Hosted by Aalto University Finland, June 7-9, 2025

 

 

Invited Keynote Speakers:

 

Hanne Appelqvist

Noël Carroll

Kristin Gjesdal

 

 

Historically, the term “crossroad” has been granted various metaphorical meanings. The term is often used to refer to moments when a difficult choice has to be made or to points of conflict and/or cooperation. Crossroads have also been understood as places of magical and religious encounters, where e.g. access to gods is gained or deals with the devil made.

 

Inspired by this abundance of metaphors, the 2025 annual conference of the Nordic Society for Aesthetics takes as its theme the Crossroads of Aesthetics with emphasis on the intersections of different methods and ways of practicing aesthetics.

 

We invite the participants to suggest what the crossroads of aesthetics might mean. Collaboration and/or clashes with different methodologies within aesthetics? Intersections between aesthetics and other fields of thought? Intersections of different cultures and ways of life, or of different forms of art?

 

With the theme of the conference, we aim to raise a horizon or a mirror for reflection, more than to govern the content of the talks of the conference. The Nordic Society of Aesthetics has successfully hosted different methodological approaches and focuses, but we would like to reach out for an even broader variety of approaches. For example, we often find ourselves at the crossroads of analytic philosophy and continental philosophy, but in the future Asian schools of thought might have more presence too – without forgetting other philosophical approaches.

 

 

Possible topics include:

 

• The links between aesthetics and other disciplines
• The relationship between philosophical and empirical aesthetics
• Clashes and/or collaborations with aesthetics and other fields
• Crossroads of different approaches to aesthetics
• Intersection of different artforms
• Comparisons of two (or more) topics or thinkers in aesthetics
• Clashes and/or collaborations with aesthetics and environmental questions
• Clashes and/or collaborations with aesthetics and social issues
• Intersections between different cultures and/or traditions

 

 

 

We are open to a diverse variety of topics and approaches.

 

 

 

Proposals

 

 

Proposals for individual presentations or joint panels ought to be sent by 1^st March 2025.

 

1)    For individual presentations (20 minutes followed by 10 minutes of discussion) please send an abstract of maximum 300 words. In a separate file, please send a cover letter with the following information: title of presentation, name, affiliation and contact information.

2)    For joint panels, each member of the panel ought to write a 300-word abstract. All abstracts are then sent by an individual member of the panel, alongside the title for the panel as well as a short description of the topic. In a separate file, please send a cover letter with the following information from all panel members: title of presentation, name, affiliation and contact information.

 

 

Please submit the proposals to the email address conferences@nsae.fi. Please ensure that the subject line reads “NSAE Proposal 2025”. The decisions will be communicated by 15^th March 2025.

                                                                                                                

 

Conference fee, standard: 170 EUR. PhD Students and scholars without institutional

affiliation: 150 EUR. The fee includes one year membership of The Nordic Society of

Aesthetics.