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Philosophy events, week of 30th March

Research seminars next week (more information):

  • Jonathan Way (University of Southampton), “Reasons and Reasoning,” at St Andrews’ Philosophy Club on Wednesday, 1st April.
  • Tim Bayne (University of Manchester), “The Puzzle of Cognitive Phenomenology,” at Stirling’s Visiting Speaker Seminar on Thursday, 2nd April.

Other events next week:

  • Digital Subject UK, Dundee, 1st April.  Speakers: Dominic Smith (University of Dundee), Ashley Woodward (University of Dundee), Alan Bell (University of Dundee), Joris Vlieghe (University of Edinburgh), Erika Fulop (University of Hamburg), Arnauld Regnauld (University of Paris VIII), Claire Larsonneur (University of Paris VIII), Pierre Cassou Noguès (University of Paris VIII), Galit Wellner (Ben Gurion University), Tim Barker (University of Glasgow), Caroline Brown (University of Dundee).
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Philosophy events, week of 23rd March

Research seminars next week (more information):

  • Edouard Machery (University of Pittsburgh), “DeFreuding implicit attitudes,” at Edinburgh’s Philosophy of the Natural and Human Sciences on Monday, 23rd March.
  • Miranda Fricker (University of Sheffield) at Glasgow’s Senior Seminar on Tuesday, 24th March.
  • Ian Phillips (Oxford University), “Unconscious perception reconsidered,” at Edinburgh’s Philosophy, Psychology, and Informatics Reading Group on Wednesday, 25th March.
  • Rachael Wiseman (Durham University) at Stirling’s Visiting Speaker Seminar on Thursday, 26th March.
  • Elke Brendel (University of Bonn) at Edinburgh’s Epistemology Research Group on Thursday, 26th March.
  • Samir Okasha (University of Bristol), “Individualism and reductionism in evolutionary biology,” at Edinburgh’s Philosophy of Science: Contemporary Debates on Thursday, 26th March.
  • Oron Shagrir (Hebrew University), “The brain as a model of the world,” at Edinburgh’s PPLS Interdisciplinary Seminar on Thursday, 26th March.
  • Paulina Sliwa (University of Cambridge) at Edinburgh’s Visiting Speaker Seminar on Friday, 27th March.
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Philosophy events, week of 16th March

Research seminars next week (more information):

  • Bob Kentridge (Durham University), “Colour perception without awareness,” at Glasgow’s Philosophy, Psychology, and Neuroscience Research Seminar on Monday, 16th March.
  • Roger Crisp (University of Oxford) at Glasgow’s Senior Seminar on Tuesday, 17th March.
  • Davide Romano (University of Lausanne) at Aberdeen’s Philosophy of Physics Seminar on Tuesday, 17th March.
  • Todd Mei (University of Dundee), “Land and the Given Economy – A New Understanding of Land and Our Relation to It,” at Aberdeen’s Philosophy Colloquium on Wednesday, 18th March.
  • Ambrose Lee (University of Oxford), “Defending a Communicative Theory of Punishment,” at Stirling’s Visiting Speaker Seminar on Thursday, 19th March.

Other events next week (more information):

  • Daniel C. Dennett (Tufts University) at Edinburgh’s Philosophy Society on Thursday, 19th March.
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Call for Abstracts: Ecological Perception: Amodal and Multimodal Trends

CALL FOR ABSTRACTS

University of Edinburgh, May 29 & 30, 2015

This conference aims to bring together philosophers working on a broadly ecological approach to perception to address questions of multimodal sensory integration and the amodal perception of environmental information.

“Ecological Perception” is interpreted liberally as any approach to perceptual function and content that takes contingent features of the environment or evolutionary history to play a key explanatory role.  This broad understanding is meant to include not only the tradition stemming directly from J. J. Gibson’s ecological optics, but also related traditions such as gestalt psychology, J. v. Uexküll’s Umwelt theory, and more recent approaches from the phenomenological, embodied, and enactivist movements.

