Submissions are invited for a workshop in the forthcoming 11th conference of the International Society for the Study of European Ideas (ISSEI) in Helsinki, Finland, July 28 – August 2, 2008.

The progress in science has been marked by revolutionary findings and re-interpretations of concepts like time, space, human life, and longevity, to name just a few. However, the progress in philosophy, literature and the arts in general seems a more fleeting and abstract idea to discuss. Yet on a whole new level, psychoanalysis has often been questioned as to its “place” in the system of human knowledge, and if it really yields any knowledge at all. Psychoanalysis has had a serious influence on literature and philosophy, yet the ongoing debates about the “scientificity” and usefulness of it, the ethical dimensions of its application to literature, and so on, prompt us to look once again into this (un-)easy relationship. The prospective papers might look into the well-known controversies raised by scholars like Wittgenstein, Grünbaum, Crews and others, but also try to answer the justified question: “What knowledge does psychoanalysis lend to literary studies and to philosophy, and what does it take back from them?”

Please submit a 500-word abstract and a resume by October 1, 2007. Notifications of acceptance by November 1, 2007. Please e-mail documents as Word attachments to: artemis.r@intercol.edu