University of Virginia
Charlottesville, Virginia U.S.A.

The questions of ontology - what is Being, how is it articulated in beings - are generally understood as merely theoretical abstractions that never reach the concrete world. It is clear, however, that the practices and habits of various secular, religious, literary, legal, and philosophical traditions are often grounded in particular and complex understandings of what Being is and how human beings are related to its unfolding. Because new forms of authority and power appropriate sources of legitimation grounded in specific traditions, it is necessary to bring different traditions into dialogue on the specific question of their respective ontological articulations. Bringing to light the different and various ways in which these ontologies (grounded in and informed by different historical traditions) enable and facilitate contemporary social, legal, literary and political practices, and how these practices organize power relations within cultures (globally and locally), is a central and controlling concern for our time.

Mohammad Azadpur, Johns Hopkins University

Phillip Blond, Cambridge University

Ruth Groenhout, Calvin College, Grand Rapids, Michigan

Michael Hardt, Duke University

Justin Holcomb, Emory University

Eleanor Kaufman, University of Virginia

Basit Koshul, Concordia College, Moorhead, Minnesota

Gary B. Madison, McMaster University

John Milbank, University of Virginia

Antonio Negri, Independent Researcher in Rome, Italy

Peter Ochs, University of Virginia

Joseph Prabhu, California State University, Los Angeles

Abdulaziz Sachedina, University of Virginia

Regina Schwartz, Northwestern University

Kenneth Surin, Duke University

Slavoj Zizek, University of Ljubljana