In 2026, our annual Udo Keller Forum Humanum events will focus on the themes of dualism
and non-duality – and on the ways in which the traditional oppositions structuring Western
thought may no longer suffice to comprehend our entanglement with intelligent machines. Are
the dualisms that underlie both classical and contemporary AI research – such as mind versus
matter, code versus language, or artificial versus natural intelligence – still productive for
understanding today’s world? Or do they conceal more than they reveal?
We invite applications from scholars who can contribute to exploring how such oppositions
might be critically revised, overcome, or rearticulated. The relevant dualisms include, but are
not limited to:
- human / machine
- software / hardware
- fiction / reality
- mind / matter
- subject / object
- artificial / natural intelligence
- animal / human
- individual / society
- language / code
- organic / inorganic
- reason / emotion
- sensibility / understanding
- natural / human sciences
Part I: Non-Duality – Kyoto, April 20–24, 2026
Hosted by Kyōto University, in cooperation with the Kyōto Institute of Philosophy and the
Kyōto University Institute for the Future of Human Society
In Kyōto, we will focus on non-duality as a philosophical, cultural, and ethical orientation.
How can we think AI without resorting to substantial dualisms? What can be learned from
Japanese and broader Asian traditions of thought – Kyoto School philosophy, Buddhist
epistemologies, Daoist ontologies, and process-relational metaphysics such as the recent We-
Turn – that view reality as fundamentally interconnected and dynamic rather than as
composed of separable entities? This leg of our programme is geared to approaches that
engage with non-dual or relational approaches to AI and cognition. Areas of focus will
include:
- Comparative studies between Asian philosophical traditions and contemporary AI
theory. - Post-humanism and the reconfiguration of human–machine boundaries.
- Process ontology, enactivism, and distributed cognition.
- The notion of hybridity: AI as a symbiotic, relational system rather than a discrete
agent. - Ethical and aesthetic implications of non-dual thinking for AI design and governance.
Part II: Dualism – New York, September 21–25, 2026
Hosted by The New School for Social Research, New York City
In New York, the focus will shift toward dualism and the enduring philosophical importance
of differentiation, separation, and embodiment. The humanities have long been concerned with
the specificity of human existence, arguing for and explicating the irreducibility of
consciousness, intentionality, and meaning. Against current tendencies to ascribe autonomy or
mental capacities to AI systems, we will revisit the philosophical grounds for distinguishing
between artificial and actual intelligence. This event invites approaches that critically defend,
refine, or transform dualistic frameworks. Areas of focus will include:
- Phenomenological and embodied accounts of intelligence.
- The role of materiality, finitude, and situatedness in cognition.
- Limits of simulation and computation as models of consciousness.
- Rethinking Cartesian, empiricist and Kantian dualisms in light of machine learning.
- The ontological and ethical boundaries between human, animal, and artificial agents.
Each event will consist of a series of workshops accompanied by keynote lectures by leading
international scholars. IPNH co-directors Markus Gabriel, Paul Kottman, Zed Adams and
Yasuo Deguchi will also present lectures.
The Forum Humanum scholarship will cover travel and accommodation costs, as well as
provide a modest stipend for daily expenses. Applicants must therefore confirm that they are
committed to traveling to both New York and Kyōto next year and, if necessary, are able to
acquire visas on their own for the USA and Japan.