The aim is to examine resources within these traditions for moving beyond the focus on within-modality (and even cross-modal) perception to a broader perspective on the integration of multiple modalities within a unified experience.  Also of interest are questions of how perception via a single modality might provide modality-independent (amodal) information about the world (should colour experience be understood as merely about colours, or can it tell us more?) and whether traditionally unimodal perceptual categories (taste, touch, spatial perception) can more helpfully be understood in multi- or amodal terms.

Keynote Speakers:  

  • Professor Gary Hatfield, University of Pennsylvania
  • Professor Kathleen Akins, Simon Fraser University

CFA

Paper proposals are invited in the form of extended abstracts (500–750 words), and should be emailed directly to the conference organizer.  Both shorter and longer presentations will be considered (25 min + 20 min questions; 50 min + 40 min questions).  Complete papers will also be accepted, but are not required.  Postdoctoral fellows and advanced graduate students are encouraged to submit.

Deadline: April 12, 2015

Send all abstracts and inquiries to Alistair Isaac at a.m.c.isaac@ed.ac.uk

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Philosophy events, week of 9th March

Research seminars next week (more information):

  • Jim Sterba (University of Notre Dame), “Bringing the Pauline Principle to Bear on the Problem of Evil,” at Edinburgh’s Philosophy of the Natural and Human Sciences on Monday, 9th March.
  • Kasper Lippert-Rasmussen (University of Aarhus) at Glasgow’s Senior Seminar on Tuesday, 10th March.
  • Becko Copenhaver (Lewis and Clark College), “Thomas Reid on Aesthetic, Moral and Pathological Perception,” at St Andrews’ Philosophy Club on Wednesday, 11th March.
  • Matthew Parrott (University of Cambridge), “Delusions as Explanations,” at Edinburgh’s Philosophy, Psychology, and Informatics Reading Group on Wednesday, 11th March.
  • Johanna Wolff (University of Hong Kong) at Aberdeen’s Philosophy Colloquium on Wednesday, 11th March.
  • Alix Cohen (University of Edinburgh), “Kant on the Aesthetic Dimension of Cognition,” at Stirling’s Visiting Speaker Seminar on Thursday, 12th March.
  • Johanna Wolff (University of Hong Kong), “The metaphysical status of quantities,” at Edinburgh’s Philosophy of Science: Contemporary Debates on Thursday, 12th March.
  • Paul Fletcher (University of Cambridge), “Perception, Belief, and Psychosis,” at Edinburgh’s PPLS Interdisciplinary Seminar on Thursday, 12th March.
  • Elisabeth Schellekens (University of Uppsala/University of Durham), “On Sensible and Intelligible Beauty,” at Edinburgh’s Scottish Aesthetics Forum on Thursday, 12th March.

Other events next week (more information):

  • Simon Prosser (University of St Andrews) at St Andrews’ Philosophy Society on Monday, 9th March.
  • Ignorance and Underrepresentation (Edinburgh Women in Philosophy Spring Workshop), Edinburgh, 10th March.  Speakers: Janet Kourany (University of Notre Dame), Elinor Mason (University of Edinburgh), Pablo Schyfter (University of Edinburgh), Alessandra Tanesini (Cardiff University).
  • Peter Poellner (University of Warwick) at Edinburgh’s Philosophy Society on Thursday, 12th March.
  • Foundations of Normativity, Edinburgh, 13th – 14th March.  Speakers: Leslie Green (University of Oxford), Richard Holton (University of Cambridge), Geoffrey Sayre-McCord (University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill), Connie Rosati (University of Arizona), Holly Smith (Rutgers University), Crispin Wright (New York University/University of Aberdeen), Fatema Amijee (University of Texas, Austin), Teemu Toppinen (Helsinki University).  
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Elisabeth Schellekens speaking in Edinburgh on 12th March

We are delighted to announce the second lecture hosted by SAF, supported by the BSA and the SPA, to be delivered by Professor Elisabeth Schellekens (Universities of Uppsala and Durham) on Thursday, 12th March, 2015.

Elisabeth Schellekens is Chair Professor of Aesthetics at Uppsala University and Senior Research Fellow at the University of Durham. She is Editor (with Prof. John Hyman, Oxford) of the British Journal of Aesthetics, and an Editorial Board member of the Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism. Her research interests and published work span a number of topics in aesthetics, the general theory of value, and the emotions, including the relationship between aesthetics and ethics, aesthetic normativity, conceptual art, and empirical aesthetics. She is currently Principal Investigator on an AHRC-funded research network on the “Ethics and Aesthetics of Archaeology.”

