27th International Conference of the Friedrich Nietzsche Society
Science, Art, Life
Hosted by Dr. Ashley Woodward and Dr. Amélie Berger Soraruff (University of Dundee)
16-17 September 2022
CALL FOR ABSTRACTS
See below for submission details
Keynote Presenters
Prof. Keith Ansell-Pearson (Emeritus, University of Warwick)
Dr. Rebecca Bamford (Queens University, Belfast)
Dr. Barbara Stiegler (University of Bordeaux-Montaigne)
Dr. Rebecca Bamford (Queens University, Belfast)
Dr. Barbara Stiegler (University of Bordeaux-Montaigne)
Nietzsche asserts that ‘a higher culture must give to man a double-brain, as it were two brain-ventricles, one for the perceptions of science, the other for those of non-science: lying beside one another, not confused together, separable, capable of being shut off; this is a demand of health.’ (HAH 251). This demand of health indicates that both science and art should be subject to a higher standard of value, the existential value of life. In his latter preface to The Birth of Tragedy, Nietzsche decribes the aim of the book as to examine science through the lens of art, and art through the lens of life. This broaches the question of the priorities given to these tendencies, which do not remain contstant throughout the itinerary of Nietzsche’s thought. Nietzsche’s diagnosis of the nihilism of the modern age is in a certain sense a bemoaning of the rise of science and the decline of tragic art. Yet he also diagnosed decadent cultural tendencies, for example in the works of Wagner, to which science might be an antidote. Moreover, following his close reading of Lange’s History of Materialism he kept abreast with developments and debates in the natural sciences. His arguments for will to power and eternal return are indebted to scientific theories in atomism and thermodynamics, yet he never lost his profound sensitivity to music and to art in general, seeing it as an esential stimulus to life.
Questions of the relation between science and art remain at the forefront of debate today. Our natural sciences are having effects more profound than ever on the meaning and quality of our lives, from what some see as the physical instantiation of metaphysics in networked information and communication technologies, to the unintended consequences of the technosciences, the destruction of the environment and the threat of extinction it brings. Meanwhile, the very distinctions between the human and the natural sciences, between the sciences and the arts, have been increasingly questioned, and contemporary philosophy finds itself in greater dialogue with the sciences than in much of the twentieth century. This themed conference then invites a timely reflection on Nietzsche’s untimely meditations concerning the tensions, connections, resonances, and aporias of thinking science, art, and life together. Papers need not address all three themes, but should address the intersections or tensions between at least two of science (both Wissenschaft broadly conceived and natural science), art, and life in Nietzsche’s works.
Questions of the relation between science and art remain at the forefront of debate today. Our natural sciences are having effects more profound than ever on the meaning and quality of our lives, from what some see as the physical instantiation of metaphysics in networked information and communication technologies, to the unintended consequences of the technosciences, the destruction of the environment and the threat of extinction it brings. Meanwhile, the very distinctions between the human and the natural sciences, between the sciences and the arts, have been increasingly questioned, and contemporary philosophy finds itself in greater dialogue with the sciences than in much of the twentieth century. This themed conference then invites a timely reflection on Nietzsche’s untimely meditations concerning the tensions, connections, resonances, and aporias of thinking science, art, and life together. Papers need not address all three themes, but should address the intersections or tensions between at least two of science (both Wissenschaft broadly conceived and natural science), art, and life in Nietzsche’s works.
Possible topics include:
Paper proposals on additional topics related to the conference theme are also welcome.
Abstract Guidelines:
Practical Information:
- Niezsche and Lebensphilosophie.
- How does Nietzcshe’s approach to Philosophy as a Way of Life interconnect with his views on art and/ or science?
- The value of science for life in Nietzsche
- The value of art for life in Nietzsche
- The relationship between truth and science and/or art
- The relationship between the art-drives and a drive to truth
- Nietzsche and the ‘two cultures’
- The development across Nietzsche’s thougth of his views of the hierarchy between art and science
- How can ‘both powers’ of science and the plastic arts ‘be accommodated within’ culture? (HAH 276)
- The meaning of Nietzsche’s assertion that 'only as an aesthetic phenomenon can life be justified’ (BT 5), in the context of his later critiques of truth and science.
- Dionysus and Epimetheus
- What does it mean to ‘stay true to the earth’?
- The human sciences and the natural sciences in contest with or in relationship to art.
- Readings of eternal return or will to power in relation to the roles of art, science, and life in Nietzsche’s thought
Paper proposals on additional topics related to the conference theme are also welcome.
Abstract Guidelines:
- Submitted abstracts should be 300-500 words long. Abstracts should clearly describe proposals for a 25-minute presentation, must be written in English, and must be received by 14 March 2022.
- Abstracts must follow this template, and include a paper title, research question, description of approach, references to both primary and secondary literature, and 3 – 5 Keywords (to assist with parallel session organization).
- Please include a title in the header of your abstract.
- Please save your file using the following format: FNS2020ABSTRACT_YOURLASTNAME
- In the body of the email, please state the following information for potential inclusion in the conference programme:
- The title of the paper
- Your name and institutional affiliation
- Your preferred email contact address
- The title of the paper
- Please save your file using the following format: FNS2020ABSTRACT_YOURLASTNAME
- In the subject line of the email, please state only the following: FNS2020ABSTRACT_YOURLASTNAME
- Abstracts should be sent to the FNS Conference Committee – at friedrich.nietzsche.society@gmail.com – as a plain Word (or Word compatible) document.
Practical Information:
- All conference presenters must register to attend the conference to have their paper included in the conference programme.
- Presenters should be members of FNS. FNS membership information is available here: https://www.fns.org.uk/membership.html
- Abstract submission deadline: Monday, 14 March 2022
- We aim to communicate abstract decisions by the end of May
Image: public domain, copyright Sharon Pittaway