About

Questions of life and death have become central to contemporary philosophical inquiry, as inherited distinctions between the living and the nonliving, the human and the nonhuman, and the natural and the artificial continue to be steadily and increasingly contested. At the same time, rapid advances in artificial intelligence, biotechnology, and digital infrastructures, are swiftly challenging our established understandings of embodiment, agency, mortality, and care. Together, these transformations invite sustained philosophical reflection on how life and death are experienced, governed, represented, and contested in contemporary contexts.

Engaging the Contemporary is a yearly conference organised and hosted by the University of Malta’s Philosophy Department. The aim of the conference is to foster international and multidisciplinary dialogue among researchers working in philosophy and related fields. For the 2026 edition, we invite contributions that critically engage contemporary experiences of life and death, with special focus on its phenomenological, ethical, political, existential, technological, and ecological dimensions.