24-26 May 2013
Cologne, Germany
Constructing the World: Author Meets Critics Workshop with David Chalmers May 24 - 26, 2013 University of Cologne, Germany The Emmy Noether research group "Understanding and the A Priori" is hosting an author-meets-critics workshop with David Chalmers to critically discuss themes from his new book, "Constructing the World" (Oxford University Press 2012). The book concerns "scrutability," the thesis that all the truths about the world can, in principle, be known on the basis of knowledge of just a limited class of basic truths. Chalmers argues for the scrutability thesis and investigates which sorts of basic truths can serve as the relevant "scrutability base". The book explores the implications of scrutability for a range of central philosophical issues: meaning and mental content, the existence of the analytic and the a priori, the refutation of skepticism, and the methodology of metaphysics, among others. The workshop will include invited sessions with the following speakers: Magdalena Balcerak Jackson (Cologne) Alex Byrne (MIT) Robin Jeshion (USC) Hannes Leitgeb (Munich) David Liebesman (Boston) Barbara Vetter (HU Berlin) Mark Wilson (Pittsburgh) Two sessions for the workshop will be determined on the basis of blind review of submissions, and so interested researchers working in all areas of philosophy are encouraged to submit abstracts for 45-minute presentations devoted to critical discussion of any of the themes of the book. To have a presentation considered for the workshop, please submit a 2-page abstract, prepared for blind review (i.e. author's name and any identifying information removed), along with a separate cover sheet with the title, author's name, affiliation and contact information. These should be submitted by email as two separate pdf files to: fkreitlo@smail.uni-koeln.de. The deadline for submissions is March 31, 2012; we aim to make decisions by April 15. Questions about the workshop or about submissions can be directed to the email address above.