Department of Philosophy at the University of Prishtina, Republic of Kosovo, 19-20 November 2026.

Confirmed keynote/distinguished speakers:

Philip Kitcher – John Dewey Professor of Philosophy, Emeritus, Columbia University
Bjørn Torgrim Ramberg –  Professor at Department of Philosophy, Classics, History of Art and Ideas (IFIKK), University of Oslo
Lee Braver – Professor at Department of Philosophy, University of South Florida
Magnus Schlette – Professor at Heidelberg University
Sarin Marchetti – Dipartimento di Filosofia Department of Philosophy, The Sapienza University of Rome 

Honorary lecture:

Astrit Salihu – Professor at Department of Philosophy, University of Pristina

Organized by: Department of Philosophy @ University of Pristina; Kosovo Philosophical Association; European Pragmatism Association; Fédération Internationale des Sociétés de Philosophie

Call for Papers

Modernity is characterized by the discovery of the ‘New Continent’, which in the philosophical discourse of different periods has not been conceived merely as a geographical expansion, but as a potential space for the development of a new mode of practical and contemplative thinking. Alexis de Tocqueville evaluated the American Revolution in contrast to the French one, interpreting it as a more authentic expression of democracy, while Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel argued that the future of philosophical and historical development would shift toward the New Continent. Similarly, Jean Baudrillard conceptualized America as a form of transatlantic utopia of late modernity.

However, these interpretations do not reduce America to a passive space of European projections, nor do they define it as an entity devoid of self-reflection. On the contrary, American philosophy, drawing upon the European intellectual heritage—its crème de la crème—articulates a distinct and authentic tradition of philosophical thought. This tradition begins with the transcendentalism of Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau, where Emerson may be read as a proto-pragmatic figure, and then develops toward the consolidation of classical pragmatism. It culminates in the work of Charles Sanders Peirce, William James, and John Dewey, who reconfigure the map of Western philosophy through a post-metaphysical paradigm of thought.

Within this framework, elements such as radical empiricism, eco-ethics, pluralism, Hegelian Darwinism, and ethical democracy contribute to shaping what is known as American philosophy, articulated under the conceptual framework of pragmatism. In this paradigm, freedom, pluralism, and democracy are not treated as fortuitous categories, but as constitutive conditions of philosophical practice itself. In this sense, pragmatism marks a shift from the primacy of theory to practice, from practice to theoretical reformulation, and from a theory of truth to a theory about truth (Rorty).

After the Second World War, American philosophy became dominated by the Anglo-Saxon tradition of analytic philosophy, which marginalized classical pragmatism. It was not until the 1970s that this tradition re-emerged in the form of neo-pragmatism or linguistic pragmatism. The key figures of this reconfiguration are Richard Rorty and Hilary Putnam, later supported by Richard Bernstein with a more political orientation, and Robert Brandom within a more epistemological and inferentialist line.

In addition to pragmatism as the central tradition of American philosophy, eco-ethics developed in parallel in the post-war years through Aldo Leopold, which can be situated within the broader framework of bioethics as articulated by Van Rensselaer Potter. At the same time, the philosophy of technology initially developed from European premises with Martin Heidegger and Jacques Ellul, and was further elaborated through the Society for Philosophy and Technology, established in the United States. One of the key directions within this approach is post-phenomenology, representing one of the most significant approaches of the empirical turn in the study of technology.

Another central dimension is the philosophy of law and political theory, where John Rawls and Ronald Dworkin represent two paradigmatic figures of contemporary normative thought. Likewise, the tradition of philosophy of art and literary criticism developed, with Harold Bloom, Arthur Danto, and George Dickie reformulating debates on the canon, the artworld, and the “end of art.”

In general, pragmatism has functioned as a space of dialogue and plural-perspectivism. As William James emphasizes, it can be understood as a “house with many rooms,” where different philosophical traditions coexist in continuous dialogue. In this sense, American philosophy appears as an open and unfinished reflective process, articulated through dialogue with various traditions such as phenomenology, analytic philosophy, structuralism/post-structuralism, the Frankfurt School, and hermeneutics. This methodological and pluralistic openness makes pragmatism one of the most enduring and inclusive traditions of contemporary philosophy. In this sense, American philosophy cannot be reduced to a single doctrine, but should be understood as a shared horizon where freedom, pluralism, and endless dialogue are respected.

Main Topics of the Conference

• Nature in the American tradition: Emerson, Whitman, Thoreau, James, and Leopold
• The consequences of the pragmatist triad: Peirce, James, and Dewey
• Epistemology in the analytic tradition
• Epistemology and ontology in pragmatism
• Social ontology of neo-pragmatism
• Bioethics in the American context
• Neo-pragmatism
• Hegel and pragmatism
• Kant and pragmatism
• Heidegger and pragmatism
• Wittgenstein and pragmatism
• Nietzsche and pragmatism
• Pragmatist legacy in the European context: Habermas, Apel, Joas, and Forst
• Philosophy of technology in the American context
• Post-phenomenology
• Philosophy of law in the American context
• Aesthetics: the “artworld” and the “end of art”
• Literary criticism and philosophy of literature in the American context
• Cinema and film in the American context
• Liberalism and American philosophy
• Challenges of democracy
• American political theory
• American social theory
• American anthropological theory
• Redefining architecture and the city in the American context

Guidelines and General Information about the Confernce

• For each submission, the following are required: the title, an abstract of 200–400 words, five keywords, and the author’s institutional affiliation.
• Papers to be presented must be written in either Albanian or English.
• All abstracts must be submitted via email to the following addresses: labinot.kelmendi@uni-pr.edu ; shfk.kosova@gmail.com 
• Abstracts will be reviewed and selected by the Scientific Committee of the Conference.

IMPORTANT DATES:

Abstract submission deadline: September 1

Notification of acceptance: September 10

Conference dates: November 19-20  2026

The conference will be held in hybrid format: both in-person and online participation will be possible.