[Re]Valuing Value and Values
in an Emerging Integral Age
THE XXXII ANNUAL CONFERENCE OF THE JEAN GEBSER SOCIETY
FOR THE STUDY OF CULTURE AND CONSCIOUSNESS
October 23 - 25, 2003
New York University
New York, NY
CALL FOR PAPERS
Our contemporary global age is characterized by a
dominant mental-rational awareness in which
everything - including human beings - have become
objects of utility which bear some "value". Extreme
dissociation has been the result of such a mode of
existence, manifesting itself in the disintegration
of personal relationships, the re-emergence of acute
nationalisms, the demise of individual and corporate
responsibility, widespread isolation, escalating
schisms of race, ethnicity, class, sexual
orientation and gender and political impotency
amongst government leaders and their citizens.
For Gebser, the integral age is characterized by our
ability to render transparent other modes of
consciousness that are, though latent,
simultaneously at work. This is to say the
emergence of the integral unfolds as magic and
mythic modes of consciousness are shown to have
necessary "value" - that the rational mode of
awaring, engaging and recreating the world is not of
more inherent value than others. The kindred
philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche, whose scientific
method was truly "experimental", alerted us to the
fact that "morality" - standardized moral judgements
of a given society - devalues the individual for the
sake of the aggregate of individuals in order to
maintain the status quo. The individual is erased,
being subsumed into the herd.
With the recognition that value has no inherent
value, the focus of the 2003 conference is to both
revaluate the very definition of value in our
existing life-world, as well as to re-evaluate those
things that we have heretofore assigned value. It
is our goal to begin a process of change with a
conversation that will contribute to our "eternally
growing world of valuations, colors, accents,
perspectives…" concerning what it means to value and
be valued.
Given this, we extend this call for papers for
scholarly work that incorporates and extends any
aspect of Gebser's work (or the spirit of Gebser’s
work) in addressing this general theme. We
encourage submissions from scholars in diverse
fields of the human sciences including, but not
limited to, communication, business and economics,
philosophy, cultural studies, psychology, sociology,
and anthropology; the various arenas of the arts;
and medicine and medical professions, as well as
other areas of the natural sciences.
Extended abstracts between 350 and 500 words should
be initially submitted by March 1, 2003. Abstracts
will be reviewed and invitations made for selected
scholars to present their full papers at the
conference. These notifications will be made by
April 15. Accepted papers should be prepared to be
read/presented in a time of no more than 30 minutes.
Papers will be presented in groups of three, with a
45 minute block of time set aside for discussion
following each set of presentations. Presenters
should be prepared to bring an extra copy of their
paper to the conference so that copies may be made
for interested attendees.
Send a cover page with the title of the proposed
paper and the author's contact information including
mailing address, office phone, fax and email, and
the abstract with no author identifications by March
1, 2003 to:
Philip Dalton
Dept. of Communication Studies
421 N. Woodland Blvd., Unit 8377
DeLand, FL 32723
Office: (386) 822-8945
Fax: (386) 822-7567
About The Jean Gebser Society
The Gebser Society is patterned after European
societies, or circles, pursuing the work of a
particular philosopher. The philosopher here, Jean
Gebser, was born in Posen, Germany in 1905. He
studied and worked in Germany until the rise of the
Nazi party in 1931. From Germany he fled to Spain
where he wrote poetry (Poesias de la Tarde, 1936)
and served in the Republican Ministry of Culture.
When war overtook the country in 1936 he fled to
Paris where he associated with the circle of artists
surrounding Picasso and Malraux. He finally fled
Paris as the city fell in 1939 and went to
Switzerland. He became a Swiss citizen in 1951 and
in 1967 assumed the chair for the Study of
Comparative Civilizations at the University of Salzburg.
It was in Switzerland that Gebser completed his
monumental work on the comparative study of
civilizations, Ursprung und Gegenwart (1949/53). The
English translation was undertaken by Noel Barstad
with Algis Mickunas and published as The
Ever-Present Origin in 1985 by Ohio University
Press. This massive effort of over 500 pages is a
phenomenology of civilization. From a vast
collection of work covering many fields, historical
and contemporary, Gebser described the modalities of
consciousness of historical cultures, as well as the
extent and openness of human consciousness in
general. His work is penetrating and offers an
understanding useful to scholars from many fields of
study.
When reviewing Gebser’s manuscript for possible
translation into English, the immanent Princeton
Historian, Erich Kahler, encouraged publication,
calling the book “a very important, indeed in some
respects pioneering publication” that is “vastly,
solidly, and subtly documented by a wealth of
anthropological, mythological, linguistic, artistic,
philosophical, and scientific material which is
shown in its multifold and striking interrelationship.”
About the 2003 Conference
The 2003 conference will be held on the campus of
New York University and hosted by the Department of
Culture and Communication, a part of the Steinhardt
School of Education. NYU is located in the historic
and scenic downtown area of the city popularly
called "The Village". Details about hotel and other
accommodations, as well as travel and logistical
information will be forthcoming. For more
information about the conference or the Jean Gebser
Society, please contact:
Dr. Charlton McIlwain
New York University
Department of Culture and Communication
East Building, 239 Greene St. 7th Fl.
New York, NY 10003
Ph. 212.992.9495
Fax. 212.995.4046
Email: cdm1@nyu.edu
Charlton McIlwain, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor/Faculty Fellow
New York University
Department of Culture and Communication
212-992-9495
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From the Literary Calls for Papers Mailing List
CFP@english.upenn.edu
Full Information at
http://www.english.upenn.edu/CFP/
or write Erika Lin: elin@english.upenn.edu
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