SAAP2025

Society for the Advancement of American Philosophy

52nd Annual Meeting

March 13–15, 2025, Washington, D.C.

Call for Papers

The Society for the Advancement of American Philosophy cordially invites papers on the theme of American Philosophy: Lacunas, Derelictions and Evasions for its 2025 meeting, to be held at Howard University in Washington, D.C., March 13–15, 2025. Proposals in all areas of American Philosophy—broadly construed to include philosophies of the Americas, pragmatism, and global work on philosophers from the Americas—are welcome, though some preference will be given to proposals that engage with the conference theme. Scholars who are not presently members of the Society are especially encouraged to submit.

CONTACTS:

For all correspondence regarding the program content, contact the Program Co-Chairs Mariana Alessandri (mariana.alessandri@utrgv.edu) and Ryan Musgrave (rmusgrave@rollins.edu).

For issues with the submission website, please contact the Secretary, Daniel J. Brunson (daniel.brunson@morgan.edu).

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES:

Eligibility: You do not need to be a member to submit a proposal, but you must be a member in order to present your accepted submission. To become a member, please visit the Society’s membership page. Only one submission per person will be considered. Individuals may appear on the program no more than twice. Those appearing twice must do so in two distinct capacities (paper presenter, panel discussant, session chair, etc.). Participants may, for example, present a paper and be a panel commentator, but may not present two papers. This includes invited societies, e.g., if you are an Invited Society participant, you may be a session chair, commentator, or a reader, etc.

Deadline: The deadline for submissions is September 15, 2024. This is a firm deadline. We will stop accepting submissions at 11:59 pm Pacific Time on September 15.

Submission: All submissions must be submitted electronically as PDFs via the 2025 SAAP meeting submission website: https://forms.gle/iVN9ovUjtSv2CcD39

Electronic submission requires the following: (1) Submission Title, (2) Submission Type, (3) Submitter(s) Information, (4) Abstract, (5) Keywords, (6) a PDF of the Submission prepared for anonymous review.

Anonymity: All Standard Paper, Panel Discussion, and Project in Progress submissions must be suitable for anonymous review. Please refrain from making references to your own work, your location, or anything obvious that could reveal your identity. If the author’s identity can be determined through self-references, endnotes, etc., the submission may be disqualified. Avoid headers/footers because they often contain information that breaches anonymity. NOTE: PDF files are required.

Chairs and Commentators: Persons interested in serving in these capacities can indicate their interest when submitting.

SUBMISSION TYPES:

Submissions that do not meet the following guidelines will not be considered. Please note that Invited Societies use a different submission process.

Standard Paper:

Standard Paper sessions provide an opportunity for scholars to present projects relevant to American Philosophy that are at or near completion. Accepted authors will have 20 minutes to present their work during a session and, in most cases, will be followed by a ten-minute commentary and a period of open discussion.

Standard Paper proposals must include, in a single PDF file:

A title for the Paper.
A 100–150 word abstract.
A paper no longer than 3000 words (excluding abstract, endnotes, footnotes, and bibliography). Longer papers will not be considered.

Panel Discussion:

Panel Discussion sessions provide an opportunity to discuss specific problems or topics from a variety of perspectives rather than merely present a set of related papers.

Panel Discussion proposals should include, in a single PDF file:

A title for the Panel Discussion.
A 400-600 word abstract for the panel as a whole that describes the issue to be addressed, explains the relevance of the issue to American Philosophy or to wider social and philosophical issues, and indicates how each panelist will address this issue.
Either (i) complete papers that meet the specifications mentioned above or (ii) abstracts for each presentation in the panel (250-300 words each)

Author Meets Readers:

Author Meets Readers sessions provide an opportunity for in-depth engagement with a recently-published book relevant to American philosophy. A limited number of such sessions will be on the program.

Author Meets Readers proposals must include, in a single file:

A title for the Author Meets Readers Session.
Name and affiliation of the book’s author(s).
Complete title of the book.
Publication date and name of publisher (only books published in or after 2023 will be considered).
A 400-600 word statement of the book’s significance for American philosophy that includes the names and affiliations of confirmed critics and session organizers, and why they were chosen.

Project in Progress:

Project in Progress sessions provide an opportunity for scholars to workshop projects (i.e., articles, books, etc.) at any stage with a 3-4 person workshop group.

