International Symposium on Philosophy and War

Welcome to a one-day symposium on the relation between philosophy and war, and on the wars we are now witnessing.

“I live through dark ages,” wrote Berthold Brecht in his poem To Posterity (An die Nachgeborenen), composed while in exile in Denmark just before the outbreak of war in 1939. Two years after Hamas’ terror attack on Israel in 2023, and Israel’s devastating response in Gaza, ‘October 7’ and ‘October 8’ have come to symbolize what may be the darkest moment in the history of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict — and of our own time. Since December 2023, a case has been ongoing at the International Court of Justice in The Hague, where Israel stands accused of genocide. In 2024, open hostilities between Israel and Iran escalated into what became known as the Twelve-Day War in June 2025. Meanwhile in Europe, Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine has grown into the largest and deadliest war on the continent — and the largest refugee crisis — since World War II.

“Even in the darkest of times, we have the right to expect some illumination,” wrote Hannah Arendt in 1968, borrowing Brecht’s phrase for the title of a collection of essays on thinkers whose lives and work illuminated the times they were given. The symposium is organized in this Brechtian and Arendtian spirit.

Venue: Södertörn University, Campus Flemingsberg, MB313 (”The Black Box”)

The symposium is organized by Anders Bartonek and Ulrika Björk at Södertörn university and is a collaboration between Philosophy and Experimenting with Traditions.

Please find the program and the speaker’s presentation here.