8-10 Jun 2017
Bochum, Germany
Conference Announcement and CALL FOR PAPERS Rudolf-Carnap-Lectures 2017 Ruhr-Universität Bochum June 8-10, 2017 Prof. Frank C. Jackson (ANU): Meaning, perception, and conceptual analysis It?s an honor and a pleasure to host Frank Jackson who is going to present his work on meaning, perception, and the nature of mind in Bochum, as always in the context of a Graduate workshop where several PhD students and Postdocs will also have the chance to present their ideas on themes from the work of Frank Jackson. Call for Papers for PhD students: In addition to Prof. Jackson's lectures, several PhD-student or early postdoc presentations (constraint: PhD finished 2015 or later) are planned. The topic should be related to the main theme of the conference in a loose sense. Papers will be selected based on a blind review process. Call for Papers for Postdocs: In addition we have room for one or two experienced postdoc presentations: Postdocs (constraint: PhD finished 2011 or later) are invited to submit an abstract indicating it to be a postdoc-presentation. The topic should be related to the main topic in a loose sense. Papers will be selected based on a blind review process. Therefore, we invite PhD students and postdocs to submit abstracts (max. 1000 words), making thesis and argument transparent, here: https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=rcl2017 Financial support: Those who are selected for a presentation will receive a support for travelling and accommodation on the basis of receipts with an upper limit (Germany: 150?; Rest of Europe: 250?; Beyond Europe: 400?) Submission deadline: April 1st, 2017. An outline of the Lecture series, from Frank Jackson: Common-sense about meaning and perception You wonder if it is raining outside. One way to address this question is to listen for the sound of rain on the roof. Another is to go outside and look. Yet another is to ask someone who has been outside and attend to the words that come out of their mouth. After reading Saul Kripke's puzzling Pierre paper, you wonder if Paris is indeed pretty and plan to make your way to Paris and see for yourself. But how do you get to Paris? One way is to utter certain sentences that contain the word 'Paris' in front of a travel agent and then do what they advise. Are the claims in the above paragraph news? Of course not. This tells us something important about the philosophy of perception and the philosophy of language. Our theories of meaning and of perceptual experience had better explain why what is said in that paragraph is full of commonplaces. In these lectures I will defend views about meaning (in the sense of reference) and about perceptual experience, which explain why those commonplaces are commonplaces. I will also say something about how this connects with conceptual analysis. Lecture 1. How to think about perceptual content and how this delivers "feel" There is something very attractive about a relational account of perceptual experience but, for reasons we will review, it cannot be right. I will argue that a certain, independently attractive account of perceptual content tells us what to put in its place. As we will see, what we need to put in its place explains why perceptual experience is such a wonderful source of information. Public Lecture 2. The nature of the mind: What kind of materialist should I be? Debates over materialism have become complex juggling acts. We need ? somehow ? to give due weight to the competing claims of the identity theory and of functionalism, while, at the same time, saying something sensible about the phenomenal side of psychology. In this lecture, I steer a path through the jungle. Lecture 3. Conceptual analysis for explainers and predictors In this lecture, I argue that conceptual analysis is a natural offshoot of the way we all ? be we philosophers, economists, physicists, or ... ? often seek to explain and predict what happens in our world and are able to use words in doing this. Lecture 4: Two-dimensionalism for Mooreans This lecture is about primary/A intensions versus secondary/C intensions, and associated issues to do with the necessary a posteriori and all that. The material will be presented in a way that makes it accessible to philosophers in general, not just philosophy of language mavens. I happen to believe that two-dimensionalism is largely common-sense ? thus the reference to (G.E.) Moore ? once one bears in mind the informational role of sentences. The event will start on the 8th, at ca. 11am, and end on the 10th, at ca. 1pm. Further details (including abstracts) see: http://www.ruhr-uni-bochum.de/philosophy/carnaplectures Scientific Organization: Prof. Dr. Tobias Schlicht, Prof. Dr. Albert Newen Institute for Philosophy II, Ruhr-Universität Bochum -- Prof. Dr. Albert Newen Institut für Philosophie II Ruhr-Universität Bochum Universitätsstr. 150 44801 Bochum Tel.: (0049) 234-32 22139 Fax: (0049) 234-32 14963 http://www.ruhr-uni-bochum.de/philosophy/staff/newen/ -- [LOGIC] mailing list http://www.dvmlg.de/mailingliste.html Archive: http://www.illc.uva.nl/LogicList/ provided by a collaboration of the DVMLG, the Maths Departments in Bonn and Hamburg, and the ILLC at the Universiteit van Amsterdam