Social Media and Human Flourishing: Call for Papers
Interdisciplinary Colloquium:
September 16-18, 2016, Montreal, Canada
Keynote by Dr. Eric McLuhan
Author of The Sensus Communis, Synesthesia, and the Soul: An Odyssey (2015) and with Marshal McLuhan Media and Formal Cause (2011)
It has now been nearly twenty years since the internet became a defining part of daily human life, and at least five years since social media became a portable and normative vehicle of human interaction.
Data from sources as diverse as neuroscience, psychology, social sciences, education and philosophy are beginning to render a picture of dramatic transformation of the human person. Our brains are being wired differently. The ability to think, to remember, and to contemplate is changing. Social discourse has been affected, especially among the young.
The benefits of digital media are readily visible. Taking a step back, and critically evaluating social media’s effects on human well being is a task that many scholars are now beginning to undertake.
Theological anthropology can make many contributions to the discourse, and conversely, there is much that can enrich a Christian understanding of the human person from the data of the sciences.
This colloquium aims to address the question of social media and its effects, to evaluate our successes and failures in integrating our digital tools, and to seek norms that might guide us to greater human freedom and flourishing.
Submission deadline: May 31, 2016
All papers must demonstrate technical merit and accessibility to a multidisciplinary audience. Final drafts will be considered for publication in an edited volume. To submit a proposal, email a 250-word abstract and C.V. by May 31, 2016 to robert.dispede@mcgill.ca. Final drafts must be submitted by August 31, 2016. Conveners: Robert Di Pede (Newman Institute/McGill University) and John O’Brien SJ (Regis College/University of Toronto).
Hosted and sponsored jointly by the Newman Institute of Catholic Studies and McGill University.
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