10/07/2026
CFP. Renovating humanity. Facing inhumanity in public and social life
San Raffaele School of Philosophy 2026
Conference dates: December 14th – 16th, 2026
Deadline for submission: August 30th, 2026.
Accepted papers will be considered for publication in a special issue of Phenomenology and Mind.
Confirmed Invited Speakers
Mounira Al Solh (visual artist, Kunsthochschule Kassel)
Robin Celikates (Freie Universität Berlin)
Roberta De Monticelli (Vita-Salute San Raffaele University, Milan)
Jérôme Dokic (EHESS and Institut Jean-Nicod, Paris)
Julia Jansen (KU Leuven)
Dima Mohammed (Universidade Nova de Lisboa)
Guest Editors: Vittorio Catalano (University of Vienna); Simone Santamato (Vita-Salute San Raffaele University)
In a multi-crisis and rapidly changing world such as the one we are currently living in, our own humanity faces crucial challenges. Conflicts and wars, as well as social and political contexts in which propaganda, manipulation and conformism, violence, hate speech, and abuse of power overflow, make philosophical reflection on what remains of humanity and how to promote its flourishing all the more compelling.
In this School, we aim to explore this issue from a variety of philosophical perspectives, combining a theoretical approach with more practical and applied ones.
Section 1. From a phenomenological point of view, we seek to explore how humanity can be preserved and renovated in one’s personal and social stance-takings, including acts of empathy and feeling together, shared emotions, value feeling, as well as collective acts of resistance. At the same time, we aim to investigate how phenomena in which one’s possibilities of personal stance-taking fail (e.g., forms of social conformity, repression, and reification of human persons) negatively impact personal flourishing, interpersonal relationships, and ultimately the core aspects of our own humanity.
Section 2. This section focuses on the role of discursive strategies and argumentative practices in shaping epistemic injustice in contexts involving marginalized communities. Public discourse plays a central role in distributing credibility, structuring whose voices are heard, and determining how disagreement is managed under conditions of inequality. Discursive and argumentative practices can both reinforce epistemic marginalization—through silencing, distortion, or dismissal—and enable forms of resistance that restore voice and recognition.
We invite contributions that examine how power asymmetries affect the uptake of both speech acts and arguments, how marginalized speakers navigate public disagreement, and which discursive strategies - such as protest or counterspeech - can effectively challenge discursive and epistemic injustice in contemporary communication environments.
Section 3. explores contemporary forms of collective resistance as practices through which individuals and groups claim and defend their humanity in contexts of oppression, injustice, and structural violence. Framing resistance as a morally significant practice, this section starts from the question of civil disobedience: can the deliberate and public breach of unjust norms constitute not only a politically legitimate act, but also a gesture of restoring dignity – one's own and that of others? Building on this, we examine the relationship between resistance and democracy, considering radical critique of structures of domination – political, legal, migratory – as a condition for democratic renewal. Solidarity and collective action appear here not merely as political strategies, but as ethical practices that mutually reactivate one's humanity, generate obligations toward others, and reconfigure the boundaries of moral communities.
Section 4. From the perspective of philosophy of perception, we aim to investigate how perceptual experience contributes to our recognition of others as persons and to the apprehension of morally and socially salient aspects of reality. Can emotions, intentions, vulnerability, dignity be directly perceived in our encounters with others, or are they merely inferred from perceptual cues? Addressing debates on social and moral perception, this section seeks to explore how perceptual experience may ground forms of responsiveness, empathy, and acknowledgment of others in public and social life. At the same time, we aim to examine how perceptual processes may be shaped or distorted by social norms, stereotypes, and ideological frameworks, thereby affecting what becomes salient in experience and potentially contributing to forms of objectification, dehumanization, or indifference toward suffering.
Section 5. explores the role of contemporary artistic practices in critically interrogating the conditions of our present and reimagining what it means to remain human in times of crisis. Rather than approaching art as a static object of historical inquiry, we invite contributions that engage with artistic practices as living, relational, and socially embedded forms of thought. We envision contemporary art as a site where ethical and political questions converge, traversing media, geographies, narratives, and experiences of displacement through reflexivity and imaginative speculation. Particular attention may be given to perspectives attuned to a feminist ethics of care, especially to Joan C. Tronto’s notion of “caring with” as the foundation of truly democratic societies grounded in reciprocity, interdependence, and accountability toward both human and more-than-human worlds. In a present marked by intertwined crises – wars, geopolitical instability, forced displacement, and climate emergency – this section seeks to foreground the emancipatory and generative potential of artistic practices to cultivate new forms of coexistence and shared imaginaries.
