Call for Extended Abstracts
Everyday Diversity: Individual Differences and Philosophy of Mind
The Everyday Diversity Project invites extended abstracts for talks for an interdisciplinary workshop bringing together philosophers and psychologists to explore the conceptual and methodological implications of natural variation in human mentality. Of particular interest to the project is not only the variation associated with recognised forms of neurodiversity such as autism or ADHD, but also the much broader range of differences in how people think, feel, and experience their mental lives. The workshop will be at the University of Leeds, 10th and 11th June 2026. Travel and accommodation will be covered.
While psychological science has long recognised that people differ in emotional processing, perceptual processing, cognitive architectures, reasoning strategies, and self-experience, philosophy of mind has historically tended to gravitate more towards generalised or typified models of the mind. This workshop explores how attention to mental diversity might enhance our philosophical understanding of the mind, and how psychologists’ attention to individual differences can inform and challenge philosophical theorising. It also offers an opportunity to reflect on psychology’s own issues in this space – for instance, on how best to reflect individual variations among experimental groupings, or issues around neurodevelopmental disorders being treated as discrete groups vs neurodiversity existing on a spectrum.
This workshop seeks to explore these themes by bringing together perspectives from philosophy and psychology to reflect on the implications of everyday mental diversity for theories and methodological approaches to the study of the mind.
We welcome submissions from philosophers, psychologists, and researchers working at their intersection, and we encourage a wide range of approaches – conceptual, empirical, methodological, and applied. Submissions may address broad methodological questions or domain-specific topics, including but not limited to:
1. Big-picture and methodological contributions
Extended abstracts that address broad implications of natural variation and neurodiversity, such as:
2. Domain-specific or case-focused contributions
Extended abstracts that examine how renewed attention to individual mental variation might reshape specific philosophical or psychological debates or research areas, including (but not limited to):
Submissions may draw on philosophy, psychology, cognitive science, neuroscience, psychiatry, disability studies, or first-person perspectives. Submissions should clearly articulate the central question, the proposed contribution, and how attention to natural mental variation plays a substantive role in the proposal.
We look forward to submissions that foster a collaborative, interdisciplinary dialogue, helping to re-orient philosophy of mind – and its relationship to psychological science – toward a richer, more inclusive understanding of mental life.
Submissions: 500 words, sent by email to [email protected], by 23rd Feb 2026; outcomes communicated by end March.
Any questions please don't hesitate to get in touch: [email protected]
Everyday Diversity: Individual Differences and Philosophy of Mind
The Everyday Diversity Project invites extended abstracts for talks for an interdisciplinary workshop bringing together philosophers and psychologists to explore the conceptual and methodological implications of natural variation in human mentality. Of particular interest to the project is not only the variation associated with recognised forms of neurodiversity such as autism or ADHD, but also the much broader range of differences in how people think, feel, and experience their mental lives. The workshop will be at the University of Leeds, 10th and 11th June 2026. Travel and accommodation will be covered.
While psychological science has long recognised that people differ in emotional processing, perceptual processing, cognitive architectures, reasoning strategies, and self-experience, philosophy of mind has historically tended to gravitate more towards generalised or typified models of the mind. This workshop explores how attention to mental diversity might enhance our philosophical understanding of the mind, and how psychologists’ attention to individual differences can inform and challenge philosophical theorising. It also offers an opportunity to reflect on psychology’s own issues in this space – for instance, on how best to reflect individual variations among experimental groupings, or issues around neurodevelopmental disorders being treated as discrete groups vs neurodiversity existing on a spectrum.
This workshop seeks to explore these themes by bringing together perspectives from philosophy and psychology to reflect on the implications of everyday mental diversity for theories and methodological approaches to the study of the mind.
We welcome submissions from philosophers, psychologists, and researchers working at their intersection, and we encourage a wide range of approaches – conceptual, empirical, methodological, and applied. Submissions may address broad methodological questions or domain-specific topics, including but not limited to:
1. Big-picture and methodological contributions
Extended abstracts that address broad implications of natural variation and neurodiversity, such as:
- The role of “typicality” and generalisation in philosophical and psychological theorising – including questions about whether proper attention to individual difference is really compatible with the particular aims of theorising in both disciplines.
- How empirical findings about mental diversity should inform philosophical models of mind and vice versa.
- The interplay between group-level generalisations and individual-level data in psychological research.
- Conceptual issues around categorical versus continuous approaches to neurodevelopmental disorders.
2. Domain-specific or case-focused contributions
Extended abstracts that examine how renewed attention to individual mental variation might reshape specific philosophical or psychological debates or research areas, including (but not limited to):
- Emotion, affect, and emotional regulation
- Perception
- Consciousness and self-experience
- Reasoning, rationality, and decision-making
- Mental representation and cognitive architecture
- Agency, control, and responsibility
- Imagination, memory, or thinking styles
Submissions may draw on philosophy, psychology, cognitive science, neuroscience, psychiatry, disability studies, or first-person perspectives. Submissions should clearly articulate the central question, the proposed contribution, and how attention to natural mental variation plays a substantive role in the proposal.
We look forward to submissions that foster a collaborative, interdisciplinary dialogue, helping to re-orient philosophy of mind – and its relationship to psychological science – toward a richer, more inclusive understanding of mental life.
Submissions: 500 words, sent by email to [email protected], by 23rd Feb 2026; outcomes communicated by end March.
Any questions please don't hesitate to get in touch: [email protected]