department of philosophy

graduate conference 2019

from this perverse condition. Just as What is philosophy’s role in under-

philosophy often asserts reality may
not always be as it immediately ap-
pears, the mechanisms underlying
paranoia expose the fragile ground of
our relations to reality and unveil the
ever-present possibility of seismic
shifts in our worldly orientations. We
wish to question the all-too-certain
standing and combating the paranoiac
deluge?
This is the space we intend to inhab-
it at this year’s New School for Social
Research philosophy student gradu-
ate conference. We invite submissions
from students and scholars who ad-

paranoid
and all-too-grounded by inquiring af- dress these general themes, whether
ter the possibility and utility of a phi- from the perspective of philosophy or
losophy of paranoia for our times. The that of the other social sciences.
stakes are both epistemic and political:
april 4th-5th, 2018 new york, ny

encounters
how can philosophy come to think the
irrationality of the modern experience,
and to what end can this thought be
enlisted? Does philosophy itself per-
haps possess a paranoiac structure?
We welcome visual and performance
artists, as well as filmmakers working
with the theme of paranoia to submit
works for consideration.

possible topics include but are not limited to

CALL FOR PAPERS AND ARTISTIC PRACTICES
It is difficult to deny that our age has
come to be haunted by paranoia. One
can point to prevailing anxieties over
the exoticized other, which sustain
contemporary expressions of racism
and xenophobia; the hysterical un-
mooring of truth from value and fac-
ticity implied in the rise of “alterna-
tive facts” and post-truth politics; the
pervasiveness of state surveillance
and control; the daily reality of sponta-
neous violence and terroristic death;
as well as the looming ecocide and
an end to all things human. The world
today confronts us as absurd and un-
familiar, plagued by specters of the
phantasmatic and dystopic. What was
once dystopic fantasy has become
mundane reality. If philosophy aims at
rationality and paranoia is understood
as profound irrationality, how are we
to think the contemporary paranoiac
conjuncture philosophically?
Though paranoia skews the human
experience towards skepticism, fear,
doubt, and anxiety, we propose that
there is something to be garnered
paranoia as an episteme or anti-episteme.
the relationship between rationality and the other.
critiques of rationalism and the enlightenment.
the nature of paranoia, fear, and the other.
paranoia and/as social criticism.
the phenomenology of paranoia, fear, doubt, anxiety, and/or fantasy.
the political epistemology of conspiracy theories.
paranoia in psychology and psychoanalysis.
paranoia and political ontology.
paranoia in film, literature, and visual art.
paranoid underpinnings of the structures of domination and oppression.
social pathologies and critical theory.
full papers for a 20-25 min presentation, 3,000 words max
films / performances / artistic research with description of 150-250 words
+ if possible, a portfolio
format for blind review; submit as PDF by january 1st
paranoidencounters@newschool.edu
keynote: adrian johnston (univ. new mexico)