International Merleau-Ponty Circle

Fall 2007 Newsletter

21 November 2007

The Thirty-Second Conference of the International Merleau-Ponty Circle was held at the University of Memphis, September 27-29, 2007. The Conference Director was Professor Leonard Lawlor, the Assistant Director was Bryan Bannon, and the Conference Assistant was Carolyn O’Mara. The conference theme was “Passivity.” There were twenty-two papers presented. Keynote Sessions were given by John Russon of the University of Guelph, “Freedom and Passivity,” and Rosalyn Diprose of the University of New South Wales, “Passivity, Docility, and Biopolitics.” The full program is posted on the Merleau-Ponty Circle website at www.uri.edu/artsci/phl/impc.

The second annual Martin C. Dillon Memorial Lecture was given by Matthew Goodwin, Southern Illinois University at Carbondale, with the title “Art and the Deflagration of Being: Setting Passivity Afire.” The session was moderated by Professor Duane Davis of the University of North Carolina at Asheville. The M. C. Dillon lectureship is awarded annually to the best graduate student conference paper submission chosen by the conference directors together with the General Secretary and Associate General Secretary. The honorarium for the lecture is made possible through contributions to the M. C. Dillon Endowment Fund.

At the Saturday business luncheon as well as the conference banquet Saturday evening, conference attendees expressed their hearty gratitude to Professor Leonard Lawlor as well as Bryan Bannon and Carolyn O’Mara who carried out the many tasks of making the conference run so smoothly. This was an extremely well planned, efficiently organized, and friendly event in keeping with our tradition as a Circle. We are grateful for the support received from faculty and administrative staff at the University of Memphis. In particular, we would like to thank the College of Arts and Sciences for their funding from the Academic Enrichment Fund; the Marcus W. Orr Humanities Center; the Bomblum Judaic Studies Center; the Women’s Studies Program; the Faudree-Hardin Research Fund; the Philosophy Department; and Chiasmi International: Trilingual Studies Concerning the Thought of Merleau-Ponty.

Next year’s conference, the Thirty-Third Annual Meeting of the International Merleau-Ponty Circle, will be held at Ryerson University, Toronto, Canada. The dates are September 18-20, 2008 and the theme of the conference is “Time, Memory and the Self: Remembering Merleau-Ponty at 100.” The conference is co-organized by Kym Maclaren (Ryerson University, Toronto) and David Morris (Trent University, Peterborough). In addition to paper submissions directly pertinent to the conference theme, papers are welcomed appropriate to the Merleau-Ponty centenary (1908 – 2008) that critically appraise Merleau-Ponty’s significance or reception in various areas of philosophy or related disciplines. One or two panels appropriate to the centenary occasion may also be considered. Additionally, papers on any area of current research in Merleau-Ponty studies will also be considered for inclusion in the program. The deadline for paper and panel submissions is March 17, 2008. Paper submissions are limited to a maximum of 4,000 words. For further instructions and information regarding paper and panel submissions, go to the Call for Papers on the Merleau-Ponty Circle web site (www.uri.edu/artsci/phl/impc) or the web site of the 2008 conference: http://www.trentu.ca/academic/philosophy/mpc2008/

The Fall, 2009 conference of the Circle will take place at Mississippi State University, located in Starkville, MS, jointly hosted by the School of Architecture and Department of Philosophy. The conference dates are September 24-26, 2009. The conference will be organized by Professor Rachel McCann (Mississippi State University) with assistance from Professor Patricia Locke (St. John’s College, Annapolis, MD). The conference theme will be “The Experience and Expression of Space.”

A special satellite session of the Merleau-Ponty Circle was held at the conference of the Society for Phenomenology and Existential Philosophy (SPEP) in Chicago, IL on the morning of November 8, 2007. It was devoted to scholarship about the philosophical writings of Mike Dillon, including his two posthumous manuscripts on Nietzsche's ontology and on an “ethics of particularity.” The session was moderated by Galen Johnson (University of Rhode Island) and the speakers were Larry Hass (Muhlenberg College), Marjorie Hass (Muhlenberg College), Tony O’Connor (University College Cork, Ireland) and Duane Davis (University of North Carolina at Asheville). Among the attendees who offered personal insight were Joanne Dillon, Professor Patrick Burke (University of Gonzaga, Florence, Italy), and Professor Lester Embree (Florida Atlantic University).

Respectfully submitted,

Galen A. Johnson

General Secretary