Professor Elisabeth Schellekens (Uppsala/Durham)

“On Sensible and Intelligible Beauty”

Thursday, 12th March, 2015, 4:15 – 6:00pm

University of Edinburgh, Lecture Theatre 1, 7 Bristo Square

(https://www.facebook.com/events/1570492289874218)

As always, the lecture is free and open to all!

The lecture will be followed by a dinner with our speaker. There are limited funds to cover dinner expenses for two students, which we will offer on a first-come-first-served basis. Please contact the organisers by Sunday, 8th March if you would like to attend the dinner.

For more information, please visit:

http://www.ppls.ed.ac.uk/groups/scottish-aesthetics-forum

Or find us on Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/scottishaestheticsforum

For general enquiries, comments, or if you require special assistance, please contact:

scottishaestheticsforum@gmail.com.

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Philosophy events, week of 2nd March

Research seminars next week (more information):

  • Elizabeth Irvine (University of Cardiff) at Glasgow’s Senior Seminar on Tuesday, 3rd March.
  • Vera Matarese (University of Hong Kong) at Aberdeen’s Philosophy of Physics Seminar on Tuesday, 3rd March.
  • Jennifer Corns (University of Glasgow) at St Andrews’ Philosophy Club on Wednesday, 4th March.
  • Dave Ward (University of Edinburgh), “Minds, Brains and Representations: A “perfectly intelligible interplay”?,” at Stirling’s Visiting Speaker Seminar on Thursday, 5th March.

Other events next week (more information):

  • Crystal Addey (University of St Andrews), “Plato and Women,” at St Andrews’ Philosophy Society on Monday, 2nd March.
  • Alasdair Richmond (University of Edinburgh) at Edinburgh’s Philosophy Society on Thursday, 5th March.
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Philosophy events, week of 23rd February

Research seminars next week (more information):

  • Magdalena Balcerak Jackson (University of Konstanz), “Mineness and self-involvement in imagination,” at Glasgow’s Philosophy, Psychology, and Neuroscience Research Seminar on Monday, 23rd February.
  • Craig French (University of Cambridge) at Glasgow’s Senior Seminar on Tuesday, 24th February.
  • Emanuela Ceva (Pavia/CEPPA), “Rescuing Democracy from Reductionism,” at St Andrews’ Philosophy Club on Wednesday, 25th February.
  • Mike Wheeler (University of Stirling), “Phenomenal Consciousness, Sensory Substitution and the Extended Mind,” at Aberdeen’s Philosophy Colloquium on Wednesday, 25th February.
  • Keith Wilson (University of Glasgow), “The Two Senses of Smell,” at Edinburgh’s Philosophy, Psychology, and Informatics Reading Group on Wednesday, 25th February.
  • Sabina Leonelli (University of Exeter), “When Data Travel: re-thinking the epistemology of data,” at Edinburgh’s Philosophy of Science: Contemporary Debates on Thursday, 26th February.

Other events next week (more information):

  • Elodie Laugt (University of St Andrews) at St Andrews’ Philosophy Society on Monday, 23rd February.
  • Fiona Macpherson (University of Glasgow) at Edinburgh’s Philosophy Society on Thursday, 26th February.
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Philosophy events, week of 16th February

Research seminars next week (more information):

  • John Heil (Washington University in St Louis) at Glasgow’s Philosophy, Psychology, and Neuroscience Research Seminar on Monday, 16th February.
  • Guido Bacciagaluppi (University of Aberdeen), “Leggett-Garg Inequalities, Pilot Waves, and Contextuality,” at Aberdeen’s Philosophy of Physics Seminar on Tuesday, 17th February.