Enclosed are some prompts for contributions to the call for papers, differentiated by sections.
Section 1: Phenomenology
1) How can we face inhumanity and renovate our humanity? Can our personal and social stance-takings preserve and renovate humanity?
2) Does empathy have a role in recognizing and affirming others’ humanity? What are the potential costs of a neutralization of empathy?
3) Can phenomena such as feeling together and sharing emotions promote our experience of others as human beings like us? Are there any possible shortcomings in these experiences?
4) How do forms of hate, resentment, violence, and repression impact one’s flourishing and possibilities of personal stance-takings and personal modes of living together?
5) How may social conformity, affective contagion, and identification with leaders, as well as forms of impersonal collectives such as masses, involve the reification of human persons, the deconstruction of their agency, and the obliteration of the value of their dignity?
Section 2: Philosophy of language
1) How do linguistic strategies contribute to discursive injustice affecting marginalized communities?
2) How do public arguments contribute to epistemic injustice affecting marginalized communities?
3) How do power asymmetries shape whose arguments are taken seriously?
4) How is disagreement managed in contexts of epistemic marginalization?
5) What forms of discursive and argumentative resistance can counter epistemic injustice?
Section 3: Moral and Political Philosophy
1) Under what conditions do civil disobedience and nonviolent resistance constitute legitimate – and humanizing – responses to injustice?
2) How do structures of domination (political, legal, migratory) shape the possibilities of resistance and the forms of collective solidarity, and what ethical constraints – if any – govern them?
3) What is the relationship between radical critique of institutions and democratic renewal?
4) How can the transition from resistance to the construction of new forms of shared political life be articulated, and what moral principles – if any – should guide it?
Section 4: Philosophy of Perception
1) Can morally or socially significant features of reality—such as vulnerability, injustice, or dignity—be directly perceived, or are they always inferred from perceptual experience?
2) To what extent does perceptual experience contribute to our recognition of others as persons rather than objects, and what role does perception play in shaping empathy and responsiveness in social life?
3) How may perceptual experience be shaped or influenced by social norms, stereotypes, and ideological frameworks, and what are the implications of such influences for the perception of others?
4) What role do attention, salience, and perceptual framing play in determining which aspects of social and political reality become visible—or remain unnoticed—in public life?
5) How can philosophical reflection on perception help us understand and resist forms of dehumanization, objectification, or indifference toward suffering?
Section 5: Philosophy and History of Art
1) How can contemporary artistic practices contribute to questioning and reconfiguring our understanding of humanity in conditions of social, political, and ecological crisis?
2) In what ways can art be understood as a relational and socially embedded practice that engages with forms of interdependence, care, and responsibility?
3) How do feminist ethics and micro-historical approaches in art challenge dominant narratives and reshape our understanding of collective memory and identity?
4) How can artistic practices function as forms of resistance and repair in contexts of violence, displacement, and environmental disruption?
5) How might the concept of “caring with” inform the interpretation of contemporary art as a site of ethical and political engagement, and what implications does this have for rethinking more just societies and forms of coexistence?
Submissions must be prepared for double-blind review. Manuscripts – in .doc format – should not contain any identifying information and they cannot exceed 4000 words (references included). Manuscripts must be written in English. Moreover, they must contain:
- An abstract of no more than 150 words;
- 4/5 keywords;
- an indication of the section to which the submission is intended.
For stylistic details, see:
https://www.rosenbergesellier.it/eng/journals/phenomenology-and-mind/editorial-norms
Submissions should be sent via the Phenomenology and Mind website by August 30th, 2026.
Authors should register here and then log in to submit their papers. Please make sure to submit your paper to the section “Renovating humanity”.
For further information, please contact Vittorio Catalano ([email protected]) and Simone Santamato ([email protected]).
Important dates
Deadline for submissions: August 30th, 2026.
Notification of acceptance: October 20th, 2026.
San Raffaele School of Philosophy: December 14th – 16th, 2026.
Publication of the special issue (expected): July 2027.
Scientific Direction: Francesca De Vecchi, Francesca Forlè
Scientific Committee: Claudia Bianchi, Vittorio Catalano, Bianca Cepollaro, Greta Favara, Mara Floris, Francesca Pola, Elisabetta Sacchi, Roberta Sala, Simone Santamato, Sarah Songhorian.
