Call for Papers

 

Returning to Dialectics?

Towards a Critical Philosophy of Management

 

A Conference at the Essex Management Centre, University of Essex, 29^th-30^th May 2006

 

Dialectics has had a bad press in recent years. In times when management is all about a continuous movement, in times when everyone rushes to get the latest French philosopher’s book, in times of the historical aftermath of the downfall of state socialism (and its official state philosophy), it seems that the mostly German philosophical tradition of dialectics has past its sell-by date. As Slavoj Žižek, one of the few vivid readers of Hegel has said recently:

 

For the last two decades, multitude has been in, unity out; contingency in, necessity out; subjectivation in, subject out; multiculturalism in, the European legacy out; difference in, universality out; antinomy in, contradiction out; resistance in, revolution out... (Slavoj Žižek, ‘Critical Response: I a symptom – of what? ’, Critical Inquiry, 29,3: 486-503, 2003)

Žižek’s list of ins and outs could, of course, be easily continued by saying that Spinoza has been in, Hegel out; flows in, and dialectics out. In fact, one could go as far as to suggest that there has been a certain anti-Hegelianism and a distrust of the dialectical tradition in many of today’s popular contemporary philosophies. Management theory has also had its fair share of movement therapy; whether it has been Bergson, Whitehead, or Deleuze; management philosophies of movement have been in, and dialectical critiques of management out.

 

In the midst of such a profound anti-dialectical mood it seems odd for us to want to return to dialectics and explore how this current of thought can shed a critical light on the contemporary practice and theory of management. Why is such a move necessary? Do we simply want to role back history and return to Hegel and the Prussian state bureaucracy? Returning somewhere is more than going back to one’s roots. Returning is more than going back in time. A return, or re-turn, is not a simple defence of what happened in the past. Instead, it is a re-reading of the past; a re-reading that might be able to tell us how we got to where we are; it might help us to read history in a new way; a reading that might just allow us to turn the table and discover new possibilities of and for history. This is why such a move is necessary: only by returning to history, will we be able to see new possibilities of history. Or even more: only by returning to history does history become possible.

 

In the light of such possibilities we propose to explore what a return to dialectics might look like and what it might do to management theory. We aim to investigate not merely the dialectical tradition as found in the works of Hegel and the German idealists, but how the history of dialectical thought within the wider spectrum of recent philosophy and management theory might serve as a critical focus for contemporary engagements with management.

 

Abstract outlines of no more than 700 words should be submitted as an email attachment to Steffen Böhm ([log in to unmask]) and Sam Mansell ([log in to unmask]) by 15^th March. Full papers will be due by 15^th May so that they can be distributed to all conference participants before the conference. We intend to publish a selection of the papers presented in a dedicated special journal issue or an edited book collection.

 

If you have any enquiries about this conference, please do not hesitate to contact the conference organisers, Steffen Böhm ([log in to unmask]) and Sam Mansell ([log in to unmask]).