=========================
McLuhan's Philosophy of Media - Centennial Conference
--------------------------------------------
26-28 October 2011 - Brussels
=========================
Keynote Speakers:
Eric McLuhan, Robert K. Logan, Paul Levinson,
Graham Harman, Peter-Paul Verbeek
<http://www.mcluhancentennial.eu/>http://www.mcluhancentennial.eu
Marshall McLuhan (1911-1980): media theorist,
cultural critic, provoker. Undoubtedly
influential. Pitching phrases like 'the medium
is the message' and 'the global village,'
McLuhan rose to stardom in the 1960s, only to
see his fame decay during the last decade of his
life. Since the early 1990s however, his ideas
have been gradually rediscovered by academics
and pop culture alike. The digital revolution
made him, retrospectively, a quite accurate
analyst of the information era, even a visionary
in the eyes of some. Within communication
studies, cultural studies, sociology, and
philosophy, his insights remain fertile ground
for anyone trying to understand the interactions
of humans, technologies, and media environments.
In 2011, McLuhan would have celebrated his 100th
birthday. A perfect moment to look back as well
as ahead. During this interdisciplinary
conference, we will discuss McLuhan's ideas from
different perspectives and traditions. At the
same time we wish to highlight an aspect of
McLuhan that until now has been underexposed:
his philosophy of media. Inasmuch as he
reflected upon the workings and forms of media,
McLuhan truly was a philosopher of technology,
very much in the style of contemporary
Anglo-American philosophers of technology:
weaving together ontology, phenomenology,
critique, and cultural observations into an
eclectic patchwork bent on understanding media
dynamics. And ?media,? in McLuhan's sense, could
be anything made by humans, ranging from cars
over political systems to ideas. Throughout this
centennial celebration, we seek to investigate
McLuhan's ?media philosophy,? in particular its
relation to, relevance for, and place in
philosophy and media studies. More specifically,
but not exhaustively, the following topics could be discussed:
- McLuhan's media theory and its relevance in
the context of today's media research
- General concepts in McLuhan's theory of media,
e.g., causality, rationality, spatiality, temporality, corporeality, extension
- ?Is the medium still the message in the 21st century??
- Metaphysics in McLuhan
- ?Technologies-as-Extension? theories
- McLuhan's use/critique of logic
- Parallels and connections between McLuhan's
media theory and other philosophical or
philosophically inspired schools, e.g.,
phenomenology, structuralism, Thomism, idealism, linguistics
- The scope of McLuhan's media analysis
- McLuhan's interpretation and reading of
philosophers and writers, e.g., Francis Bacon,
Vico, Aristotle, Heidegger, Merleau-Ponty, Shakespeare, the Bible
- The relevance and usability of the 'tetrad'
Since we aim at an interdisciplinary conference,
we welcome contributions from all academic fields.
A selection of the presented papers will be published afterwards.
Individual paper proposals: please send an
abstract of no more than 300 words, prepared for
blind review, to <mailto:(info /at/ mcluhancentennial.eu)>(info /at/ mcluhancentennial.eu).
Panel proposals should include:
* an appropriate panel title
* a general abstract of no more than 300 words, prepared for blind review
* an abstract from each panelist, of no more
than 150 words, prepared for blind review
* the names and affiliations of the panelists and panel chair
Please direct proposals to
<mailto:(info /at/ mcluhancentennial.eu)>(info /at/ mcluhancentennial.eu).
Submission deadline: April 1st, 2011.
More information:
Yoni Van Den Eede ? Department of Philosophy and
Moral Sciences ? Free University of Brussels -
<mailto:(info /at/ mcluhancentennial.eu)>(info /at/ mcluhancentennial.eu).
http://www.mcluhancentennial.eu
Organized by the Centre for Ethics and the
Interdisciplinary Institute for Broadband
Technology - Studies on Media, Information and
Telecommunication (IBBT-SMIT), Faculty of Arts
and Philosophy, Free University of Brussels
(Vrije Universiteit Brussel) - <http://www.vub.ac.be/>http://www.vub.ac.be