Proposals for Project in Progress sessions must include, in a single PDF file:

A title for the Project-in-Progress.
A 400-600 word abstract of the project.
A list of 4-6 keywords to facilitate organizing Projects-in-Progress into workshop groups.

DECISIONS & SCHEDULING:

Confirmation: All persons making submissions to the annual meeting website will receive automatic confirmation of receipt of their submission. If the listed contact person for a submission does not receive an automatic confirmation shortly after completing the submission process, then that person should check their spam folder. If the automatic confirmation is not in the spam folder, please contact the Secretary, Daniel J. Brunson (daniel.brunson@morgan.edu)

Decisions: All submissions are anonymously reviewed by at least three members of a six-person program committee. Four of the program committee members are members of the SAAP Executive Board—namely, the two first year at-large Board members and the two program co-chairs. The other two program committee members are SAAP members appointed by the President. Each paper or proposal is reviewed by a team of three reviewers, with each team including one program co-chair. Each paper or proposal receives a numerical score, and the top scoring papers and proposals are accepted for presentation. Response to submissions will be limited to acceptance status. Accepted and eligible submissions are reviewed a second time for the various prizes. Please note that the SAAP program selection committee does not provide feedback on submissions to the conference.

Notification: If you have not received notification regarding the Program Committee’s decision about your submission by November 15th, please contact the Secretary, Daniel J. Brunson (daniel.brunson@morgan.edu)

Scheduling: The Program Committee will schedule papers and sessions between midday on Thursday and Saturday late afternoon. By submitting to this conference, participants are indicating they can and will be able to attend their session, if accepted.

Availability of accepted submissions online: SAAP will post accepted proposals to the annual meeting website. Those submissions will be removed from the website shortly after the 2025 meeting ends. The Secretary will inform the authors of accepted submissions that their submissions have been removed from the website via email.

CONFERENCE SUPPORT:

Graduate Students: Travel funds are available to assist students whose proposals are accepted for the program. Students should indicate their interest in receiving these funds when submitting. Students who have indicated interest will be contacted by SAAP Treasurer Bill Myers (saaptreasurer@gmail.com) with further information.

A/V Availability: While networks, projectors, and screens should be in all rooms, please bring a personal device and the appropriate adapters. Also, as always, be prepared to present without technology.

PRIZES:

Prizes: Only Standard Papers that are accepted to the regular program (that is, not panels or invited group presentations) are eligible for the Greenlee, Blau, Mellow, Harris-Jones, and Inter-American Philosophy Prizes. Panels (as a whole) and individual panel papers are eligible for the Addams Prize if completed papers are submitted along with the panel abstracts. Papers previously submitted to The Pluralist are not eligible for prizes. For full descriptions of the prizes, please click here.

Addams Prize Eligibility:

Standard Paper Submissions, or complete Papers submitted as part of a Panel Discussion.
Submission must address issues in feminist thought as they occur in American philosophies, including their intersections with race, ethnicity, class, sexuality, (dis)ability and age, etc.
Please select the “Addams Prize Consideration” option when prompted during the online submission process.

Blau Prize Eligibility:

Standard Paper Submissions only.
Submission must address the history of American Philosophy from colonial times to the recent present.
Please select the “Blau Prize Consideration” option when prompted during the online submission process.

Greenlee Prize Eligibility:

Standard Paper Submissions only.
Currently a student or within five years of having completed your Ph.D.
Please select the “Greenlee Prize Consideration” option when prompted during the online submission process.

Inter-American Philosophy Award Eligibility:

Standard Paper Submissions only.
Submission must address issues concerning Latin American, Latinx, or indigenous philosophies across the Americas.
Please select the “Inter-American Award Consideration” option when prompted during the online submission process.

Harris-Jones Prize Eligibility:

Standard Paper Submissions only.
Submission must address issues relevant to the Philosophy of the Black Experience, particularly in the Americas.
Please select the “Harris-Jones Prize Consideration” option when prompted during the online submission process.

Mellow Prize Eligibility:

Standard Paper Submissions only.
Submission must address issues relevant to advancing the American philosophical tradition toward the resolution of current personal, social and political problems.
Please select the “Mellow Prize Consideration” option when prompted during the online submission process.

Publication Possibilities: SAAP will plan to publish selected papers from the annual SAAP meeting in The Pluralist. If your paper is accepted for the annual meeting, it will be considered for publication unless you indicate in your submission under “Publication Consideration” that you do not wish this to be the case. Only papers completed at the time of submission will be considered for publication.