Other events next week (more information):

  • Mike Ridge (University of Edinburgh) at St Andrews’ Philosophy Society on Monday, 16th February.
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Correction: Lopes talk on Wednesday, 11th February

A correction to the last weekly events announcement: Dom Lopes will be speaking (about “Aesthetic Agency and Value”) at Edinburgh on Wednesday, 11th February (not Thursday, 12th February).  For more information:

http://www.ppls.ed.ac.uk/events/view/scottish-aesthetics-forum-1

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Philosophy events, week of 9th February

Research seminars next week (more information):

  • Sacha Golob (King’s College London) at Glasgow’s Senior Seminar on Tuesday, 10th February.
  • Vincent Ardourel (University of Paris), “A Discrete Solution for the Paradox of Achilles and the Tortoise,” at Aberdeen’s Philosophy of Physics Seminar on Tuesday, 10th February.
  • Elodie Laügt (University of St Andrews), “Contemporary with Whom? Rancière, Mallarmé, and the Re-marking of Time,” at Dundee’s Philosophy Seminar on Wednesday, 11th February.
  • Michael Pace (Chapman University) at Edinburgh’s Epistemology Research Group on Wednesday, 11th February.
  • Dominic McIver Lopes (University of British Columbia), “Aesthetic Agency and Value,” at Edinburgh’s Scottish Aesthetics Forum on Wednesday, 11th February.
  • Vincent Ardourel (University of Paris), “The Representation of Time in Discrete Mechanics,” at Aberdeen’s HPS Seminar on Wednesday, 11th February.
  • Jane Heal (University of Cambridge), “The Second Person,” at Stirling’s Visiting Speaker Seminar on Thursday, 12th February.
  • Guy Kahane (University of Oxford) at Edinburgh’s Visiting Speaker Seminar on Friday, 13th February. 

Other events next week (more information):

  • David James (University of Warwick) at Edinburgh’s Philosophy Society on Thursday, 12th February.
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Arché Workshops This Summer

The Arché research centre at the University of St Andrews has a great lineup of workshops this summer:

Contact arche@st-andrews.ac.uk for more information.

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Philosophy events, week of 2nd February

Research seminars next week (more information):

  • Mark Kalderon (University College, London) at Glasgow’s Senior Seminar on Tuesday, 3rd February.
  • Bryan Pickel (University of Edinburgh), “Frontloading, Supposition, and Contraction,” at St Andrews’ Philosophy Club on Wednesday, 4th February.
  • David Carmel (University of Edinburgh), “Attentional attractors and visual awareness,” at Edinburgh’s Philosophy, Psychology, and Informatics Reading Group on Wednesday, 4th February.
  • Shannon Spaulding (Oklahoma State University), “On Direct Social Perception,” at Stirling’s Visiting Speaker Seminar on Thursday, 5th February.
  • Wolfgang Schwartz (University of Edinburgh), “Confirmation and Conditionalization,” at Edinburgh’s Philosophy of Science: Contemporary Debates on Thursday, 5th February.

Other events next week (more information):

  • Adam Carter (University of Edinburgh) at Edinburgh’s Philosophy Society on Thursday, 5th February.
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Philosophy events, week of 26th January

Research seminars next week (more information):

  • Mikkel Gerken (University of Edinburgh) at Glasgow’s Senior Seminar on Tuesday, 27th January.
  • Catherine Heeney (University of Edinburgh), “Ethics and the Sharing of Human Biomedical Data: A Deluzian Approach,” at Dundee’s Philosophy Seminar on Wednesday, 28th January.
  • Elizabeth Fricker (Magdalen College, University of Oxford), “‘How to Make Invidious Distinctions Amongst Reliable Testifiers,” at Edinburgh’s Epistemology Research Group on Wednesday, 28th January.
  • Justin Snedegar, “Oughts and Options,” at Stirling’s Visiting Speaker Seminar on Thursday, 29th January.
  • Mark Jago (University of Nottingham), “What Truth Is,” at Edinburgh’s Visiting Speaker Seminar on Friday, 30th January.

Other events next week (more information):

  • Gifford Lectures, Edinburgh, 26, 27, 29 January and 2, 3, 5 February.  Speaker: Jeremy Waldron, “One Another’s Equals: The Basis of Human Equality.”
  • Victoria Harrison (University of Glasgow) at Edinburgh’s Philosophy Society on Thursday, 29th January.
  • Suffering’s Valuable Functions, Glasgow, 31st January.  Speakers: David Bain, Giandomenico Iannetti, Morten L. Kringelbach, Colin W. Leach, Michael Serpell, Fabrice Teroni.
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Philosophy events, week of 19th January

Research seminars next week (more information):

  • Leslie Green (University of Oxford) at Glasgow’s Senior Seminar on Tuesday, 20th January.
  • Joanna Bryson (University of Bath) at Edinburgh’s Philosophy, Psychology, and Informatics Reading Group on Wednesday, 21st January.

