Engaging the Contemporary is a yearly event organised by the Philosophy Department at the University of Malta. This year’s ninth iteration of the conference is jointly organised by the Philosophy Department of the Universities of Malta and Turin, and will take place in the beautiful city of Turin, Italy.

We live in a time defined by fast paced and unprecedented technological advancements, and an increasing awareness of the intricate web of beings which envelop, stabilise, and sustain our everyday existence. In this edition of Engaging the Contemporary, we seek to explore and (critically) assess the philosophical complexities surrounding the relation between humans and nonhumans.

The conference seeks to provide a platform for scholars to engage in interdisciplinary discussions that transcend traditional boundaries, in order to encourage dynamic dialogue between scholars working within diverse fields such as animal studies, technology studies, and new forms of realism and materialism. Through this collective exploration of interdisciplinary thought, we aim to illuminate the multifaceted philosophical dimensions that govern our relationships with various nonhuman entities with which we share the world.

Keynote Speakers

Tiziana Andina is Full Professor of Philosophy at the University of Turin (Italy). Since 2016 she is the director of the research center LabOnt – Center for Ontology at the University of Turin (www.labont.it). She has been a fellow at Columbia University (2008-2009) and of Käte Hamburger Kolleg University of Bonn (2015) as well as Visiting Professor at ITMO University Russia (2014) Nanjing and Wuhan University China (2019). She has published many articles on philosophy and the philosophy of art in several international journals. Her recent work concerns the definition of art and social ontology. Her publications include: Il volto Americano di Nietzsche La Città del Sole 1999 Il problema della percezione nella filosofia di Nietzsche Albo Versorio 2005 Arthur Danto: Philosopher of Pop Cambridge Scholars Publishing 2011 The Philosophy of Art: The Question of Definition. From Hegel to Post-Dantian Theories Bloomsbury Academy 2013 An Ontology for Social Reality Palgrave-Macmillan 2016 What is Art? The Question of Definition Reloaded Brill 2017 A Philosophy for Future Generations. The Structure and Dynamic of Transgenerationality Bloomsbury 2022 and (ed. by) Bridging the Analytical Continental Divide. A Companion to Contemporary Western Philosophy Brill 2014. She is co-editor of the international series Brill Research Perspectives in Art and Law and of the international series Analytic Aesthetics and Contemporary Art (Bloomsbury Academic). Since 2020 she is editor of Rivista di Estetica.

Maurizio Ferraris is Full Professor of Theoretical Philosophy at the University of Turin and is the president of Labont (Center for Ontology) and of “Scienza Nuova”, an institute of advanced studies – dedicated to Umberto Eco and uniting the University and the Polytechnic of Turin – aimed at planning a sustainable future, both from a cultural and from a political point of view. Visiting professor at Harvard,  Oxford, Munich, and Paris, columnist of “Corriere della sera” and “Neue Zürcher Zeitung”, author of successful television programmes and over seventy books translated worldwide, in his long career he has  determined a new course of thought and studies in at least six areas: history of hermeneutics, aesthetics as theory of perception (Rational Aesthetics), social ontology (Documentality), metaphysics (New Realism), technological anthropology (Doc-humanity), and philosophy of economics (Webfare as Digital welfare). In 2005 he wrote the world’s first philosophical book on the mobile phone: Where Are You? Ontology of the Mobile Phone.

Conveners

Prof. Tiziana Andina (University of Turin)

Prof. Claude Mangion (University of Malta)

Organising Team

Robert Farrugia (University of Malta)

Dr Niki Young (University of Malta)

Dr Erica Onnis (University of Turin)

Francois Zammit (University of Malta)

 

Enquiries

For any enquiries, kindly email us on engagingthecontemporary@um.edu.mt