Fifth European Pragmatism Conference

University of St. Gallen, Switzerland

20-22 August 2025

Contact: Michael Festl, michael.festl@unisg.ch

Organisers

The Fifth European Pragmatism Conference will take place at the University of St. Gallen, Switzerland. It will be hosted by the Dewey-Center, Switzerland. The conference is organised in collaboration with the Nordic Pragmatist NetworkAssociazione Pragma (Italy), Pragmata (France), The Central European Pragmatist Forumthe German Pragmatism Network (Germany), and the European Pragmatism Association

We are grateful to the University of St. Gallen and the Schweizerische Akademie fuer Geistes- und Sozialwissenschaft for their generous financial support of the conference. We also thank the Society for the Advancement of American Philosophy for co-sponsoring the Women in Pragmatism Event.

Venue and Attendance

The conference will take place in person at the University of St. Gallen’s Square building on 20-22 August 2025. The address is: Guisanstrasse 20, 9010 St. Gallen. The conference will be preceded, at the same venue, by a workshop organized by the Women in Pragmatism Network on 19 August 2025. Please see below for further details.

Sessions will take place at Square’s rooms: Saentis (first floor), Rosenberg, Rotmonten, Vadian, Gallus (all ground floor). Registration and coffee breaks will be in the hall. All these venues are in proximity to each other.

As in previous years, there will be no conference fee to attend and present at the conference. Yet, the conference will not cover participants’ travel expenses nor organize accommodation. 

Conference Programme and Materials

More information to follow as we proceed. Please see below for the call for panels.

Women in Pragmatism Pre-Conference Workshop

The pre-conference workshop Women in Pragmatism will take place on 19 August at the Square (room Saentis). Please see the event webpage for more information and a separate call for papers (deadline 5 February).

Travel, Accommodation and Meals

You can check if you need a visa to enter Switzerland here: https://www.ch.ch/en/foreign-nationals-in-switzerland/entry-and-stay-in-switzerland/visas-for-foreign-nationals  

St. Gallen downtown with its World Heritage Abbey and library offers many places to eat. The area around the main station is the second and a bit less expensive area to eat. 

Concerning accommodation, Hotel Einstein is the luxury choice. Other recommendable hotels, no less than a 15-minute walk from the university, are: Hotel Dom; Hotel Walhalla; Hotel Metropol; Hotel Vadian; Hotel Weissenstein; Hotel Militaerkantine.

Call for Panels

The conference programme will consist of half-day, four-speaker panels. The organizers especially encourage participation in organized panels. A limited number of individual papers will be included from a separate CFP, which will be announced later.

The organizers invite four-speaker panel proposals exploring and applying pragmatist ideas to issues and debates in all fields of philosophical and social inquiry. Pragmatism being the overall theme of the conference, we encourage the panel title to reflect explicitly its connections with the theme of the conference. 

The submissions are expected to include a clear description of the panel’s contribution to its field of inquiry. Coherence within the panel topics and themes is considered a merit. Please note that a speaker can participate only in one panel. Please consider the gender balance and overall inclusivity of your panel.

Please submit your panel proposal via our online electronic form that will be made available on this page on 10 January 2025. We ask panel organizers to submit a panel description (max 500 words) and all abstracts (500 words each) in one single form. The submission deadline is at midnight (Central European Standard Time) on 1 February 2025. Please follow the instructions (including word limits) given and save the contents of your submission separately in case of technical difficulties. We expect to announce the results of the call by 1 March 2025.

Call for Individual Papers

The call for individual papers will open on 1 February 2025.

The organizers invite presentation proposals exploring and applying pragmatist ideas to issues and debates in all fields of philosophical and social inquiry, as well as debates in the natural, biomedical and social sciences. Pragmatism being the overall theme of the conference, we encourage the presentation title to reflect explicitly its connections with the theme of the conference.

45 minutes (including discussion) will be allocated for each individual paper presentation. The time is fixed and cannot be exceeded. We expect presenters to reserve at least 10 minutes for discussion. The submission abstracts are expected to include a clear description of the paper’s contents and its contribution to its field of inquiry. Please submit your paper proposal via our online electronic form (available soon). The submission deadline is at midnight (Central European Time) on 21 February 2025. Please follow the instructions (including word limits) given and save the contents of your submission separately in case of technical difficulties. We expect to announce the results of the call by 20 March 2025.

Organizers and Committees

Conference and organizing committee

Cedric Braun (University of St. Gallen)

Michael Festl (University of St. Gallen)

Programme Committee (EPA)

TBA