Other events next week (more information):

  • Kevin Scharp (Ohio State University) presenting three seminars at St Andrews on 19th, 20th, and 21st January (each day at 11:00 in Edgecliffe G03) on “Theories of Descending Truth,” “Conceptual Engineering,” and “Metrological Naturalism.”
  • Helen Beebee (University of Manchester) at Edinburgh’s Philosophy Society on Thursday, 22nd January.
  • Francis Hutcheson and the Emergence of Modern Aesthetics, Aberdeen, 23rd – 24th January.
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Philosophy events, week of 12th January

Research seminars next week (more information):

  • Debbie Roberts (University of Edinburgh) at Glasgow’s Senior Seminar on Tuesday, 13th January.
  • Eran Tal (University of Cambridge), “Making Time. A study in the epistemology of measurement,” at Edinburgh’s Philosophy of Science: Contemporary Debates on Thursday, 15th January.
  • Ofra Magidor (University of Oxford) at Edinburgh’s Visiting Speaker Seminar on Friday, 16th January.
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Scottish Aesthetics Forum

We are delighted to announce the launch of the Scottish Aesthetics Forum (SAF), generously supported by the British Society of Aesthetics and the Scots Philosophical Association. Currently in the form of a lecture series hosted at the University of Edinburgh, SAF aims to address a widespread interest in all areas of aesthetics, including analytic and continental approaches, as well as interdisciplinary perspectives on aesthetics from across the arts and sciences. We also aim to foster close links with universities, art institutions (broadly construed), and artists across Scotland.

Please join us for our first public lecture by Professor Dominic McIver Lopes, Professor of Philosophy and Distinguished Scholar at the University of British Columbia, and President of the American Society for Aesthetics (for more information on Prof Lopes: http://philosophy.ubc.ca/persons/dominic-lopes/,
http://lopes.mentalpaint.net/):

Professor Dominic McIver Lopes: “Aesthetic Agency and Value“

Wednesday, 11th February, 2015

University of Edinburgh 

Dugald Stewart Building, 3.11, 4:15 – 6:15pm

The lecture will be preceded by a workshop on Prof Lopes’ new book Beyond Art (OUP, 2014), in DSB 3.11, from 2:15 to 3:15pm, and followed by drinks and dinner.  Limited funds are available for two students to attend the dinner. Priority will be given to those who prepare for and attend the workshop, and to postgraduate students; otherwise we will accommodate guests on a first-come-first-served basis.

In preparation for Prof Lopes’ workshop, we would like to invite anyone who is interested in reading his book to join us for a reading group. The reading group will take place in DSB at 10:00 am on the 16th January, and 6th February 2015. Please let us know as soon as possible if you are interested in attending, by emailing us at scottishaestheticsforum@gmail.com.

Other confirmed speakers for the series include Prof Berys Gaut (University of St Andrews) on the 15th April and Prof Emily Brady (University of Edinburgh) on the 10th June, 2015, titles TBC.

If you have any enquiries, please contact the organisers at: scottishaestheticsforum@gmail.com

The Organisers,
Nicole Hall & Panos S. Paris

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Philosophy events, week of 15th December

Events next week (more information):

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Philosophy events, week of 8th December

Events next week (more information):

  • Workshop on Statistical Evidence in Epistemology and the Law, Glasgow, 12th – 13th December.  Speakers: Michael Blome-Tillmann (Cambridge/Montreal), Anna-Maria Eder (Duisburg-Essen), Andrew Higgins (Oxford), Federico Picinali (LSE), Mike Redmayne (LSE), Martin Smith (Glasgow), Levi Spectre (Open University of Israel).
  • New Enlightenment Lecture, Edinburgh, 12th December.  Speaker: Rae Langton (University of Cambridge).