18th Symposium of the International Association of Women Philosophers (IAPh)
Center for the History of Women Philosophers and Scientists at Paderborn University, Germany.
July 18-21, 2021
+++ THE ZOOM LINKS CAN BE FOUND IN THE TIMETABLE: CLICK ON THE BLUE PAPERCLIP IN THE UPPER RIGHT CORNER OF THE DESIRED SESSION; KEYNOTE OR WORKSHOP CUBE AND SELECT THE RELEVANT LINK +++
The International Association of Women Philosophers (IAPh) is an initiative to promote women’s research in philosophy and its history. Founded in Germany in 1976, it is now a global network for all women in philosophy. Given its strong tradition, IAPh covers all philosophical disciplines, including feminist philosophy as well as the history of women philosophers. After holding conferences in such venues as Monash University, Melbourne (2016) and Tsinghua University, Beijing (2018), the 18th world congress of IAPh will be hosted by the Center for the History of Women Philosophers and Scientists (HWPS) at Paderborn University, Germany.
As the director of the Center for the History of Women Philosophers and Scientists and the Head of the Teaching and Research Area EcoTechGender, I feel very much honored to host this conference. Initially planned as the IAPH’ biannual symposia, this conference had to be postponed due to the Covid pandemic. As the pandemic is still a threat to many of us, it will take place as a hybrid event. In times of great global concern, rapid technological progress, climate change, and economic turmoil, we invite women’s contributions to present their ideas concerning the future, while taking a critical look back into the past. Women’s voices have been suppressed in the past few centuries in nearly all countries and cultures of the world, and to differing extents. To end this societal contradiction is a considerable challenge and it demands that women raise their voices. Women, though excluded for too long, are nevertheless not without responsibility. Now is the time to present their ideas in the relevant fields related to the human condition and to contribute to shaping the future. With more than one hundred and sixty contributors from all parts of the world, from Israel and the Arab world, from China and the United States, Canada, Japan, Russia, India, Australia, Brazil, Argentina, Uganda, Netherlands, Latvia, Turkey, Poland, Spain, Finland, Taiwan, Greece, Italy, France, United Kingdom and Germany and about twenty keynotes from China, Latin Amerika, Ukraine, South Africa, Japan, Iran, United States and more, we dare to take the first steps to a new understanding of how to shape this future such that it might shape a better world for all.
As the conference organizer, I am indebted to the board of the IAPH for entrusting me with the Organization of this conference. I am grateful to the Center’s Team for its support in sharing with me the idea and work in promoting the ideas of women philosophers and granting me their support to organize this conference. I am especially grateful to Felix Grewe, scholar in the project EcoTechGender, and would like to thank him for his patience, skills and circumspection with which he has organized this conference.
Last but not least, I am grateful to all the speakers who bring in their ideas, who take part, and demonstrate how this world can be united in thought, who care about the world we live in. I am also grateful to all the participants who share their time and their attention in listening to us all.
Without them, nothing happens and nothing changes.
Let’s take this conference as a first step towards enhancing the intellectual global power of women philosophers to shape the future by rethinking the past.
Paderborn, July 2021 Ruth Edith Hagengruber
IAPh 2021 Conference Board:
Ruth E. Hagengruber, Felix Grewe and Rebekka Schubert
