Saint Louis University Madrid Campus 30 August – 1 September 2027
Saint Louis University Madrid Campus 30 August – 1 September 2027
Gyula Klima (Fordham University)
David Lefebvre (Sorbonne Université)
Christopher Shields (University of California San Diego)
TBA
A stone does not warm itself in the sun, a child is not self-begotten, and, as many have argued, the cosmos did not spring into existence from nothing. How do these changes come to be? The efficient cause is that from which a change or motion originates, as distinct from the matter it acts upon, the form it produces, or the end it serves. Over the centuries, this framework was adopted and adapted across physics, metaphysics, theology, and law. According to some, efficient causation is often said to be the only one of Aristotle's four causes to survive largely intact into modern thought: when we speak of ‘causation’ today, we typically mean efficient causation alone.
This conference is the third instalment in the Society for the European History of Ideas' series on the Four Aristotelian Causes, which will examine developments in thinking about efficient causation from the Ancient Greek, Latin Western, and Arabic philosophical traditions from antiquity to early modernity.
This conference is organised in partnership with the Saint Louis University Philosophy Department and the Saint Louis University Madrid Center for Theology and Philosophy
Please submit an abstract of no more than 300 words here as two PDF copies: one anonymised, the other with author details, including:
· Name
· Institutional affiliation
· Highest degree obtained
· Present career stage
Papers topics may range from the ancient to contemporary period, and discuss efficient causation within the Greek, Latin, Arabic, and Jewish philosophical traditions.
Abstracts will be chosen based on selection from a committee composed of senior academics and members of SEHI.
Application is open to all and especially encouraged for early-career philosophers and those from underrepresented groups in academia.
Should the applicant's paper be accepted, the applicant may be offered the opportunity to have their paper published in an edited volume following the conference, contingent upon peer review.
Unfortunately, SEHI is unable to offer a stipend for travel or accommodation.
Submissions should be sent no later than 23:59 (11:59 PM) PST, 15 January. Applicants will be notified about the committee's decision within 2 months of the deadline.