Eighth Biennial Conference of the European Society for the History of Political Thought
University of Naples “Federico II”, Naples, Italy, 5-7 October 2026
Call for papers: The European Society for the History of Political Thought (ESHPT) invites proposals for its 8th international conference. The conference will focus on themes related to “Truth and Un-Truth in the History of Political Thought.” It will be held at the University of Naples “Federico II” in Naples, Italy, on 5-7 October 2026.
The concepts of “truth” and “untruth,” as well as the many implications linked to them, have long been central to the practice of politics and the history of political thought. Far from being a purely epistemological concern, they have consistently been entangled with the dynamics of power, legitimacy, and authority. Indeed, political thinkers have recognized that truth-claims can serve not only as a foundation for justifying or challenging a political order, but also as a tool for domination, persuasion, control, or governance. This tradition is evident in Plato’s justification of the “noble lie” (“γενναῖον ψεῦδος”, Republic, III), medieval theories of natural law, early modern raison d’état, modern visions of deliberative democracy, and Hannah Arendt’s reflections on totalitarianism and lying, to name just a few examples.
Similarly, the management of information and misinformation has been a crucial tool in politics, both for those in power and for those who resist or oppose the government. This is no less true today, as we wrestle with media fragmentation, disinformation, and the rise of so-called post-truth politics. Nor do these issues seem likely to fade, as new digital technologies and developments in AI have given renewed urgency to the politics of truth and untruth.
With these issues in mind, the ESHPT invites proposals for its 2026 conference in Naples, Italy. We welcome papers and panels that engage with thinkers, texts, and historical episodes from all periods and places, as well as papers that offer broader theoretical reflections on epistemology and political discourse. We invite papers that approach such questions from a variety of perspectives. The following are suggestions (and are in no way intended as limitations):
- Epistemological and methodological challenges for the History of Political Thought.
- The concepts of “truth” and “untruth,” and their conceptual equivalences, in the political thought of all historical periods: figures, texts, contexts.
- Political uses of truth and untruth across history as tools of legitimacy, persuasion, and control.
- Truth and reason of State: truth, untruth, secrecy, dis/simulation as arts of government.
- Truth claims, power, and sovereignty.
- Ideology, propaganda, and media control.
- Post-truth politics and digital disinformation.
- Comparative and non-Western perspectives: political theories and truth concepts beyond the Western tradition.
- Interdisciplinary approaches, including engagement with the visual arts, literature, and other cultural representations, are used to understand how ideas about truth and untruth are constructed and conveyed.
Proposals for individual, 20-minute presentations should be no longer than 250 words. Proposals for panels should not exceed 1,000 words (including all constituent paper proposals). Short CVs of the speakers should be added (name, institutional affiliations, major publications – no more than five).
Panels at the conference will normally last 90 minutes, with 3 papers each.
(Exceptionally, panel proposals consisting of more than 3 papers may be accommodated.) Please send your proposals by 15 March 2026 to eurohpt@eurohpt.
Authors will be notified of paper acceptance or non-acceptance by 15 April 2026. Participation fee (provisional): 60 EUR (45 EUR for PhD students) to cover catering and organisation costs.
The fee is calculated to meet unavoidable expenses. The organising committee is making efforts to secure external funding for the conference. In case these efforts are successful, the participation fee shall be waived. By ESHPT tradition, we intend to publish an edited volume selected from papers presented at the conference in our peer-reviewed series History of European Political and Constitutional Thought published by Brill/Leiden. See ESHPT webpage:
https://brill.com/display/serial/HEPCT
Organising committee: Alessandro Arienzo, Patricia Chiantera, Alberto Clerici, Adriana Luna-Fabritius, Adrian O’Connor, Peter Schröder
