Attention
constitutes one of the most fundamental yet under-theorized dimensions
of human experience. Despite its centrality to perception, cognition,
action, and intersubjectivity, the philosophical investigation of
attention as a concept in its own right remains surprisingly
underdeveloped. This international conference represents the first major
initiative of a four-year research program (2025-2029) dedicated to
establishing the philosophy of attention as a major field of
contemporary philosophical inquiry.
The philosophical engagement with attention has deep historical
roots. Already in ancient Greek thought, we find attention implicitly at
stake in the Socratic contrast between an 'examined' and an
'unexamined' life and in the dialectical reform of ordinary reason
pursued throughout Plato's dialogues. Medieval philosophy anticipates
later developments through its emphasis on representation and
intentionality (intentio), particularly in the works of Augustin,
Aquinas and Duns Scotus. Yet it is only with Descartes's Meditations
that attention receives explicit philosophical treatment, emerging as
the crucial mediating link between radical doubt and epistemic
certainty. This Cartesian innovation opens a rich trajectory of
reflection, pursued by thinkers as diverse as Malebranche, Berkeley,
Locke, and Wolff.
The scope of philosophical inquiry into attention expands
dramatically from the late 18th century onwards. No longer confined to
epistemological questions, attention becomes central to investigating
the fundamental structures of subjectivity itself. French spiritualism,
phenomenology, and philosophies of existence explore how attention
relates to apperception, sensation, emotion, and volition—a trajectory
that runs from Maine de Biran and Bergson through the phenomenological
movement, encompassing figures from Paul Ricoeur to Michel Henry.
Meanwhile, William James's psychological and philosophical
investigations, along with later thinkers like Merleau-Ponty, Simone
Weil, and Iris Murdoch, demonstrate attention's significance across
multiple philosophical domains.
Indeed, contemporary philosophy recognizes attention as fundamental
to a remarkable range of inquiries. In ethics, attention emerges as an
essential vehicle for exercising personal and collective virtues.
Aesthetics invokes attention in debates about the nature of beauty and
our engagement with works of art—their creation, appreciation, and
critique. Social and political philosophy identifies attention as a
central component of the modern media landscape, where it functions as a
valuable and increasingly contested economic resource. Environmental
philosophy calls upon attention to help conceptualize our evolving and
often precarious relationship with the natural world. Across these
diverse contexts, attention appears as a fundamental human capacity
whose nature and quality largely determine the kinds of bonds we can
establish with each other and our surrounding world.
This conference seeks to bring these rich historical engagements into
systematic dialogue with contemporary philosophy. We welcome
contributions from all philosophical traditions and approaches,
including but not limited to: the reflexive tradition, hermeneutics,
phenomenology, empiricist and analytic philosophy, philosophy of mind,
cognitive science, pragmatism, and non-Western philosophical traditions.
We aim to explore how different philosophical frameworks have
conceptualized attention's structure, dynamics, and normative
dimensions, and how these varied perspectives can illuminate both
historical debates and current research.
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orcid.org/0000-0002-0192-8965
