, deeply penetrating experiences of
thinking in both the past and present always again raise the claim of
being universal and in this sense of being inter- and/or
trans-cultural, which always means between bodies and beyond the
body, between and beyond the strata and settings of geography, time,
language, gender, skin color, and so on.

The breadth of this problem prompts a question, namely, what are the
theoretical approaches that can help us explore and understand the
complexities of where thinking takes place? How can we comprehend
this unfathomable concept of “a place”, and why does it seem that
thinking presupposes it — or rather, if anything, does place shape
thinking? Can one speak at all of a “pure” place, unaffected by
thinking, without running into problems? Or, on the contrary, does
thinking have to be bound to a certain place? Might “universal”
thinking be possible, in a way that thinks between and beyond places
and that occurs always from elsewhere? Does a plurality of places
change or resituate the apparent tension between thinking and place?

All parties interested in one or more of the topics described here
are welcome to actively participate in the conference and to send us
an abstract (max. 500 words, English or German). With this call for papers we are open
to having researchers from other disciplines join us, and we especially encourage post-graduate and post-doctoral scholars to apply. The
deadline for abstracts is 15 April 2013 (see contact details below).
We will notify participants of decisions regarding the acceptance of
abstracts no later than 15 May 2013. For those receiving a positive
response, we will ask you to send us finalized version of your work in English or German
by 15 August (suitable for a 20 minute presentation). We can arrange
travel and lodging allowances for invitees (according to need), and
there is also the possibility of publication.

Organization:
Murat Ates, Mag. and James Garrison, M.A.
Institutional Support:
Prof. Dr. Georg Stenger, Prof. Dr. Franz Martin Wimmer

The conference is a collaboration between the University of Vienna’s
Department of Philosophy and the Institute for Arts and Sciences (IWK)

Contact address (for sending abstracts):
ates@mur.at or james.garrison@univie.ac.at

Contact:
Murat Ates and James Garrison
University of Vienna
Department of Philosophy (NIG, D0302)
Universitätsstr. 7
A-1010 Vienna
Austria

Email: ates@mur.at or james.garrison@univie.ac.at

Web: http://philosophie.univie.ac.at/interkultphil/