The Institute of Philosophy II specializes in systematic (analytical) contemporary philosophy and the philosophy of antiquity (in conjunction with medieval philosophy). [Read more...]

DAAD International Guest Professorship

The DAAD jsut granted an international Guest Professorship "Philosophy of Cognitive Science"! In the following four terms, four excellent international researchers and lecturers will offer additional seminars at  RUB. The courses are taught in English and address primarily students in our MA study programs, e.g., Philosophy (inkl. Focus: Theoretical Philosophy), Cognitive Science, and Psychologie. But advanced BA students are very welcome!

Winter 2025/26: Prof. Robert Clowes (NOVA University Lissabon), has a research focus on the extended mind, generative AI, AI companions, cognitive ontology and will offer seminars in this area.

Sommer 2026: Prof. Nico Orlandi (University of California Santa Cruz), has a focus on mental representation, perception, concepts, especially social concepts, gender studies, queer philosophy, and conceptual engineering. They will offer courses in this area.

Winter 2026/27: Prof. Robert Rupert (University of Colorado, Boulder), has a focus on self and self-knowledge, the extended mind, mental representation and cognitive ontology, and will offer courses in this area.

Summer 2027: Prof. Kristin Andrews (York University/CUNY New York), has a focus on animal minds, animal welfare, norms and rules in the animal kingdom, and functions of consciousness, and will offer courses in these areas.

Workshop from June 10-11, 2025 in GA 04/187, organised by PD Dr. Wanja Wiese and Prof. Albert Newen.
Speakers: Patrick Butlin, Joanna Bryson, Leonard Dung, Michele Farisco, François Kammerer, Johannes Kleiner, Lucia Melloni, Winnie Street.
Further info here.

Jonathan Birch (London School of Economics) will give three lectures on his book "The Edge of Sentience", June 12-13, 2025. The event includes presentations from Early Career Researchers and is part of the research-oriented teaching by Prof. Schlicht. Everybody welcome! Further information here.

Workshop, Ruhr University Bochum, June 27-28, 2025, organized by Prof. Barbara Sattler & Celso Vieira.
Space seem to belong to the most fundamental features of our world and is essential to our experience of it. If we look at the beginning of ancient thought, however, we find many different spatial notions, but not yet a unified understanding of space. This workshop will explore some of these spatial notions, prominently but not exclusively Aristotle’s understanding of topos, and will discuss some of the key debates with respect to space in ancient times.
 
Speakers: Dominic O’Meara, Katja Vogt, Gottfried Heinemann, Chiara Martinez, Thomas Seissl, Pieter Sjoerd Hasper, Barbara Sattler, Henry Mendell, Vincenzo De Risi.

Call for Abstracts: We invite up to three more speakers working on themes of the conference (covering accommodation and travel costs within Europe)! Papers (in English or German) should be appropriate for 45 min. of presentation and abstracts between 300-1000 words. Applicants should remove any identifying information on the abstract and include a separate document with their name, email, and affiliation. Abstracts should be sent to Julia Böhm (Julia.Boehm-h66@ruhr-uni-bochum.de) with the subject line “Submission – Spatial Notions Conference”. Submission deadline: May 1, 2025.

Workshop on Feminist Philosophy of Science - Contemporary Trends and Debates, organized from 14-15 July by Friederike Katharina Andrae, Jessica Krumhus and Dunja Šešelja, Wasserstr. 221, 4th Floor.
Keynote Speakers: Julie Jebeile (Bern), Inkeri Koskinen (Helsinki), Federica Russo (Utrecht).
Call for Papers: Abstracts up to 500 words until May 15th, to fem.philosophy.of.science@gmail.com.
Further Info here, inquiries to fem.philosophy.of.science@gmail.com!

From 1-3, September 2025 researchers at RUB led by Prof. Albert Newen organize this years' Meeting of the German Society for Cognitive Science. The conference takes place at our Convention Center.
Keynotes: Rebecca Böhme (Linköping), Cameron Buckner (Florida), Lars Chittka (London), Stefanie Höhl (Wien), Stefan Scherbaum (Dresden), Susanna Schellenberg (Rutgers), Angela Yu (Darmstadt).
Call for Papers: The deadline for submission of talks and poster presentations is 25 April 2025. Further Information