During the Enlightenment in a range of disciplines mechanistic models of explanation were perceived as insufficient but a return to traditional teleological models of thought was also considered problematic. It is the goal of this conference to study the role of teleological figures of thought and of the critique of teleology in the study of nature, aesthetics, political philosophy, anthropology, psychology and history.

This conference is organized by Dorothea von Mucke. Speakers include Stefan Andriopoulos, Columbia University; David Bates, University of California, Berkeley; Akeel Bilgrami, Columbia University; Jenny Davidson, Columbia University; Martin Jay University of California, Berkeley;, Matthew Jones, Columbia University; Thomas McCarthy, Yale University; Uday Mehta, Amherst College; Dorothea von Mucke, Columbia University; Fred Neuhouser, Barnard College; Jonathan Sheehan, University of California, Berkeley; Joanna Stalnaker, Columbia University; Jörn Steigerwald, University of Cologne; James Steintrager, University of California, Irvine; and Fernando Vidal, Max Planck Institute for the History of Science, Berlin.