Call for Papers

2009 Meeting of the Wesleyan Philosophical Society

“I More Than the Others:”

A Response to Evil and Suffering

Location: Anderson University, Anderson, In.

Conference Date:  March 5, 2009

Proposal Due Date:  October 1, 2008

This conference will seek to address several of the multi-faceted issues that stem from the conditions of evil and suffering in our world.  First Vice-President, Heather K. Ross and the Wesleyan Philosophical Society (WPS) now issue a Call for Papers for the 2009 annual conference. The conference will be held March 5, 2009 on the campus of Anderson University, in Anderson, Indiana. The Wesleyan Philosophical Society welcomes any proposals related to the following topics or the conference theme in general.  We also encourage submission of multi-disciplined papers including, but not limited to, suffering or evil in film, media and literature, art and politics, bio-ethics, gender studies, economics or anthropology.  We will consider submissions on other subjects as well, but priority will be given to those dealing with the selected theme. 

• What is the relationship, if any, between evil and suffering, and structures of power?
• What is the role for Philosophy, per se, in addressing “the problem of evil?”
• How does one speak of responsibility for evil?
• How does one address poverty, sickness and excessive wealth in terms of suffering and evil?
• What is the relationship of politics to the question of evil?
• Can one adequately respond to the issues of suffering and evil without recourse to theological matters such as sin and judgment?
• What role, if any, does God play in matters of suffering and evil?
• Is the misuse of environmental resources evil?
• What responsibility does one have for evil committed by governmental violence such as, torture, war, “ethnic cleansing,” capital punishment, etc.?
• To what degree does language determine our concepts of evil and suffering?
• How does the fear of evil inform our ethical response to evil?
• Are there gender implications for violence and suffering?
• How has colonialism and imperialism shaped the questions of systemic evil?

Please submit proposals of 250 words or less, the title of the abstract, along with name, position, and institutional affiliation (if applicable) to Brint Montgomery at Brint@snu.edu by October 1, 2008. The proposal should be sent as an email attachment in Microsoft Word format. Each proposal will undergo a double-blind peer review process.

The society will meet in conjunction with the Society of the Study of Psychology and Wesleyan Theology (SSPWT). Please check the WPS website updates for exact hotel and meeting site information at, http://wps.snu.edu. The Wesleyan Theological Society will be holding its annual meeting at Anderson University, March 5-7, 2009.