Make a note of this workshop on the Epistemology of Modality in Lisbon next summer. The topic is right up my alley, of course, and the list of of speakers is interesting, but unfortunately this overlaps exactly with the big European Philosophy of Science Association conference, which will be in Helsinki next year. Obviously I was hoping to attend that one… Tough choices!

International Workshop on the Epistemology of Modality

University of Lisbon, Faculty of Letters

29-31 August 2013

http://www.epistemologyofmodality.weebly.com

Van Inwagen once wrote (in his influential paper ‘Modal epistemology’ from 1998) that “modal epistemology is a subject about which little is known”. Today, the discipline has flourished. A lot has been written since then and research on the topic continues to be the focus of a large community of philosophers. We certainly know more today about the topic than we did in 1998, but it would be daring to say that our epistemic situation is much better. The discipline has witnessed a Rationalist Renaissance and is now witnessing what might end up being an anti-rationalist turn.

This workshop aims to provide a forum for discussion and to reflect, via the contributed talks and informal discussions, the state of art of the discipline.

Invited Speakers:

David Chalmers (Australian National University; New York University)

Bob Hale (University of Sheffield; Northern Institute of Philosophy at Aberdeen; King’s College London)

Sonia Roca-Royes (University of Stirling)

Daniele Sgaravatti (Università dell’Aquila)

Anand Vaidya (San José State University)

Organizers:

João Branquinho (LanCog Group, University of Lisbon) and Sonia Roca-Royes (University of Stirling).

Call for Abstracts

We invite submissions of long abstracts (1000-2000 words) on any aspect in the epistemology of modality. The time slot is 90 minutes distributed thus: 50’ talk + 40’ discussion.

For refereeing purposes, abstracts should contain a clear statement of the thesis that will be defended in the talk as well as of the argumentative strategy. They should be prepared for blind-refereeing.

We aim at accepting 5 abstracts.

Submission Procedure: Please send your abstract to EpistemologyModalityLisbon@gmail.com as an attachment (.pdf preferred).

The subject of the e-mail should contain the word ‘submission’.

The body of the email should include your name, affiliation, abstract title, and the email address you want us to use to communicate with you.

Deadline for submissions: 28th February 2013.

Notification of acceptance/non-acceptance: 28th May 2013.

Scientific Committee:

João Branquinho (Universidade de Lisboa); David Chalmers (Australian National University; New York University); Bob Hale (University of Sheffield; Northern Institute of Philosophy at Aberdeen; King’s College London); Sonia Roca-Royes (University of Stirling); Daniele Sgaravatti (Università dell’Aquila); and Anand Vaidya (San José State University).

Registration:

There are no registration fees, but registration will be required. Details on how to register will follow in due course, before registration opens on the 1st of June 2013.

Sponsors of the Workshop:

LanCog – Research Group in Language, Mind and Cognition

FCT Project – Online Companion PTDC/FIL-FIL/121209/2010

FCT – Fundação para Ciência e Tecnologia, Ministério da Educação e Ciência

CFUL – Centro de Filosofia, Universidade de Lisboa

FLUL – Faculdade de Letras, Universidade de Lisboa

QREN – Quadro de Referência Estratégico Nacional

This interesting conference at Bilkent University, Turkey, is organized by István Aranyosi, whom I’ve had the pleasure to meet at several conferences. The list of keynote speakers is impressive, and I especially like the fact that only 8-10 papers are to be selected — this should mean that each submitted paper will receive sufficient attention, and the general quality will no doubt be very high. I don’t really work in philosophy of mind, but I do have a number of ideas in the drawer…

Conference Announcement and 1st CALL FOR PAPERS

Minds, Bodies, and Problems — A philosophy of mind conference

hosted by Bilkent University, Ankara, 7-8 June, 2012.

High-quality submissions are invited on the many aspects of the mind-body problem.

Some suggested topics include: naturalistic/physicalistic reduction of intentionality and/or phenomenal consciousness, the potential constitutive role of the body in mental states, the extended mind hypothesis, the potential conceptual role of the Peripheral Nervous System in the characterization of mental states/processes, body and mental causation, body/brain and free will, consciousness related topics in neuro- and bio-ethics, potential novel philosophical implications of focusing on less studied sense modalities: olfaction, proprioception, interoception, kinesthesia, etc.

