CfA European Society for Aesthetics Annual Conference 2026
The 17th annual conference of the European Society for Aesthetics (ESA) is taking place in Jyväskylä, Finland in-person only. Conference fee is €50 for students and unwaged and €100 for academics. We invite papers from all traditions and on any topic in philosophical aesthetics (due Jan 15). Winning essays of the 2026 Fabian Dorsch ESA Essay Prize Contest will be presented in a special session.
We invite papers from all traditions and on any topic in philosophical aesthetics. Both systematic and historical presentations are acceptable. For each talk, there will be time for a 20–25-minute presentation, with about another 20 minutes designated for discussion. All papers presented at the conference are eligible for publication in the Proceedings of the ESA.
Submissions must be in the form of a paper outline (800-1200 words in length) presenting not only the main ideas and claims of the paper, but also the arguments in favour of them, accompanied by a short abstract (max. 300 words). We encourage the presentation of submissions in English, but submissions in other major European languages will be considered equally. Full paper submissions will not be accepted, and submissions are limited to one per person. Please, do not exceed the word limit.
Please use the PDF-file format for submission and render your text completely anonymous to allow for blind refereeing, i.e., the names of participants should not be revealed in the proposal or in the PDF-file’s metadata. To submit your paper outline and short abstract, please use the EasyChair online submission system (first-time users will be asked to register with EasyChair).
The deadline for submissions is 15 January 2026. We aim to inform you about the result of our selection process by the beginning of March.
The winning essay of the 2026 Fabian Dorsch ESA Essay Prize Contest will be provided a commentary by a conference keynote speaker or an invited scholar before the conference. The essay, the invited commentary, and the author’s reply will be presented in a special session at the conference. Submissions should be made by following the general call of the ESA 2026 conference by selecting the corresponding box in the EasyChair submission form to enter the essay prize contest.
The prize consists of a stipend of 500€. The winning essay will be considered for publication in the journal Estetika: The European Journal of Aesthetics. The winner will be announced by 11 May 2026 after 2 stages of selection.
