Central APA 2023 NASSP Session CFP (due Sept. 16, 2022): Social Philosophy in Sci-Fi

North American Society for Social Philosophy (NASSP)

CALL FOR PAPERS

Group Session at the APA Central Division Meeting

Theme: SOCIAL PHILOSOPHY IN SCI-FI

[Meeting is scheduled in Denver, Colorado, from February 22 – 25, 2023]

Gene Roddenberry who created Star Trek in the 1960s used the original TV series to comment on racism and the Cold War by imagining a starship crew with human officers that included a Russian, a Japanese, and a black woman, working together on behalf of a world federation in encounters with alien worlds.

You are invited to submit a paper on ideas and views presented in recent and classic science fiction (books and films) that relate to questions in social philosophy, such as how society should be organized; how wealth and power affect social relations; how technology benefits or harms society; how people from diverse cultures engage with each other; and how political conflicts arise and are best resolved.

For the purpose of this session, I define sci-fi broadly as the genre of stories set in the future of humanity that depicts life in a more advanced world, except that I will not count fantasy or superhero stories as belonging to the same genre.

Submission Deadline (for either a full paper of around 3,000 words or a paper abstract of 400-500 words):  September 16, 2022

You do not need to be a member of NASSP to submit and present at the APA.  Decisions on paper acceptance will be sent out to you by September 30, 2022.

Full details of the group session will be included in the online APA conference program.  (Note that you will need to register for the APA meeting in order to present a paper.  There is a discount on registration for APA members.)

Submissions and inquiries should be sent by email to: dkchan@uab.edu

David K. Chan (he/him)

Chair and Professor

Department of Philosophy

The University of Alabama at Birmingham