Exploring Contradictions beyond Contradiction

1st International Conference on Contradiction Studies

University of Bremen | February 11–14, 2025

Contradictions are omnipresent and the identification of contradictions is usually accompanied by the imperative to resolve them. Contradictions can be ascribed to individual actions as well as to social formations. They extend to all areas of life: political orders, academic settings, religious practices and many more fields that are permeated by them. Without contradictions, there are no pluralities and no truths. Nevertheless, there is a long and powerful (especially European) tradition of problematizing and resolving contradictions and reducing them to logical incompatibility. This tradition of avoiding contradiction is countered by alternative concepts of thinking contradiction, above all in dialectics or paraconsistent logic (Priest/Tanaka [1996]2022). Contradiction Studies take up this reflection and move away from the widespread negative assessment of contradiction (cp. Febel/Knopf/Nonhoff 2023; Lienert 2019; Lossau/Schmidt-Brücken/Warnke 2019; Nintemann/Stroh 2022; Warnke/Hornidge/Schattenberg 2021). In this sense, our conference aims to explore contradictions beyond contradiction.

Concept

Contradiction Studies questions the primacy of consistency without contradiction and the imperative of overcoming contradictions and in doing so focus on the everyday omnipresence of contradictions, their inevitability and ambiguity, their effects and the ways in which contradictions are dealt with. Contradiction Studies, as a new internationally and interdisciplinary oriented field of research, thus rethink the complex topic of contradiction by focusing on living in and with contradictions. Of particular interest are the epistemic preconditions of concepts of contradiction, their formation, negotiations, and the explanatory limits of contradiction.

The 1st International Conference on Contradiction Studies at the University of Bremen picks up this approach of inquiring contradictions, and interrogates and discusses constellations of contradiction, modes of resolving contradiction, everyday contradictions, and practices of contradiction in a multi- and interdisciplinary setting. We are also interested in the historization and provincialization of contradiction, enabling post- and decolonial discussions on how to open up, decenter and question contradiction as an ordering practice. Both theoretical contributions and the discussion of empirical approaches and results are welcome.

Call for Papers (April 11, 2024)

The conference features a combination of plenary lectures and panels. Panels are organized as Special Panels (SP #1–6), General Panels (GP #1–8), and General Cross Panels #1–4.

—Special Panels are structured and moderated by the section submitters.
—General Panels feature three 20-minute presentations, followed by a 45-minute moderated discussion.
—General Cross Panels feature two to three 20-minute presentations, each followed by 15-minute discussions.

The conference language is English but individual presentations or panels in German are possible.

Program

The ECBC 2025 Conference Program is now available for download.

ECBC 2025 Program (PDF)

(Latest update: December 10, 2024)

For more information on the panel formats, venues and directions, or accommodations for your stay in Bremen, please visit the Information section.

If you have any questions, please contact the conference organisation team (ecbc2025@uni-bremen.de) or the scientific coordinator, Dr. Christian Bär.

Information

More information will follow soon.

Registration

More information will follow soon.

The conference is organized by the DFG Research Training Group 2686: Contradiction Studies – Constellations, Heuristics, and Concepts of the Contradictory (DFG RTG 2686 2023) as part of the Collaborative Research Platform Worlds of Contradiction (WOC) at the University of Bremen and hosted by the speakers of the GRK 2686, Prof. Michi Knecht and Prof. Ingo H. Warnke, the scientific coordinator Dr. Christian Bär, the coordination team, as well as the entire faculty of the Research Training Group .

References

DFG RTG 2686. 2023. Initial Application. Contradiction Studies – Constellations, Heuristics, and Concepts of the Contradictory. Reading Version. Research Training Group Contradiction Studies (GRK2686) Working Paper Series #1_en. Bremen: U Bremen.
Febel, Gisela, Kerstin Knopf and Martin Nonhoff, eds. 2023. Contradiction Studies – Exploring the Field. Wiesbaden: Springer VS.
Lienert, Elisabeth, ed. 2019. Poetiken des Widerspruchs in vormoderner Erzählliteratur. Wiesbaden: Springer VS.
Lossau, Julia, Daniel Schmidt-Brücken and Ingo H. Warnke, eds. 2019. Spaces of Dissention: Towards a New Perspective on Contradiction. Wiesbaden: Springer VS.
Nintemann, Julia and Cornelia Stroh, eds. 2022. Über Widersprüche sprechen. Linguistische Beiträge zu Contradiction Studies. Wiesbaden: Springer VS.
Priest, Graham and Koji Tanaka 2022 [1996]. Paraconsistent Logic. Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, edited by Edward N. Zalta. Stanford, CA: https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/logic-paraconsistent/.
Warnke, Ingo H., Anna-Katharina Hornidge and Susanne Schattenberg, eds. 2021. Kontradiktorische Diskurse und Macht im Widerspruch. Wiesbaden: Springer VS.