Guest post by Jessie Stanier, Lecturer in Philosophy
The British Society for Phenomenology’s first ever International Symposium was co-hosted in Milan at the end of May, with a strong contingent from the UWE Philosophy team!
UWE’s Jessie Stanier chaired the Symposium, collaborating with Prof. Chiara Cappelletto and Dr. Nicole Miglio at the State University of Milan, and UWE’s Prof. Francesco Tava was one of the invited speakers.
The Symposium is a new initiative, intended to foster closer links between phenomenologists working in the UK and across the world. It offers a platform through which to spotlight areas of excellence and innovation at a different host institution or country each year and to explore points of common interest. Hybrid attendance was made possible this year, with in-person attendees gathering in the beautiful Palazzo Greppi rooms in central Milan.
Phenomenology is a philosophical approach that explores the relations between experience and meaning. Phenomenologists often take lived experience as a starting point for analysis – studying the manner in which phenomena ‘appear’ in order to learn about how structures like temporality, embodiment, selfhood, and social relations shape meaning. Phenomenology was a major influence on the popular existentialist approach to philosophy, and now has a significant influence on interdisciplinary areas of study such as medical and health humanities.
Seven invited speakers explored the theme of “Intercorporeality in Artifactual Milieux,” discussing topics including electronic music performance, telemedicine, migration and asylum law, playfulness in games, diagnoses at older age, and more. A copy of the programme can be found on the event webpage here. The event was sponsored by the BSP, the Performing Identities Studies group, the Italian Society of Aesthetics (SIE), the State University of Milan Ph.D. Programme in Philosophy and Human Sciences, and the Unimi Philosophy Department. Papers arising from the event are invited to contribute to a special issue of the Journal of the British Society for Phenomenology to build on the connections and dialogue arising from the event. The journal’s editor is Prof. Darian Meacham, an ex-member of the UWE Philosophy team.