Continental Philosophy and Religion Panel (Andrew Hass)

“All resistance is a rupture with what is. And every rupture begins, for those engaged in it, through a rupture with oneself.” – Alain Badiou, Metapolitics

In a world that seems in a continual state of rupturing – socially, culturally, politically, racially, ethnically, economically, environmentally, even individually – we might ask whether philosophy has any role left to play in what Marx called for: to change the world rather than merely to interpret it. Is philosophy a form of clarification of the apparent, or a rupture of the apparent? Is philosophy a revealing of the actual, or resistance to what has been paraded as actual? Or is philosophy itself in a state of rupture, no longer on stable enough ground from which to think about these questions in any critically constructive manner?

Another way we might pose these questions is to ask whether philosophical ideation has lost cultural potency because religious and theological thinking has lost social currency, having been co-opted by nationalist agendas in which idea becomes ideology and theology becomes political activism. Where once philosophical thought and religious teaching could challenge the status quo, are the ruptures we experience today rather a result of the transitory economies of attention, where the most stentorian voices trade in hit-rate division that accelerates polarisation? Can philosophy and religious thinking rupture these ruptures, and do so by once again joining forces?

This panel will explore how rupture sits within philosophy and religion in today’s fractious world, and whether the philosophical and religious force of disruption is still viable. If it is, what does it looks like or would it need to look like? In this light, papers might consider the following questions:

·       Is philosophical and religious disruption transitive or intransitive – i.e. following Badiou’s quote above, something that requires a specific object in the world, or something that acts first and foremost upon itself?

·       Does philosophical thinking rupture religious/theological thinking, or the other way around? Or can either rupture the dichotomy between the two set up by modernity?

·       What philosophical and religious traditions of disruption within a Continental context might be still relevant or be redeployed within our contemporary conditions?

·       How do current philosophical voices of rupture address the sites of lived experience where rupture is most acutely felt today – e.g. race, ethnicity, gender, identity, political partisanship, environment, etc.

·       What authority can philosophical and religious/theological thinking carry in the face of growing authoritarianisms around the globe, and must that authority necessarily be disruptive?

·       How might non-Western philosophical and religious traditions rupture or disrupt Western traditions?

·       How might art and creativity contribute to the disruptive nature of philosophy and religion as ways of thinking and being?

Such guiding questions can lead to many different approaches, and the Panel is open to any proposal that addresses the theme of “Dis-rupture” with Continental philosophy clearly in view. Abstracts that seek interdisciplinary engagement between philosophy, religion/theology and the arts will receive special consideration, as will those that try to go beyond historical analysis.

Queries and abstract proposals of no more than 350 words should be sent to Andrew Hass (University of Stirling) at andrew.hass@stir.ac.uk no later than 31st January, 2026.