The 49th meeting of the International Merleau-Ponty Circle will be held at the University of Maine, Orono, from September 25-27, 2025. Maurice Merleau-Ponty was a 20th Century French existential philosopher whose pluralistic studies developed critical and dynamic new ideas about personhood, health and medicine, art, ecology, ethics, multiculturalism, politics and more. The conference is open to all, and will involve a few dozen international scholars visiting campus to give research presentations related to topics of broad academic interest.This year’s theme is “Health and Healing: Personal, Social and Environmental” and features keynote speakers Havi Carel (University of Bristol) and Drew Leder (Loyola Marymount University), as well as artistic performances. Along with the attached poster and links to the conference program, you can contact conference hosts Susan Bredlau, Don Beith and Kirsten Jacobson (MPC2025Conference@gmail.com) for more information, directions or questions about this event. https://www.merleauponty.org/
This event is generously funded by the Department of Philosophy, the McGillicuddy Humanities Center, the University of Maine Foundation, the Alton ‘38 and Adelaide Hamm Campus Activity Fund, & the Cultural Affairs Distinguished Lecture Series.