If you haven’t seen it already, make note of the first Philosophers’ Cocoon Conference, which will take place this October in Miami. The conference is aimed at “early-career” philosophers, following the spirit of the Cocoon blog — in this case anyone non-tenured. Note that Skype presentations are also possible! Deadline for papers is 1 July, 2013. See the full CFP here.

I just learned about this interesting conference on the metaphysics of modality in Bratislava, Slovakia, featuring John Divers and Francesco Berto. I’m pleased to see that metaphysics is being pursued in Slovakia! Abstracts due on May 15.

Institute of Philosophy of the Slovak Academy of Sciences in Bratislava

is pleased to announce call for papers for the conference

MODAL METAPHYSICS:
Issues on the (Im)Possible

held in

September 19-20, 2013

Keynote speakers:

John Divers (University of Leeds)
Francesco Berto (University of Aberdeen)

We invite submissions for a 30 minute presentation followed by a 20 minute discussion. Topics of interest might include (but are not limited to):

the nature of possible and impossible worlds
logic of possible and impossible worlds
how possibilia and impossibilia represent?
can we do without them?

A detailed abstract of approximately 500 words should be prepared for blind review and include a cover page with the full name, title, institution and contact information. Files can be submitted in pdf or doc(x) and should be sent to modalmetaphysics@gmail.com

Deadline for submissions: May 15, 2013
Notification of acceptance: June 15, 2013

The authors selected for the conference will be invited to contribute to a special issue of the journal of analytic philosophy Organon F
(http://www.klemens.sav.sk/fiusav/organon/?q=en). If you wish to submit an abstract, or would like any further details, please, email us to the above address or visit the conference website: http://metaphysicalsociety.webnode.sk/

Program committee: Eugen Andreanský, Ji?í Raclavský, Igor Sedlár, Martin Schmidt
Organizing committee: Lukáš Bielik, Martin Vacek, Marián Zouhar

This should be an interesting opportunity for early career researchers (only two spots available). I note that Vasilis Politis will be present — I found his Routledge Companion to Aristotle’s Metaphysics interesting reading. So, hopefully a paper on Aristotle and analytic philosophy will get through! I wasn’t planning on submitting myself, even though I have recently written something related to the topic.

Ancient philosophy and analytic philosophy

Conference organised by Catherine Rowett, Tom Sorell and Alberto Vanzo, to be held in St Anne’s College, Oxford, on 25-27 October 2013

For the past forty years, most research on ancient philosophy in the English-speaking world has been shaped by the methods and style of analytic philosophy. This has sharpened our understanding of key doctrines, highlighted their philosophical relevance, and made it possible for ancient views to bear on current debates. This alliance of analytic philosophy and ancient philosophy also raises pressing methodological questions. To what extent are we allowed to supplement the claims of ancient philosophers with premises and concepts that the authors involved would not recognize? How can our understanding of the arguments of ancient philosophers profit from the study of non-argumentative aspects of their texts, like the use of myths or the dialogic form? How should we deal with texts whose standards of argument that are markedly different from our own, or which seek to promote specific forms of life, rather than establishing a specific body of truths?

Invited speakers: Lesley Brown (Oxford), Walter Cavini (Bologna), Gail Fine (Cornell/Oxford), Terence Irwin (Oxford), Kathryn Morgan (UCLA), Vasilis Politis (Dublin), Christopher Rowe (Durham).

Two slots are available for presentations of 45 minutes from early-career scholars, followed by 30 minutes of discussion. We aim to cover some of the travel and accommodation costs.

Please submit full papers (max. 15,000 words) to Alberto Vanzo (alberto.vanzo@email.it) by Monday 3 June 2013.

I really don’t know how he finds the time, but Jonathan is the keynote speaker at yet another conference. This graduate conference on categories at the The Catholic University of America in D.C. seems to be open to both historical papers and contemporary papers. Regarding the latter, don’t forget my Contemporary Aristotelian Metaphysics volume, which includes several papers (by Gary Rosenkrantz, Alexander Bird, John Heil, Peter Simons, Joshua Hoffman, and Lowe himself) on the topic of categories!

The Categories:
a graduate student conference in philosophy at
The Catholic University of America
Washington, D.C.

keynote speakers:
E.J. Lowe, Durham University
&
Gregory Doolan, The Catholic University of America

March 22 & 23, 2013

Following Aristotle, We understand ”the categories” to name the ten highest genera. Since Aristotle, the categories have been the subject of rich discussion in nearly every major philosophical era.

We invite papers that engage this discussion, using historical, systematic, or original approaches. Questions relevant to the conference include but are not limited to the following:

Should categories be understood principally as belonging to metaphysics, logic, or epistemology?
What are the categories? How many are there? Is there a natural order among the categories?
Can two or more distinct systems of categories equally well represent the world?
What is the relationship between the kinds of questions we can put to the world and the kinds of beings there are in the world?

Papers focusing on one or more of the categories are also welcome.

Submit papers of 3500 words or less by January 15, 2013.
Submissions and all correspondence should be sent to:
categories.conference@gmail.com

Lowe is keeping busy! He is once again the keynote speaker, this time at this workshop on identity and paradox in Lille. Four papers will be accepted from submissions, deadline for full length, 3000-4000 word papers is January 16, 2013.

Workshop “Identity and Paradox”
CNRS research unit “Savoirs, Textes, Langage”

http://stl.recherche.univ-lille3.fr/

Lille, France, April 11-12, 2013
Organizers: Giuseppina Ronzitti (STL), Tero Tulenheimo (STL, Lille 3)

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Workshop Description

On the one hand, the concept of identity naturally enters the discussion concerning many types of paradox that are not, primarily, about identity itself. On the other hand, there are a number of
paradoxes considered as paradoxes of identity in which identity is apparently the concept generating the paradox (e.g., the ship of Theseus paradox, Chrysippus’s paradox, the paradox of change, the paradox of constitution).

The goal of the workshop is to discuss philosophical, logical and linguistic aspects of paradoxes in which the notion of identity plays a role. More specifically, we wish to examine whether the so-
called paradoxes of identity really are paradoxes of identity in the sense that their paradoxicality is primarily connected to the concept of identity; and we want to investigate the role of concepts of identity in connection with the formulation/solution of other types of paradoxes.

Invited speakers:

Jonathan Lowe (Durham)

and

David Nicolas (Institut Jean Nicod, Paris)
Manuel Rebuschi (Nancy)
Gerhard Schaden (Lille 3)

We invite submissions presenting novel contributions to the topic from the viewpoints of philosophy, logic and/or linguistics. Up to 4 papers will be accepted for presentation at the workshop.

Possible topics include, but are not limited to, the following:

- Identity and logic
- Identity, change, and paradox
- Identity, composition, and paradox
- Identity, counting, and paradox
- Relative identity and paradox

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Submission details

Papers should be between 3000 and 4000 words in length and should be suitable for a 30-minute presentation. All papers should be prepared for blind review and should be emailed as attached pdf-files to the organizers: ronzitti@gmail.com, tero.tulenheimo@univ-lille3.fr. The deadline is January 16, 2013.

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Important dates:

Submission deadline: January 16, 2013
Notification of acceptance: February 28, 2013
Workshop: April 11-12, 2013

Contact: ronzitti@gmail.com, tero.tulenheimo@univ-lille3.fr