The Society for Phenomenology and Existential Philosophy (SPEP) is a philosophical society whose initial purpose was to promote the study of phenomenology and existentialism but has since expanded to a wide array of contemporary philosophical pursuits, including critical theory, feminist philosophy, poststructuralism, critical race theory, and increasingly non-Eurocentric philosophies.[1] SPEP was created in 1962 by American philosophers who were interested in Continental philosophy and were dissatisfied with the analytic dominance of the American Philosophical Association.[2] It has since emerged as the second most important philosophical society in the United States. Alan D. Schrift and Shannon Sullivan are the current Executive Co-Directors of SPEP.[3][4]
SPEP's first annual meeting was at Northwestern University in 1962, during which "a handful or two of phenomenologists, existentialists, and iconoclasts gathered."[1] Selected papers from these meetings have been published by several publishers since 1965.[5] Now with a membership of over 2,500, SPEP has grown to be one of the largest philosophical societies in North America.[1][6]
As an acronym for Studies in Phenomenology and Existential Philosophy, "SPEP" also denotes a series of scholarly monographs and translations founded by James M. Edie and published by Northwestern University Press since the early 1960s, including works by Maurice Merleau-Ponty, Paul Ricoeur, and Edmund Husserl. The current series editor is Anthony Steinbock.[7]