Language and the Scientific Imagination

It is rare nowadays to see any fruitful dialogue between the Humanities and Science. In the first half of the twentieth century philosophers like Russell and Whitehead, following the Kantian tradition, were the main interlocutors in the debate about modern science. By the end of the twentieth century, under the influence of Nietzsche, Heidegger, and Wittgenstein, the dialogue of philosophy had switched from science to literature. This dialogue within the humanities eventually issued in Cultural Studies. What is needed is a new approach of the Humanities to Science and Technology. The “two cultures” depend on each other, for human beings give sense to their lives both by doing (Science) and by telling stories (Language).

The 11th conference of ISSEI, to be held at the University of Helsinki in 2008, invites scholars from various disciplines such as History, Politics, Literature, Art, Philosophy, Science, and Religion, to examine and redefine the scope of interdisciplinary dialogue.

The conference is divided into five sections:

1) History, Geography, Science

2) Economics, Politics, Law

3) Education, Women's Studies, Sociology

4) Art, Theater, Literature, Culture, Music

5) Language, Philosophy, Anthropology, Psychology, Religion

If you would like to participate in the conference by presenting a paper in one or more of the workshops please note the following:

Length of Paper:

Papers should not exceed 3000 words or 10 double spaced pages, including Notes. Notes need not be included in the presentation of the papers but they should be in the version intended for the proceedings.

To whom shall I submit my paper?

Papers should be submitted to the workshop Chair, to whom questions regarding the academic content of the workshop should also be addressed. Chairs’ addresses are posted on the list of workshops on the pages describing each workshop. If for any reason the address is missing, please contact the conference secretariat (issei@nachshonim.org.il) and we will supply you with a contact address.

We look forward to seeing you in Helsinki in 2008!

Call for Papers for the Workshop: Language and the Moulding of Space

Chair: Fergal Lenehan and Nadine Jänicke

By now the importance of language as a structuring agent within academia can be seen as a given that has lost much of its radicalism for many disciplines. Disciplines of the humanities and social sciences have given particular merit to language, thus participating in a major development during the 20th century denoted as the ‘linguistic turn’. The implications of characterising science as language-bound are manifold and, thus, language is given a lot of responsibility. This perspective also applies to the study of the moulding of space and the creation of a sense of place. The proposed workshop, therefore, intends to deal with broader theoretical and practical questions concerning language and space/ place.

The perception of space and attachment to various places undoubtedly provide sources of meaning in people’s lives and offer a sense of identity and self worth. This relationship usually exists in various types of local, national and even trans-national identifications. The processes involved can be formal and institutional, such as the naming and renaming of places, e.g. St. Petersburg (Leningrad), Chemnitz (Karl-Marx-Stadt) or Derry (Londonderry). They can also be informal and involving subjective imaginings of place, e.g. ‘the east’, ‘the west’ or even ‘the global village’ or they can stem from intellectual and journalistic discourses, e.g. the creation of a new idea of ‘Mitteleuropa’ in the 1980s. These imaginings of space/ place are mediated through textual processes and the use of language. The proposed workshop is, hence, chiefly concerned with the study of how various agents, including scholars, scientists and writers, make spatial formations conceivable in linguistic terms.

The interrelationship between the conceptualisation of space/ place and the use of language has remained relatively under-researched. Various disciplines view this problem in a myriad of ways. Possible approaches for looking at space/ place include ‘Begriffsgeschichte’ (history of concepts), intellectual history, critical geo-politics, cultural studies and literary criticism. During this workshop we would like to look at the interrelationship between the ‘spatial turn’ and the ‘linguistic turn’ and to bring together various disciplines and academics working on the relationship between language and the moulding of space and the creation of place, thus facilitating dialogue across disciplinary borders. We welcome papers from history, geography, political science, philosophy, and philology.