Metaphysics of Science Conference 2-5 July 2009: Call for Papers

Deadline: 30 January 2009

We invite offers of papers for a conference on the metaphysics of science, which is to be held at the University of Melbourne from 2-5 July 2009. The conference is a collective initiative of the philosophy programs at La Trobe, Monash and Melbourne Universities, as well as the Centre for Time at the University of Sydney. Further information about the conference is available on the conference website:

http://www.philosophy.unimelb.edu.au/research/events/09/metaphysics-of-science/

To propose a paper, please submit a 500 word abstract to Howard Sankey (chs@unimelb.edu.au) before the deadline of 30 January 2009.

Because of space and time constraints, there may be a need to place limitations on the number of papers that we accept for the conference. If we are unable to make a decision on whether to accept a paper based on the abstract, we may request that a full-length version of the paper be submitted for consideration. We hope to be able to inform potential conference participants whether their paper is accepted by mid-February 2009.

The Metaphysics of Science conference is scheduled to lead into the annual conference of the Australasian Association of Philosophy (AAP), which will be held in Melbourne commencing the evening of 5 July. In the event that we are unable to accommodate all proposed papers within the Metaphysics of Science conference, we expect to hold a number of metaphysics of science streams within the AAP conference programme.

Associate Professor Howard Sankey

School of Philosophy, Anthropology and Social Inquiry

University of Melbourne

Parkville, Victoria

Australia 3010

Phone: (61) (03) 8344-6558

Fax: (61) (03) 8344 4280

http://www.philosophy.unimelb.edu.au/staff/Sankey/

Ethical and Philosophical Relevance of Neuroscience

The project group "Neuroscience in Context: Critical Perspectives,
Neuroethics, and Anthropology" kindly invites you to attend their
international meeting on neuroethics and neurophilosophy:

On the Ethical and Philosophical Relevance of Neuroscience

held at the University of Bonn, Germany, October 4 2008.

Influenced by the scientific success of cognitive neuroscience, many
take it for granted that its findings are relevant to other disciplines
such as anthropology and philosophy. We want to analyze their relevance,
considering the empirical state of the art as well as theoretical and
normative issues as presented by experts in science and philosophy.

Speakers:
Jorge Moll (Rio de Janeiro): Bridging Moral Sentiments, Values and
Neuroscience: New Perspectives
Guy Kahane (Oxford): The Neuroscience of Morality: Methodological
Considerations and Normative Implications
Neil Levy (Melbourne & Oxford): How the Sciences of the Mind Threaten
Autonomy, and How They Can Enhance It
Elisabeth Hildt (Tuebingen): Anthropological and Ethical Key Issues of
the Neurosciences
Dieter Birnbacher (Duesseldorf): Chair of the adjacent plenary discussion

Admission is free but registration is required due to limited capacity;
please visit the project's website at www.nic-online.eu for more
information.

--
Stephan Schleim, M.A.

Department of Psychiatry
Division of Medical Psychology
University of Bonn
Sigmund-Freud-Straße 25
53105 Bonn
Germany

Tel: +49(0)228 287 19705
Fax: +49(0)228 287 19125
Web: www.meb.uni-bonn.de/psychiatrie/mp/
Messages to the list are archived at http://listserv.liv.ac.uk/archives/philos-l.html. Prolonged discussions should be moved to chora: enrol via http://listserv.liv.ac.uk/archives/chora.html. Other philosophical resources on the Web can be found at http://www.liv.ac.uk/pal.

Reduction and Elimination in Philosophy and the Sciences

FINAL REMINDER CFP: Reduction and Elimination in Philosophy and the Sciences

Final Reminder Call for Papers:

31st International Wittgenstein Symposium 2008 on
Reduction and Elimination in Philosophy and the Sciences

Kirchberg am Wechsel, Austria, 10-16 August 2008
<http://www.alws.at/>

*****

DEADLINE for SUBMITTED PAPERS: 20th May 2008

*****

Contributed papers should be submitted in RTF or Word format and sent as
e-mail attachment to: Alexander.Hieke@sbg.ac.at,
Hannes.Leitgeb@bristol.ac.uk

Further instructions for authors and further information on the symposium
are available at <http://www.alws.at/wittgenstein08.htm>.

