Society for Philosophy in the Contemporary World

Call for Abstracts:

Responding to the Contemporary World: Wrong Answers Only

The 2026 Meeting of the Society for Philosophy in the Contemporary World July 22-26

University of Colorado, Colorado Springs (UCCS)

Colorado Springs, Colorado

Abstract Submissions Due by February 6, 2026

We invite submissions for the annual meeting of the Society for Philosophy in the Contemporary World, to be held July 22-26, 2026 at the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Of particular interest are papers that engage with this year’s theme: Responding to the Contemporary World: Wrong Answers Only. However, we also welcome and encourage papers on any topic related to philosophy in the contemporary world, broadly construed.

SPCW seeks to provide a forum for new areas of research in philosophy, and we aim to build a community of scholars who provide supportive feedback and constructive criticism. We welcome papers on all topics, from any philosophical tradition. SPCW is especially interested in supporting individuals from historically underrepresented and marginalized backgrounds, as well as anyone working to expand the scope and quality of philosophical discourses. In addition to traditional papers and presentations, SPCW welcomes diverse formats such as spoken word, script readings, performances, and other approaches that invite and broaden philosophical reflection. Furthermore, we welcome the camaraderie of graduate students, nontraditional philosophers, and thinkers from other disciplines or with non-philosophical specializations. Simply put, we seek to foster productive philosophical exchange in a constructive environment.

Responding to the Contemporary World: Wrong Answers Only

For the 2026 Society for Philosophy in the Contemporary World Conference, we invite proposals that reflect on what it means to respond to the contemporary world with “wrong answers only.”

The phrase “wrong answers only” emerges from internet culture as a playful gesture of irony—an invitation to respond to familiar questions in unexpected, subversive, or humorous ways. Yet beyond its meme-life, the phrase raises a deeper philosophical provocation: What does it mean to respond “wrongly” in an age already structured by mistrust, crisis, and rupture? Can “wrong” responses illuminate what is overlooked, destabilize what is assumed, or open new paths of thought and practice? In a time of fractured institutions, competing claims of truth, and the sedimentation of modernity’s remnants, we ask whether wrong answers might paradoxically serve as generative calls toward beauty, reconciliation, or new guardrails for ethical-social-political life. To answer wrongly might be to resist the false clarity of ready-made analyses, diagnoses, and solutions, to dwell in the ruptures that shape our age, and to risk alternative visions—wise and otherwise.

Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:

• philosophy in the age of mistrust
• subversion and playfulness
• remnants of modernity
• wrong turns, new paths
• finding guardrails
• finding beauty
• rupture and reconciliation
• wise and otherwise
• (re)orientation
• re-imagination
• critique and creativity
• creation through annihilation
• Any topic related to philosophy in the contemporary world

Conference Submission

Abstract submissions should be approx. 500 words and are due by February 6, 2026. Abstracts for traditional papers and presentations should provide a substantial overview of the details of the final presentation. Abstracts for diverse format presentations and creative proposals should also include a brief description of the proposed format. Abstracts should include a bibliography which will not count toward the 500 word limit. Papers should be prepared for 20-30 minute presentations, followed by Q&A.

All submissions are circulated for anonymous peer review. Please remove all identifying information from the submission. 

Authors will be notified by February 28, 2026.

Note to graduate students: SPCW considers all accepted graduate-student papers for the annual Joe Frank Jones III Memorial Award for the best graduate-student submission. The award includes a special mention in the program, a permanent listing on the SPCW website, and a $500 cash prize. To be considered for this award a complete paper would need to be submitted by April 30.

For more information please contact the Program Committee:

Natasha Noel Liebig
natasha.liebig@maderacollege.edu

Jennifer Kling
jkling@uccs.edu

Eddy Souffrant
esouffra@charlotte.edu

Michael Boring
michael.boring@estrellamountain.edu

Conference Participation and Logistics

Conference registration costs include one year of membership with SPCW and online access to all issues of our journal, Philosophy in the Contemporary World. Access to the journal is provided by the Philosophy Documentation Center after we notify them of your registration.

The conference will take place at UCCS Downtown (102 S. Tejon Street, Colorado Springs, CO), in the heart of Colorado Springs’ bustling downtown. Hotel information will be made available as we get closer to the conference date.

Registration Fees

Registration fees will be due in spring 2026, and additional information will be sent to individuals who are invited to present at the meeting.

• Faculty: $130 per person 
• Students and Independent Scholars (no institutional affiliation/support): $40 per person
• Fee waivers and adjustments: if you would like to request a reduced or waived registration fee for reasons related to income and financial circumstances please contact Eddy Souffrant at esouffra@charlotte.edu and these will be considered on a case by case basis.

Philosophy in Community

Pursuant to the goals of SPCW, the conference program will offer equal attention to all participants. Included in conference arrangements are opportunities to combine serious professional activities with recreation—as a conference group, alone, and with family and friends. Recreational activities often include organized hikes, cultural or historical trips, and evening events. We will select, whenever possible, conference sites that enable participants to take meals together in a dining commons where they can be joined by friends and family members. Therefore, those attending and participating in the conference are encouraged to take an active part in as much of the conference program as possible.

This year’s recreation includes excursions to Garden of the Gods and Cave of the Winds, as well as whitewater rafting in Salida, CO with Rocky Mountain Outdoors Center (ADA compliant).

Questions about the conference site, lodging, registration and other details should be sent to Jennifer Kling at jkling@uccs.edu.

Journal Submission

The journal, Philosophy in the Contemporary World, welcomes submissions from conference participants. Being accepted and presenting at the conference is considered the first round of review. More detail regarding submission guidelines can be found on the journal page.