International Conference “Environmental Ethics and Vulnerability in Western and/or Buddhist Philosophy”
by Laura Langone and Carlo Chiurco
University of Verona (Italy), 24-25-26 October 2024 

Call for abstracts: 

This conference aims to explore new paths in environmental ethics by bringing into dialogue Western and Buddhist philosophical traditions. Global issues such as the environmental ones require global answers that need to elaborate a wide perspective.

Given the popularity of Buddhism as well as the growth of Buddhist studies in the West, this conference looks for intercultural contributions on environmental ethics that embrace both Western and Buddhist philosophical traditions.

In this respect, vulnerability may play a key role in bridging East and West. Its prominent position in contemporary ethics and global bioethics could contribute to transcending the view of a self-referential modern subjectivity in favor of a fully relational conception of subjectivity. This conception aligns closely with the Buddhist perspective on reality as the interconnectedness of everything that exists.

The main objective of this conference is to provide a platform for bringing together scholars in environmental ethics, vulnerability, and global bioethics from both Western and Buddhist philosophical traditions, fostering potential dialogues between them. Contributions from either the Western or Buddhist perspective alone are also welcome.

Possible topics for papers can include, but are not limited to:

• Environmental ethics in Western or Buddhist philosophical traditions
• Comparative perspectives on environmental ethics between Western and Buddhist philosophical traditions
• Historical encounters between Western and Buddhist philosophical traditions regarding environmental ethics
• Vulnerability and global bioethics from either the Western or Buddhist perspectives
• Comparative perspectives on vulnerability and global bioethics between Western and Buddhist philosophical traditions
• Future challenges in environmental ethics, vulnerability and global bioethics

Keynote speakers: 

• Henk ten Have (Duquesne University, USA)
• Marion Hourdequin (Colorado College, USA)
• Claudia Navarini (European University of Rome, Italy)
• William Edelglass (Emerson College, USA)
• Benedetta Giovanola (University of Macerata, Italy)
• Janet Donohoe (University of West Georgia, USA)
• Graham Parkes (University of Vienna, Austria)

The conference is funded by the European Commission through its Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions and sponsored by the following academic societies:

• International Society for Environmental Ethics (ISEE)
• International Association for Environmental Philosophy (IAEP)
• Italian Society for Moral Philosophy (SIFM)
• International Association for Education in Ethics (IAEE)
• XXV World Congress of Philosophy Rome 2024 (WCP 2024)
• Society for Asian and Comparative Philosophy (SACP)

Abstracts (of max 300 words) and CV should be submitted to: Laura Langone (laura.langone@PROTECTED) and Carlo Chiurco (carlo.chiurco@PROTECTED)  

Abstracts can be submitted in either English or Italian

In the email subject line please write: Environmental Ethics and Vulnerability Conference

Deadline for proposals: 29 February 2024
Notification of acceptance: by 10 May 2024
Conference website: https://www.dimi.univr.it/?ent=iniziativa&id=11440