Self-standing papers are preferred rather than papers responding to/commenting on another paper or book. Each talk will be 45 minutes long, including Q&A.

Keynote speakers:

Prof. Murat Aydede (University of British Columbia)

Prof. David Chalmers (Australian National University/New York University)

Prof. Tim Crane (Cambridge University)

Prof. Katalin Farkas (Central European University)

Prof. Shaun Gallagher (U. of Memphis/U. of Hertfordshire)

Interested speakers should submit an extended abstract (500-1000 words) by uploading it to the system to be found on the website of the conference:

http://minds.bilkent.edu.tr/

Submissions will be blindly refereed by a group of people comprising some of the keynote speakers, some of the faculty members of the Department of Philosophy at Bilkent University, and some members of the Turkish philosophical community.

We will select 8-10 speakers based on the submitted abstracts, and every effort is made to publish the final versions of the papers in an edited volume. The criteria of selection are both the perceived quality of the papers and the maximization of the conference’s overall diversity as far as the topics are concerned.

Abstract submission deadline: 15 January, 2012.

Expected date of a decision: 1 March, 2012.

Registration details:

Selected speakers will be asked to pay a conference fee of 160 EUR, which will cover the following:

- Three nights’ accommodation (6, 7, 8 June, 2012) in on-campus guest apartments.

- Lunches and dinners on 7 and 8 June, 2012.

- Breakfast on 8 June, 2012.

- Coffee, tea, and refreshments during the two conference days.

There will also be a two-day post-conference trip (9-10 June, 2012) to Cappadocia, which interested participants will have to pay for separately at a concession rate (approximately 100 EUR) which will cover transportation, tour guide, 4-star hotel accommodation, breakfast, dinner, and two lunches. For information on Cappadocia, see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cappadocia

The conference fee will also cover a fourth night at Bilkent upon return from Cappadocia, for of those who opt for joining us on that trip.

Payment details will be available to selected speakers by the time the final decision on the program will have been made.

The conference is open to the public, but the University is not able to arrange for accommodation and meals for non-speaker participants.

Two more reminders of the call for papers will be sent out: on 30 November, 2011, and on 30 December, 2011.

————

Organization

Organizing department/institution: Department of Philosophy/Bilkent University

Organizer: Dr. István Aranyosi (Bilkent University)

Program Committee:

Prof. Varol Akman (Bilkent University)

Dr. Sandy Berkovski (Bilkent University)

Dr. Hilmi Demir (Bilkent University)

Dr. Kourken Michaelian (Bilkent University)

Assoc. Prof. Erdinç Sayan (Middle East Technical University)

Dr. Simon Wigley (Bilkent University)

Dr. Bill Wringe (Bilkent University)

I’m not optimistic about the prospects of either conceptual analysis or 2-D semantics (at least insofar as 2-D semantics is used in the analysis of modality), but this conference would be interesting nevertheless. Most of the important 2-D names are there: Chalmers, Jackson, Stalnaker, and others. If I end up going to the Epistemology of Philosophy conference, I might very well stick around for this one too.

CONCEPTUAL ANALYSIS AND 2-D SEMANTICS

18-19 June 2011

University of Cologne

http://rvps2011.net/2D/

Conceptual analysis continues to play an important role in philosophical practice, even
though it does not always go under this label. But the method is anything but
undisputed. In particular, there seems to be little point in pondering on our
concepts if, as many believe, the meaning of our expressions – as well as the content
of our mental states – is determined by factors which are external to us.
Against this, it has been argued that two-dimensional semantics can provide the
theoretical underpinnings for conceptual analysis, while reconciling it with
many insights gained from arguments put forth to support externalism.

