CFP ISST Conference Time and Measure

Call for Papers
International Society for the Study of Time (ISST)
Eighteenth Triennial Conference
June 26-July 1, 2022 / Yamaguchi, Japan

Time and Measure

Proposals (300 words) due by August 15, 2021

The ISST, renowned for its interdisciplinary scope, invites scientists, scholars, artists and
practitioners to explore questions concerning Time and Measure at its 18th Triennial Conference
to be held in collaboration with the Research Institute of Time Studies (RITS) at Yamaguchi
University in South-Western Japan. Our format of plenary presentations delivered over four days
creates a sustained discussion among participants. We thus expect participants to register for the
entirety of the conference. We shall take a day off mid-conference and provide participants a
choice of time-related excursions in the Yamaguchi area, the site of crucial events at various
turning points in Japanese history .

Because of worldwide uncertainty brought about by the pandemic, we shall be considering
whether and how we may allow for online conference participation. Further information will
follow.

For its 2022 Triennial, the ISST wishes to instigate discussion of all the kinds of temporal
measure—both quantitative and qualitative—which are the work of our different professional
disciplines and some of which may also prove to be cross-disciplinary. When asked about time
and its measure, most people would think of clocks: an even progression of numbers. This view
goes back to Aristotle’s definition of time (in Physics IV) as “the count [arithmos] of changing in
respect of before and after.” As recent events have made us aware, however, times of crisis may
require other measures. Political crises or a crisis like the pandemic seem to impose their own
measure of time. Crisis thus throws into relief the fact that not all times are equal—something
that musicians, strategists and physicians have always known; these professionals and others
have had to develop their own systems of taking time’s measure–some dependent on clocks,
some not.

Suggested Topics

• In what (different/new) ways do physicists, biologists, chemists, geologists, archeologists, engineers and other scientists take the measure of things in time?
• How truth-bearing and/or enduring are various measurements?
• What about ‘probabilistic’ measurements of quantum states?
• Can time and space be measured in the same sense?
• When do quantitative differences become qualitative?
• Are lightyears comparable to nanoseconds?
• Is time (exclusively) defined by its measure?
• How do social scientists generate a metric of temporality? Are statistical measures more or less basic than positive ones?
• How does temporal measure relate to ethical decisions? Are there reliable measures for ethical choices in the instant moment and/or over a human lifetime?
• In what ways do we measure the function of ‘tempi’ in music, poetry, theatre performance, dance and film? How are measures of time involved in the visual arts?
• How does temporal mensuration enter or shape narrative discourses in literature?
• We measure chronologies pretty well. But by what means do we measure the kind of time that is a kairos?
• How do crises (e.g., political crisis, catastrophic climate change, the pandemic) impact the
• measurement of time?

Other Suggested Topics:
--time, measure, money and generosity
--history as the measure or mismeasure of time
--the measurement of public vs individual time
--tense/aspect, mood, person and voice in languages
--measurement as determining our understanding of the measured
--the limits of measuring time
--cosmic clocks

Guidelines/Timeline for Proposals
Proposals will be for 20-minute presentations in diverse formats: scholarly paper, debate, performance, overview of creative work, installation, workshop. Proposals for interdisciplinary panels are especially welcome. (Each paper for a panel must be approved by the selection committee.) All work will be presented in English and should strike a balance between expertise in an area of specialization and accessibility to a general intellectual audience. Proposals, no more than 300 words in length, are submitted electronically. The author’s or authors’ name(s) should not appear in the proposal as the ISST does blind reviewing in selecting papers for its conferences. The deadline for submission is August 15,
2021, with acceptances communicated by December 15, 2021. The Society also seeks session
chairs, whose names will be included on the printed conference program.

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