So far I haven’t really used this blog to publicize conferences or events, as I figured that most people who are interested follow the major blogs and mailing lists that list these events anyway. However, I figured that I might as well do it when I come across something interesting and worth publicizing. I believe that this conference might be such a case: Metaphysics: Aristotelian, Scholastic, Analytic. June 30 – July 3 2010, Prague, Strahov Monastery (Czech Republic). Prague is a lovely city, and a great place to have a conference.

The primary reason why I chose to publicize this event is my forthcoming volume on Contemporary Aristotelian Metaphysics. The idea is of course that this is the perfect event to publicize my book. In fact, two of the contributors, E. J. Lowe and David Oderberg, are among the keynote speakers. Michal Loux has also been invited, and I should’ve really asked him to contribute to my volume as well. Unfortunately I already had too many people when that occurred to me.

Here is the actual CFP:

Throughout the greater part of the twentieth century, both in the analytic and continental traditions, metaphysics was deemed to be passé. The last few decades, however, have witnessed a remarkable growth of interest among analytic philosophers in various traditional metaphysical topics, such as modality, truth, causality, etc. which resulted in the emergence of various forms of analytic metaphysics. The new forms of metaphysics differ from its traditional forms mostly in their methodology (we may notice various applications of contemporary formal logical techniques) and in the range of proposed solutions to particular problems. Besides these and other differences, however, there are also many similarities and there are even some who intentionally develop traditional metaphysical themes using the contemporary analytical methods. All these developments call for detailed exploration, which is the general goal of the conference Metaphysics: Aristotelian, Scholastic, Analytic. The conference aims to bring together leading analytic philosophers working in metaphysics and willing to explore relations between the traditional and contemporary concerns. The specific focus of the conference is a re-examination of Aristotelian-Scholastic metaphysics in contemporary setting. It is organized by the Catholic Theological Faculty of Charles University under the auspices of the Czech Academy Foundation. It takes place in the historical parts of the Strahov monastery near the Prague castle from June 30 to July 2, 2010.

CALL FOR PAPERS

* Papers are welcome on any of the topics indicated below.
* A short abstract of cca. 2500-3500 characters should be submitted to the Organizing Committee by April 15, 2010, by e-mail (if possible – see contacts above). The Peer-Review Board will select the papers to be presented at the Conference.
* Papers should be written in the English (preferred) or German language.
* The length of a paper should not exceed 25 minutes of reading time.

Papers selected by the Peer-Review Board will be edited and published as a supplement volume of the journal Studia Neoaristotelica.

TOPICS

* being and existence
* realisms vs. antirealisms
* truth, truthmaking, predication
* particulars and universals
* hylemorphism vs. mechanicism
* persistence through time
* the necessary and the possible
* the actual and the potential (powers, dispositions)
* propositions and states of affaires
* causes and explanation
* God

I do have one reservation about this conference: it is organized by the Catholic Theological Faculty of Charles University, and the peer review borad as well seems to consist of people working in theology departments. The suggested topics are clearly good though, and the keynote speakers are excellent, so I’m willing to give it the benefit of doubt. Anyway, I’ll probably submit something, if for no other reason then because it will be a great chance to let people know that there is a volume dedicated to this type of metaphysics coming out.