The conference focuses on issues surrounding conceptual analysis, two-dimensional semantics
and their connection. Some of the envisaged topics are:

- The role of conceptual analysis in philosophical inquiry
- The interpretation and the scope of two-dimensional semantics and its bearing on conceptual
analysis
- Potential applications of two-dimensional semantics to metaphysics, ethics, epistemology,
and the philosophy of mind

SPEAKERS:

Magdalena Balcerak Jackson (Cologne)

Alex Byrne (MIT)

David Chalmers (ANU/NYU)

Frank Jackson (Princeton/ANU)

Jens Kipper (Cologne)

Christian Nimtz (Erlangen-Nuernberg)

Laura Schroeter (Melbourne)

Wolfgang Spohn (Konstanz)

Robert Stalnaker (MIT)

Contact information and registration:
Jens Kipper (jens.kipper@uni-koeln.de)

Organization:
Thomas Grundmann & Jens Kipper
Philosophisches Seminar
Universitaet zu Koeln

The conference takes place as part of the Rhine Valley Philosophy Summer
2011, a series of independently organized philosophical events.
See http://rvps2011.net for further information.

I heard about this massive conference when I was in Cologne in May 2010. Although the conference is likely to lack metaphilosophical discussion of the Aristotelian stripe (possibly with the exception of Jonathan Schaffer), it should nevertheless be very interesting. I should perhaps submit something on the methodology of Aristotelian metaphysics, but an easy option would be to simply comment on one of the competing views, such as Tim Williamson’s account in his The Philosophy of Philosophy.

Here is the original CFP:

Call for Papers:

The Epistemology of Philosophy
University of Cologne
13-17 June 2011

http://rvps2011.net/epistemology/

Despite various challenges to “armchair philosophy,” the fact
remains that many central philosophical questions are still investigated
from the armchair – questions in metaphysics, in the philosophy of
mind, and in value theory, for example. What do philosophers bring with
them into the armchair to try to answer these questions? They bring at
least their grasp of concepts and of language, their imagination, and
their ability to engage in different forms of reasoning. The purpose of
this conference is to provide a forum for exchange between philosophers
working on the foundations of non-empirical knowledge and philosophers
working on the methodological and epistemological questions arising in
specific areas of philosophy. Invited speakers include:

Alex Byrne (MIT)
David J. Chalmers (ANU/NYU)
Andy Egan (Rutgers)
Tamar Szabó Gendler (Yale)
Thomas Grundmann (Cologne)
Terence Horgan (Arizona)
Martine Nida-Rümelin (Fribourg)
Paul Pietroski (Maryland)
Jonathan Schaffer (Rutgers/ANU)
Susanna Schellenberg (Rutgers/ANU)
Russ Shafer-Landau (Wisconsin)
Michael Smith (Princeton)
Zoltán Gendler Szabó (Yale)
Timothy Williamson (Oxford)

The conference will also include presentations chosen by submission, and
we encourage researchers to submit abstracts suitable for a 45-minute
presentation on any topic pertinent to the themes of the conference.
Possible topics include the following: Imagination, modal reasoning,
understanding, a priori knowledge, the epistemology of philosophy of
mind, ethics and metaphysics, philosophical explanation, and
disagreement and progress in philosophy. This list is merely meant to be
suggestive. We invite submissions in all areas of metaphilosophy, and we
encourage philosophers working in all sub-disciplines to submit work
that reflects on the epistemology and methodology of their
sub-discipline and on how it relates to the philosophical enterprise
more generally.

The deadline for submissions is 15 February 2011. See the conference web
page for submission instructions: http://rvps2011.net/epistemology/

Please feel free to contact the conference organizers with any questions
or concerns:

Magdalena Balcerak Jackson (mbalcerakjackson@me.com)
Brendan Balcerak Jackson (bbalcerakjackson@gmail.com)

Emmy Noether Research Group
Understanding and the A Priori
http://fromthearmchair.net

The conference will take place as part of the Rhine Valley Philosophy
Summer 2011, a series of independently-organized events in the
Cologne-Bonn region. See http://rvps2011.net for information about the
other events.

I’ve been meaning to get back to my brief criticism of two-dimensional modal semantics for a while. I’ve now produced this short draft of just over 3,000 words. Previously I tried to do too much in the same paper, talking about conceivability and modal epistemology as well, but this is now a much more concise analysis of why I think that substantial a posteriori necessities, such as ‘Water=H2O’ (although I think that this is in fact a problematic example), are a problem for the 2D framework defended especially by David Chalmers and Frank Jackson. In short, the problem is that trivial a priori truths and substantial a posteriori necessities cannot be distinguished in the two-dimensional framework. The paper is so short that I don’t think I will outline it here, but I would of course appreciate any comments on the draft!