Global philosophical traditions meet at UCT

The University of Cape Town’s (UCT) upper campus became a global meeting ground for philosophical exchange when it hosted the 2026 Philosophical Society of Southern Africa (PSSA) Annual Conference.

From 23 to 25 January, more than 200 delegates from over 30 countries gathered for three days of lectures, panels and sustained debate, marking a decisive step in the society’s international expansion.

Hosted by UCT’s Department of Philosophy, the conference brought together scholars, students and enthusiasts from across Africa, Europe, Asia and the Americas, signalling how far the once largely regional gathering has evolved.

Conference organiser, Associate Professor George Hull, described hosting the PSSA Annual Conference as both an honour and a sign of the department’s growing momentum.

“We are humbled by this vote of confidence in the UCT Philosophy department as a centre of philosophical research excellence,” he said. “This is a moment when we are putting our foot on the accelerator and also looking outwards for collaborative interchange.”

A return to real conversations

Associate Professor Hull suggested that the strong turnout reflected philosophy’s renewed appetite for in-person engagement after the COVID-19 pandemic.

“To me, it marked the moment when Philosophy announced its irrevocable return from the Zoom or Teams interface to the real world of real conversations.”

“This is a moment when we are putting our foot on the accelerator and also looking outwards for collaborative interchange.”

From the opening sessions, it was clear that this was no ordinary academic meeting. Parallel sessions ran continuously across venues on upper campus, with scholars engaging questions ranging from artificial intelligence and political economy, to African philosophy, feminist thought, ancient philosophy and the ethics of science.

The scale of the programme reflected both the breadth of participation and the ambition of the 2026 conference: to create a space where diverse philosophical traditions could encounter one another on an equal footing.

Proceedings opened with a compelling keynote address by Professor Olúfẹ́mi Táíwò of Cornell University. Over the following two days, professors Sara Heinämaa and Catarina Dutilh Novaes deepened the intellectual exchange.

Professor Heinämaa, a leading figure in contemporary phenomenology and feminist philosophy at the University of Jyväskylä, Finland, delivered her address, “Besinnung of Political Reason: On the Possibilities of Phenomenology Today”. Widely recognised for her reinterpretation of Simone de Beauvoir and her work on embodiment, normativity and ethical life, she explored the contemporary possibilities of phenomenology in political thought.

The final keynote was delivered by Novaes, a professor and University Research Chair in Philosophy at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. An internationally recognised authority on logic, argumentation and medieval philosophy; and author of The Dialogical Roots of Deduction – winner of the 2022 Lakatos Award – she highlighted the enduring relevance of historical philosophical traditions to contemporary inquiry.

Decolonisation and the future of philosophical education

Speaking to a packed Beattie Lecture Theatre, Professor Táíwò framed his lecture around the future of philosophical education and the limits of contemporary decolonisation discourse.

Drawing on arguments from his recent work, he urged scholars to move beyond rhetorical or symbolic forms of decolonial critique.

“When we ask what a post-decolonisation world should look like, we cannot remain at the level of slogans.”

“When we ask what a post-decolonisation world should look like, we cannot remain at the level of slogans,” Táíwò said. “We have to think seriously about institutions, about education, and about how we curate the future through what and how we teach.”

He argued that liberal education, rather than being a colonial relic, offers essential tools for cultivating intellectual openness and responsibility in a genuinely global academy.

The keynote resonated with themes running throughout the conference, including epistemic authority, inclusion and the historical construction of philosophical canons.

Papers explored African and diasporic thought alongside European, Asian and analytic traditions, often interrogating the boundaries that have historically separated them. Delegates moved between sessions on Buddhist philosophy, ancient Greek thinkers, contemporary political theory and African ethics, sometimes within the same time block.

Sessions also examined the ethical implications of emerging technologies, the politics of restitution and reparations, questions of gender and identity, and the nature of personhood and community. Many discussions were situated explicitly within African contexts, while remaining in dialogue with global theoretical debates.

Major international event

By the close of the first day, delegates agreed that the 2026 PSSA Annual Conference had already established itself as a major international event in the humanities. That assessment was echoed by PSSA president, Professor Gregory Swer, who said the conference reflected the society’s core mission.

“The mission of the Philosophical Society of Southern Africa is to facilitate the growth of philosophical knowledge in Southern Africa by providing a space in which representatives of all the global traditions of philosophy can meet and share their research,” he said. “This year’s conference at UCT really encapsulated everything that the society strives for.”

“It brought the philosophical world to Southern Africa and showcased the best of Southern African philosophy to the rest of the world.”

Professor Swer highlighted the breadth of participation across career stages and traditions.

“It was a convergence of scholars, from senior academics to postgraduate students at the very beginning of their academic journey, sharing and debating papers drawn from schools of thought from all over the world,” he said. “It brought the philosophical world to Southern Africa and showcased the best of Southern African philosophy to the rest of the world.”

Swer also paid tribute to UCT and to Hull’s leadership in delivering the event.

“The conference was an enormous success, and the PSSA is greatly obliged to the UCT Philosophy department for making it all possible,” he said. “It’s hard to imagine a physical space more conducive to intellectual endeavour than the stunning UCT campus and its facilities.”

He reserved particular praise for Hull.

“Conferences do not succeed by themselves, and this one was no exception,” he said. “George Hull worked tirelessly for over a year to prepare for this conference, and I welcome this opportunity to embarrass him with public praise. This conference was a huge success, people will be talking about it for years to come, and George Hull made it happen.”