Workshop: Third International Workshop of the Goethe-Lexicon (Toronto, April 20-23, 2023)

Now that we can begin to hope for something like “normal” academic exchanges, we invite contributions to the Third International Workshop of the Goethe Lexicon of Philosophical Concepts (GLPC), a collaborative research initiative investigating the central role played by concepts and their reinvention in Goethe’s development as a heterodox thinker. The lexicon is an online, open-access research tool that seeks to make Goethe available beyond the German-speaking world to a global readership and to offer a resource for scholars outside German Studies to connect their work to a thinker who, until recently, remained largely unacknowledged for his philosophical interests and achievements. We currently have published two installments and expect the third to appear by October 2022. The first two installments are available here: https://goethe-lexicon.pitt.edu/GL.

The workshop will take place in person at the University of Toronto on April 20-23, 2023. (Our appreciation to John Noyes for making local arrangements.) Its purpose will be to discuss drafts of future entries to the lexicon, esp. installments five and six which will be appearing at the end of late spring and summer, 2023.

We encourage you to consider a concept from the list available on the GLPC website: https://goethe-lexicon.pitt.edu/GL/information/authors. As we approach our first 40-50 entries, we particularly are interested in your consideration of what would be “indispensable” concepts (though the nature of our project is to depict Goethe as a “heterodox” thinker).

The format of the workshop will involve pairs of presenters and commenters, with ample time for discussion of the pre-submitted entries. Accommodations will be made for remote attendance and “auditors.”

If funding permits, there may be subventions for graduate students, junior faculty, and independent scholars to defray some expenses. Otherwise, meals will be provided (travel and hotel will not be covered).

Please submit your proposals of 300-500 words no later than March 1, 2023, to Clark Muenzer (muenzer@pitt.edu), John H. Smith (jhsmith@uci.edu), and John Noyes (john.noyes@utoronto.ca).

Completed papers should be between 2500 and 4000 words. They must be submitted by April 1, 2023. The workshop will be limited to 20-25 participants.

Submissions that cannot be accepted due to space limitations will still be considered as future lexicon entries.

—Clark, John N. and John S.

(A copy of the CFP can be downloaded as a Word document by clicking this link.)