Messages to the list are archived at http://listserv.liv.ac.uk/archives/philos-l.html.
Prolonged discussions should be moved to chora: enrol via
http://listserv.liv.ac.uk/archives/chora.html.
Other philosophical resources on the Web can be found at http://www.liv.ac.uk/pal.

European Society for Philosophy and Psychology

16th ANNUAL MEETING: Utrecht, Netherlands, June 26, 27, 28th 2008



CALL FOR PAPERS: Deadline 29^th February 2008.

www.eurospp.org

Invited speakers:

- Marina Nespor, University of Milan, Italy: Mechanisms in Early language acquisition.
- Radu Bogdan, Dept of Philosophy, Bilkent University, Ankara, Turkey: Why development matters to cognitive science: The case for mental assembly.
- Nicky Clayton, Dept of Exptl. Psychology, Cambridge University, UK: The development and evolution of mental time travel.
- Yosef Grodzinsky, McGill University, Canada: A brain map for syntax and semantics.


Invited symposium organizers

- Asher Koriat, Dept of Psychology, University of Haifa, Israel: Metacognition
- Peter Hagoort, FC Donders Institute/ Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, Nijmegen: Downward causation
- Mike Martin, Dept of Philosophy, University College London, UK: Joint action
- Corrado Sinigaglia, University of Milan, Italy: Embodied language

The Society invites submitted papers, posters and symposia for this meeting.

Previous topics covered at ESPP include spatial concepts, emotion, perception, simulation theory, attention, reference, problems of consciousness, early numerical cognition, infants' understanding of intentionality, memory and time, motor imagery, causal understanding, counterfactuals, the semantics/pragmatics distinction, reasoning, vagueness, mental causation, action and agency, thought without language, externalism, connectionism, hypnosis, and the interpretation of neuropsychological results.

See http://www.eurospp.org/2008/submission.html for full details of electronic submission requirements. Submissions are refereed and selected on the basis of quality and relevance to psychologists, philosophers and linguists. All submissions must include an abstract of 250 words maximum, in addition to a 750 word summary (psychology and linguistics) or a short paper (philosophy). Potential convenors of symposium submissions should email the description and list of speakers directly to one of the programme chairs by 1 February 2008.

We particularly welcome POSTER submissions. Posters will be displayed throughout the conference as well as at designated poster sessions. The first author of each accepted poster (and who does not also present a paper) will get free ESPP membership for 2008.

Programme chairs:

Psychology: Liz Robinson, U. Warwick, UK. e.j.robinson@warwick.ac.uk
Philosophy: Matt Nudds, U. Edinburgh, UK. matthew.nudds@ed.ac.uk
Linguistics: Alessandro Zucchi, U. Milan, Italy. alessandro.zucchi@unimi.it

Metaphysics of Science conference: 3-5 July 2009

This is a preliminary announcement of a conference on the Metaphysics of Science, which will be held at the University of Melbourne 3-5 July 2009.

Purpose

The purpose of the conference will be to promote discussion of current research in the metaphysics of science. The field of the metaphysics of science is one that barely existed a decade or two ago. But it has now become one of the most active areas of current research in philosophy of science and closely related areas of philosophy. Our aim will be to bring together a significant group of philosophers who are currently working on the metaphysics of science for concentrated discussion of their current research, as well as to explore new directions that are opening up in the field. It is anticipated that at least one major volume of published essays will emerge from papers presented at the conference.

For a general overview of the relevant issues, please see the text on the Metaphysics of Science by Brian Ellis.

Topics

We anticipate that topics will range over a variety of areas of interest in the metaphysics of science. Such potential topics for discussion may include topics in the ontology of science, such as causation, laws of nature, natural kinds, universals, essences, dispositions and powers. Issues relating to scientific realism and anti-realism, as well as the implications of the realist/anti-realist debate for topics in the metaphysics of science will also be on the agenda. Other topics to be explored are likely to include the nature of possibility and necessity, as well as truth-makers, especially as these topics relate to the metaphysics of science.

International focus

Research in the metaphysics of science is being undertaken throughout the philosophical world. We therefore expect the conference to be international in character. Philosophers in the Australasian region have been active contributors to this new field of research. So we expect a significant presence of Australasian philosophers working in the area. However, we hope to attract significant participation by philosophers from North America, Great Britain and continental Europe, as well as other parts of the world. As details of invited speakers emerge, we will announce a list of invited speakers.

