The Telos Institute is a 501(c) non-profit organization affiliated with the academic journal Telos. The Telos Institute hosts annual conferences to examine such topics as "social theory, political philosophy, intellectual history, and contemporary culture." Research presented at the conferences is often published in Telos.[1] The current director of the Telos Institute is Marie Piccone, who also serves as the
publisher of Telos.[2]In 1994, the paleoconservative Sam Francis was the keynote speaker at a Telos conference about populism.[3] [4] The 2006 Telos Conference hosted a panel discussion titled "Modernity and its Critics" featuring David Pan, Arthur Versluis, Timothy Luke, and Mika Okajangas. A second panel at the conference, "Post-Communism," included Frank Adler, Victor Zaslavsky, David Ost, and Avi Tucker.[5] Discussions at the 2007 conference featured Joe Bendersky, Jay Gupta, Jeffrey Herf, Gabor Rittersporn,, James Schall, and John Smith. Luke and Pan again appeared as moderators.[6] In 2008 speakers at the conference included Bendersky, Luke, Pan, and Pabst as well as Martin Saavedra, Zoltan Balazs, Catherine Lu, John Barry, and Paul Gottfried.[7] Pan, Luke, Bendersky, and Pabst spoke again at the 2009 Telos Conference. They were joined by Jim Kulk, John Milbank, Neil Turnbull, Michael Marder, and Ernie Sternberg.[8] A Telos Conference in 2010 was organized around the theme "From Lifeworld to Biopolitics: Empire in the Age of Obama."[9]