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International Workshop “Imagination and Hostility”

Veranstaltungsdaten

This workshop aims to bring together researchers to examine how imaginative processes interact with hostile attitudes, emotions, and behaviors. Across philosophy, imagination is often celebrated for its prosocial capacities—such as fostering empathy and perspective-taking. However, its darker or more complex manifestations remain equally profound and warrant critical investigation. Throughout the workshop, we will address several key questions: How does imagination shape, trigger, or escalate hostile feelings and actions? Does imagining hostile acts serve to diminish hostile feelings (a cathartic effect), or does it reinforce and cultivate hostile emotional states? To what extent do we possess agency over our hostile imaginations, and are we morally responsible for the hostile scenarios we imagine? In what ways does existing hostility restrict or distort our ability to imagine the perspective, inner state, or humanity of the "other"?

Wednesday, 25th November 2026

13:30 – 14:45: Alessandro Salice (Cork): “Hatred, Evil, and Imagination”
14:45 – 15:15: Coffee Break
15:15– 16:30: Rob Compaijen (Utrecht): “Imagination and Envy”
16:30 – 17:45: Christiana Werner (Konstanz): "Experience, Imagination and the (Re-)Creation of Harmful Biases"
19:00: Conference Dinner

 Thursday, 26th November 2026

09:00 – 10:15: Hans Bernhard Schmid (Vienna): TBA
10:15 – 10:30: Coffee Break
10:30 – 11:45: Adriana Clavel Vazquez (Tilburg): “The Amorality of Imagination”
11:45 – 13:00:  Katharina Anna Sodoma (Munich): “Empathy and Moral (Im)Possibility”

Venue: University of Marburg (Ketzerbach 63, 2nd Floor, 35037 Marburg, Germany)
Attendance: For registration, please write to Ingrid.vendrell@uni-marburg.de
Organizer: Íngrid Vendrell Ferran