The Phenomenology of Affect

Monday 6 – Tuesday 7 December 2021

An international e-conference hosted by the School of Philosophy at Australian Catholic University

The close study of human affectivity has its roots in the very early years of the phenomenological movement in the work of the Brentano School and the Munich Phenomenological Circle, especially in the writings of figures such as Husserl, Scheler, Stein and Voigtlander. This interest was continued in the subsequent work of figures such as Heidegger, Sartre and Merleau-Ponty. If this broad research project dropped away noticeably in the post-war years, it has returned to the centre of interest over the last few decades in the so-called “affective turn” in phenomenology.

This conference will bring together scholars working on a broad range of areas within this field of the phenomenology of affectivity, including those that give historical readings, and those that engage with more contemporary research. In preferring the terminology of “affectivity” in preference to the “phenomenology of emotions” more specifically, the conference title signals a deliberately broad openness to a range of phenomena that include not only particular episodic emotional states, but also pervasive moods of various kinds (Stimmungen), intentional modalities, intersubjective attunements to the world (Befindlichkeiten), experiential qualities, and evaluative positionings. Framed in this way, the range of intersecting themes of research are many.

Keynote speakers

Dermot Moran (Boston College)
Claude Romano (University of Paris-Sorbonne and Australian Catholic University)
Andrew Benjamin (University of Technology, Sydney and Monash University)
Robyn Horner (Australian Catholic University)

There will be presentations by scholars in Europe, the United States of America and Australia held across the two days.

The program

Monday 6 December 2021

Session 1: 8.50am – 2.45pm (AEDT) | 5pm – 10.45pm (EST) | 10pm – 3.45am (GMT) | View a different time zone

Time	Presenter	Paper
8.50 – 9am AEDT	Richard Colledge (Australian Catholic University)	Conference welcome and orientation
9 – 9.45am AEDT 5 – 5.45pm EST (Sunday) 10 – 10.45pm GMT (Sunday)	Dermot Moran (Boston College)	Phenomenological Approaches to Empathy (Husserl, Scheler, Stein)
9.45 – 10.30am AEDT 5.45 – 6.30pm EST (Sunday) 10.45 – 11.30pm GMT (Sunday)	Claude Romano (University of Paris-Sorbonne and Australian Catholic University)	Can Gratitude be a Stimmung?
10.45 – 11.30am AEDT 6.45 – 7.30pm EST (Sunday) 11.45pm – 12.30am GMT (Sunday)	Andrew Inkpin (University of Melbourne)	Merleau-Ponty and the Expressiveness of Language
11.30am – 12.15pm AEDT 7.30 – 8.15pm EST (Sunday) 12.30 – 1.15pm GMT	Marilyn Stendera (Deakin University)	Love’s Shared World: Reorienting Heidegger’s Phenomenology of Love
1.15 – 2pm AEDT 9.15 – 10pm EST (Sunday) 2.15 – 3pm GMT	Bernardo Ainbinder (University of Wollongong)	Shame and Truth: A Phenomenological Exploration of the Epistemic Role of Emotions
2 – 2.45pm AEDT 10 – 10.45pm EST (Sunday) 3 – 3.45pm GMT	Mohit Abrol (Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi)	The Sense of Shame: A Phenomenological Account

Session 2: 5pm – 9.15pm (AEDT) | 1am – 5.15am (EST) | 6am – 10.15am (GMT) | View a different time zone

Time	Presenter	Paper
5 – 5.45pm AEDT 1 – 1.45am EST 6 – 6.45am GMT	Robyn Horner (Australian Catholic University)	The Gift of Joy
5.45 – 6.30pm AEDT 1.45 – 2.30am EST 6.45 – 7.30am GMT	Chris Danta (University of NSW)	J. M. Coetzee and the Aesthetics of Disgust
6.45 – 7.30pm AEDT 2.45 – 3.30am EST 7.45 – 8.30am GMT	Andrew Benjamin (University of Technology, Sydney and Monash University)	From Indifference to Solidarity: On the Possible Phenomenology of the Fourfold
7.30 – 8.15pm AEDT 3.30 – 4.15am EST 8.30 – 9.15am GMT	Danica-Christine Janse van Vuuren (Deakin University)	The Significance of Pre-Reflective Feelings in the Formation of Experiences of Depression and for Therapeutic Methods of Treating Depression
8.30 – 9.15pm AEDT 4.30 – 5.15am EST 9.30 – 10.15am GMT	Augustine Obi (Curtin University)	The Touching That Burns: Frantz Fanon and the Phenomenology of Affective Injustice

Tuesday 7 December 2021

Session 3: 9am – 2.45pm (AEDT) | 5pm – 10.45pm (EST) | 10pm – 3.45am (GMT) | View a different time zone

Time	Presenter	Paper
9 – 9.45am AEDT 5 – 5.45pm EST (Monday) 10 – 10.45pm GMT (Monday)	Emily Hughes (University of York)	Affected Time
9.45 – 10.30am AEDT 5.45 – 6.30pm EST (Monday) 10.45 – 11.30pm GMT (Monday)	Jeff Malpas (University of Tasmania)	Finding Ourselves in the World
10.45 – 11.30am AEDT 6.45 – 7.30pm EST (Monday) 11.45pm – 12.30am GMT (Monday)	Jack Reynolds and Lisa Curtis-Wendlandt (Deakin University)	Towards a Phenomenology of the “Premonitory Urge” in Tourette’s Syndrome
11.30am – 12.15pm AEDT 7.30 – 8.15pm EST (Monday) 12.30 – 1.15pm GMT	Robert Stolorow (Institute of Contemporary Psychoanalysis, California)	Psychoanalysis Finds a Home: Emotional Phenomenology
1.15 – 2pm AEDT 9.15 – 10pm EST (Monday) 2.15 – 3pm GMT	Debra Bergoffen (Emerita, George Mason University)	Weaponizing Disgust
2 – 2.45pm AEDT 10 – 10.45pm EST (Monday) 3 – 3.45pm GMT	Michael Mosely (Independent scholar)	The Foundational Character of Affect in Heidegger: A Challenge to Drummond

Session 4: 5pm – 9.15pm (AEDT) | 1am – 5.15am (EST) | 6am – 10.15am (GMT) | View a different time zone

Time	Presenter	Paper
5 – 5.45pm AEDT 1 – 1.45am EST 6 – 6.45am GMT	Knox Peden (University of Queensland)	Max Scheler’s Logic of the Heart
5.45 – 6.30pm AEDT 1.45 – 2.30am EST 6.45 – 7.30am GMT	Bryan Cooke (University of Melbourne)	Drives, Causes, Autoaffection and Heteroaffection: Michel Henry and the Caesura between Psychoanalysis and Phenomenology
6.45 – 7.30pm AEDT 2.45 – 3.30am EST 7.45 – 8.30am GMT	Nikolaas Deketelaere (Institut Catholique de Paris and Australian Catholic University)	Geometry of Affection: Towards a Phenomenology of the Measuring Body
7.30 – 8.15pm AEDT 3.30 – 4.15am EST 8.30 – 9.15am GMT	Christopher Buckle (Murdoch University)	What is a (Half) Thing?: Schmitz and Griffero on Emotions as Atmospheres
8.30 – 9.15pm AEDT 4.30 – 5.15am EST 9.30 – 10.15am GMT	Mathew Abbott (Federation University)	Self-Consciousness, Art, and the Aesthetics of Nature: A Critique of Evolutionary Aesthetics

Registrations for this conference have now closed. However, if you are interested in attending, please contact us by clicking on Register your interest below.