PhD students and Postdocs from the disciplines of philosophy, literary
studies, and psychology/neurosciences are invited to submit applications
to participate in the interdisciplinary Spring School “The Role of
Empathy and Emotion in Understanding Fiction” to be held at Göttingen
University, 27-31 March 2017.
The aim of this Spring School is to investigate the relationship between
understanding and responding affectively to fictions from the
perspectives of philosophy, literary studies, and psychology: do
emotions and empathy play a decisive role in understanding fiction, and
if so, how? Tackling this question poses challenges that are both
theoretical and practical in nature. For example, there exist several
competing theories in cognitive psychology and philosophy that
conceptualize emotions and their affective and cognitive components
differently, and these theories make different claims as to their
empirical validity. Within literary studies it is customary to
distinguish different levels of a literary work that may present
themselves as objects of either empathy or the emotions, and there are
different theoretical and methodological approaches to interpreting
fictions accordingly. Any investigation of the role of empathy and the
emotions in understanding fictions therefore has to combine theoretical
and methodological know-how on both text analysis and reader responses.
As philosophers, literary scholars and psychologists will take part in
this Spring School, it will provide an opportunity for both empirically
and theoretically oriented researchers to discuss how emotions and
empathy can be said to play a decisive role in literary comprehension.
Confirmed keynote speakers are, Melanie Green (The State University of
New York), Suzanne Keen (Washington and Lee University), Jenefer
Robinson (University of Cincinnati), Gregory Currie (University of
York), Derek Matravers (The Open University).
Participants will also have the opportunity to present their own work. A
more detailed description of the aims of the Spring School as well as a
programme are available here:
www.uni-goettingen.de/FictionandEmotion
To apply for participation, please submit a research abstract (up to 500
words) that demonstrates your interest in the topic of the Spring
School. Please, also include a curriculum vitae. Participants who wish
to present and discuss their own work are asked to include a short
abstract of their presentation.
The deadline for submitting applications is November, 15, 2016. Please,
send your application materials as a single PDF to Christiana Werner
(christiana.werner@mail.uni-goettingen.de). Decisions will be announced
by December, 15, 2016. The number of participants is limited to 20.
Accommodation, meals and refreshments as well as a subsidiary for
travelling costs will be provided for participants. There will be
provision for child care, both during the sessions and in the evenings.
For further questions please contact the organizers: Christiana Werner
(christiana.werner@mail.uni-goettingen.de); Tilmann Köppe
(tilmann.koeppe@zentr.uni-goettingen.de); Daniele Panizza
(daniele.panizza@mail.uni-goettingen.de).
The Spring School is funded by the VolkswagenStiftung.
Dr. Christiana Werner
Wissenschaftliche Mitarbeiterin
Graduiertenschule für Geisteswissenschaften Göttingen (GSGG)
Georg-August-Universität Göttingen
Friedländer Weg 2
37085 Göttingen