Identity and Community in Times of Uncertainty

Ethics, she argues, should enable individuals to assume this ambiguity and plurality, mindful of the diversity of our human condition. Ethics of Ambiguity, notably, strives to demonstrate how existentialism can be and indeed is inherently moral or social. Beauvoir appeals to us to recognise our freedom and responsibility, yet at the same time highlights the limits of this freedom in situations of oppression, and that this freedom is the most precarious in times of ‘uncertainty’—where ‘crushed by present events, [one] loses one’s way before the darkness of a future haunted by frightening spectres: war, illness, revolution, fascism.’

This conference develops on Beauvoir’s works and legacy and those of her contemporaries, exploring the resources available within existential philosophy for rethinking the role of identity and community in times of uncertainty and crisis. Does the focus that existential philosophy places on the singular individual impede the construction of community? Does existentialism provide tools for articulating situations of oppression, and navigating hostile environments? Does it provide guidance for concrete forms of action and activism, and paths for navigating the uncertainty in the contemporary world?

Talks will engage existential philosophy and its relation to contemporary issues, including war, illness, oppression, crisis, asylum, and political extremism.

Venue:

Faculty of Humanities | AGH University of Krakow, Poland
Room 5.12, 5th floor, C7 Building
Czarnowiejska 36, 30-054 Kraków, POLAND

Registration:

by email to conference.eptcc@gmail.com by 15 October 2026

Organisers:

• Mélissa Fox-Muraton (Clermont School of Business/PHIER, University Clermont Auvergne, France)
• Jakub Gomułka (AGH University of Krakow, Poland)
• Maciej Kałuża (Krakow University of Economics, Poland)