Further details

Further details will be announced on this website, as information becomes available. In particular, we plan in the near future to make announcements of a list of invited speakers, a call for papers, as well as details of the conference venue, registration details and accommodation.

Conference organization

The conference is a joint initiative that is sponsored on a collective basis by the Philosophy programs of La Trobe, Melbourne and Monash Universities. The Centre for Time of the University of Sydney will co-sponsor a symposium which will be held at the conference.

Organizational Committee: David Armstrong, John Bigelow, Andrew Brennan, Brian Ellis, Graham Oppy, Toby Handfield, Huw Price, Graham Priest, Howard Sankey.

For further information, please visit the conference web site here or contact the conference organizer, Howard Sankey: chs@unimelb.edu.au.

New Central APA Sessions

2008 Central Division APA Meeting

The next sessions for the Society at the Central APA are now available. They are:

GI-5 Thursday, April 17, 9:00 AM-12:00 PM

Group Session: Society for the Metaphysics of Science

Topic: Metaphysics, Science, and the Social World

Title: "The Folk Concept of Race"
Speaker: Edouard Machery (University of Pittsburgh)

Title: "Normalcy and Sociality"
Speaker: Robert A. Wilson (University of Alberta)

= = = = =

GIII-10 Thursday, April 17, 7:30 PM-10:30 PM

Group Session: Society for the Metaphysics of Science

Title: "Mechanistic Functionalism"
Speaker: Gualtiero Piccinini (University of Missouri, St. Louis)

Title: "Improving Nonreductive Functionalism by Taking Mechanisms Seriously: Causal Versus Total Nomic Roles"
Speaker: Ronald Endicott (North Carolina State University)

Title: "The Third Way for Functionalists"
Speaker: Carl Gillett (Illinois Wesleyan University)

2nd CFP: Reduction and the Special Sciences (Tilburg, NL, 10-12 April 2008)

Sydney-Tilburg conference on

REDUCTION AND THE SPECIAL SCIENCES

Center for Logic and Philosophy of Science
Tilburg University, The Netherlands
10-12 April 2008

http://www.tilburguniversity.nl/faculties/humanities/tilps/RSS2008/

Submission deadline: 15 November 2007

*********************************************************************

KEYNOTE SPEAKERS: William Bechtel (UCSD), Craig Callender (UCSD),
Paul Griffiths (Sydney), Kevin Hoover (Duke), Philip Pettit
(Princeton)

ORGANISERS: Mark Colyvan (Sydney), Stephan Hartmann (Tilburg),
Maurice Schouten (Tilburg) and Katie Steele (Sydney)


Science presents us with a variety of accounts of the world. While
some of these accounts posit a deeper theoretical structure and
fundamental entities, others do not. But which of these accounts is
the right one? How should science conceptualize the world? And what
is the relation between the various accounts? Opinions on these
issues diverge wildly in philosophy of science. At one extreme are
reductionists who argue that higher-level theories should, in
principle, be incorporated in or eliminated by the basic level
theory. Higher-level theories do not ultimately exhibit conceptual
integrity or provide genuine explanations. At the other extreme are
pluralists who take higher levels of description and explanation
seriously and argue for their independence and indispensability. Our
goal in this conference is to bring together representatives from as
many viewpoints as possible in order to advance our understanding of
this problem. We invite case studies from the natural, social and
behavioural sciences as well as discussions of philosophical models
of intertheoretic relations.


We invite submissions of papers of up to 3000 words by 15 November
2007. Decisions will be made by 15 January 2008.

GRADUATE FELLOWSHIPS: A few travel bursaries for graduate students
are available; if you wish to be considered please submit a short
(tentative) travel budget and a CV together with your paper by 15
November 2007. Decisions will be made by 15 January 2008.

BEST GRADUATE PAPER AWARD: We offer an award of 500 Euro for the best
submitted paper by a graduate student. The winner will be announced
on 15 January 2008.

PUBLICATION: Revised versions of selected papers will be published in
a special issue of Erkenntnis. The deadline for submission of the
final version of the paper is 1 June 2008.

The conference language is English.