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Next Meeting: Paris, 2026

Facultés Loyola Paris (Loyola Faculties)

(Jesuit Faculties of Philosophy and Theology)

Thursday 27 – Monday 31 August 2026

Eco-Transformation in Philosophical Perspective

The last meeting in Rome (Photo)

Conference Program

(Pdf document)

The intention is to examine what we mean by transformation when this notion is applied to ecological questions. Although widely invoked in contemporary discourse, the term is seldom scrutinised in its conceptual reach: does it denote gradual change, conversion, metamorphosis, a reconfiguration of practices, or a shift in the categories through which we think and act? Clarifying these forms of transformation is essential for understanding current ecological dynamics. The inquiry unfolds across several interconnected levels: the subject, communities, and countries with their economic systems. A speculative question emerges regarding the articulation — or indeed the tension — between these levels: can individual transformation occur without collective transformation? Do economic shifts enable or impede certain transformations of subjects? Do communities reshape institutions, or is the reverse the case?

This invitation simply asks whether you would like to contribute to this shared inquiry by shedding light, from within your own philosophical orientation, on one aspect of this set of questions.

THURSDAY 27th August 2026

14.00 – 19.30 Arrival
17.00 – 19.30 Registration and payment / Aula Henri de Lubac (Ground floor)
19.00 – Supper / Dining Room, 5th Floor
20.15 – 22.00 Welcome evening / Recreation Room, 6th Floor; Informal session: Welcome evening by Eric Charmetant
[social]

FRIDAY 28th August 2026

07.00 – 08.45 Breakfast / in Jesuit communities (Sèvres, Grenelle)
09.00 – 09.10 Welcome

Aula Henri de Lubac (Ground floor)

09.00 – 09.10 Welcome speech (Louis Lourme, Rector of Facultés Loyola Paris)
09.10 – 09.20 Introduction into the topic (Eric Charmetant)
         Conferences: 40 min., Discussion: 25 min.

         Moderator: TBD
09.20 – 10.25 Conference 1: Georg Sans (Hochschule für Philosophie, Munich): Revolution of the Character and the Ethical Commonwealth: Kantian Thoughts about Transformation.
Coffee break
10.55 – 12.00 Conference 2: Louis Caruana (PUG, Rome): Ecological Conversion: from Logos to Pathos?

12.10 Eucharist, Dalibor Renić (JCEP President), Chapel, 5th Floor
12.45 Lunch / Dining Room, 5th Floor

Aula: Henri de Lubac (Ground floor)

14.30 – 15.35 Conference 3: Cécile Renouard (Facultés Loyola Paris): Decarbonizing or Changing the World? Transformative Strategies Toward Eco-Justice: A Typology.
15.35 – 16.40 Conference 4: Francis Kyalo Mutunga (PhD student, Hochschule für Philosophie): Rethinking Sustainability: Eco-Transformation as an Epistemological Reconfiguration of Water Governance.

         Coffee break
17.20 – 18.25 Conference 5: Eric Charmetant (Facultés Loyola Paris): Eco-Transformation at the Age of AI.
19.00 Supper / Dining Room, 5th Floor
20.15 – 22.00 “News and Challenges from the Jesuit Centres of Philosophical Formation”
[social]

SATURDAY 29th August 2026

07.00 – 08.45 Breakfast / in Jesuit communities (Sèvres, Grenelle)

Aula: Henri de Lubac (Ground floor)

9.00 – 10.10 Conference 6: Thierry Meynard (Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China): The notion of transformation in the Zhongyong in the context of the ecological crisis.
Coffee break
10.40 – 11.50 Conference 7: Yves Vendé (Facultés Loyola Paris/Université catholique de Lille): Human–Non-Human Relations and the transformation of representations thanks to transcultural hermeneutics.
12.10 Eucharist, TBD, Chapel, 5th Floor
12.45 Lunch / Dining Room, 5th Floor

14.30 – 18.00 Excursion with Leon O’Giollain SJ (guide): Ignatius in the Latin Quarter and a Visit to Notre-Dame.
19.00 Dinner in the community on rue de Grenelle and rooftop social (panoramic view over all of Paris)

SUNDAY 30th August 2026

7.00 – 09.00 Breakfast

9.00 – 10.05 Conference 8: Piotr Janik (Jesuit University Ignatianum, Krakow): Evolution Without Alterity: The Subject in Dennett and the Unthought of Relation to Nature.
Coffee break
10.35 – 12.35 JESPHIL: Revision of the statutes and election of a new coordinator.

12.45 Lunch / Dining Room, 5th Floor

15.00 – 17.00 JESPHIL: Evaluation and planning

18.00 Eucharist, Thierry Dobbelstein (Provincial EOF), Chapel, 5th Floor

19.00 Supper / Dining Room, 5th Floor
20.15 Informal session or Walk to the Louvre
[social]

MONDAY 31st August 2026

7.00 – 09.00 Breakfast
Departure