August 27, 2010
CFP: Morality and the Cognitive Sciences
By S. Matthew Liao
7th International Symposium of Cognition, Logic and Communication
6-8 May 2011, Riga, Latvia
INVITED ORGANIZERS: Michael Bishop (Florida State University), Stephen Stich (Rutgers University)
INVITED SPEAKERS include:
Michael Bishop (Florida State University)
Luc Faucher (Université du Québec a Montréal)
Joshua Knobe (Yale University)
Edouard Machery (University of Pittsburgh)
Dominic Murphy (University of Sydney)
Shaun Nichols (University of Arizona)
Jesse Prinz (City University of New York)
Adina Roskies (Dartmouth College)
Don Ross (University of Cape Town)
Stephen Stich (Rutgers University)
Valerie Tiberius (University of Minnesota)
August 27, 2010
Conference on Cora Diamond’s Work
By S. Matthew Liao
From Professor Sandra Laugier (Sorbonne):
This conference is meant as an homage to Cora Diamond’s work in ethics, and focuses on its European reception. Her work has been translated in French and Italian in the recent years.
“Ethics, Imagination, and Forms of Life”
13-15 September 2010, Amiens, France
Pôle cathédrale, Placette Lafleur
Amphithéâtre Carré de Malberg
Admission free – open to graduate students and researchers
Contact : sandra.laugier (at) noos.fr
Monday, September 13th
Amphithéâtre Carré de Malberg
Opening
Sandra Laugier, Emmanuel Halais (UPJV, CURAPP)
1. ETHICS AND OBJECTIVITY
Chair : Vincent Descombes (EHESS)
August 27, 2010
CFP: Criminalization Conference
By S. Matthew Liao
University of Stirling
7-9 September 2011
It is often said that contemporary liberal democracies such as Britain and the USA face a crisis of over-criminalization: too much conduct is criminalized, too hastily, without adequate thought about the aims it should serve. The result is a disorganized, unprincipled criminal law, which subjects too many people to the threat of arrest and punishment. But normative theorists of criminal law, who have made major advances in systematic work on such issues as punishment and criminal responsibility, have made comparatively little systematic progress on this problem. The Criminalization Project, an AHRC-funded project involving researchers from the Universities of Stirling, Glasgow, Warwick and York aims to remedy this lack, by bringing together philosophers, lawyers and political scientists to discuss the various dimensions of the problem of criminalization.
August 14, 2010
CFP: Reasons of Love
By S. Matthew Liao
International Conference, Institute of Philosophy,
Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (Belgium),
30 May-1 June 2011
This conference’s title is ambiguous on purpose. The relationship between love and reasons for action is highly interesting and complicated. It is not clear how love is related to reasons. Love might be a response to certain normative reasons, since it seems fitting to love certain objects. However, love also seems to create reasons and not to be a response to certain appropriate reasons. Love’s relationship to morality is also complex. It is not clear how the normative reasons for acting morally are related to the reasons of love. It is sometimes argued that love is not a virtue because the reasons for acting morally are not the same as the reasons for acting lovingly. But the notion of ‘unprincipled virtue’ seems to make room for love as a motive of morally praiseworthy actions.
August 7, 2010
CONF: Problem with Priority?
By S. Matthew Liao
Sometime ago, Mike Otsuka (UCL) mentioned here that Derek Parfit will be responding to an article by him and Alex Voorhoeve entitled ‘Why It Matters That Some Are Worse Off Than Others: An Argument against the Priority View’ here on Ethics Etc, with further responses from Mike and Alex, once Derek’s book, On What Matters, is published. In the meantime, the Manchester Centre for Political Theory (MANCEPT) has put together a really nice one day conference to discuss Mike’s and Alex’s paper.
Date: 19th November 2010
Time: 10.30am – 5.30pm
Location: University of Manchester, UK
July 29, 2010
CFP: North Carolina Philosophical Society
By S. Matthew Liao
The North Carolina Philosophical Society announces its call for papers for its upcoming meeting on February 25 & 26, 2011 at Appalachian State University.
The keynote speaker will be Walter Sinnott-Armstrong, Chauncey Stillman Professor in Practical Ethics at Duke University.
Papers in any area of philosophy designed for a presentation time of about 20-30 minutes are welcome. Further details including submission instructions can be found at the NCPS website at: http://www.northcarolinaphilosophicalsociety.org/
Undergraduate submissions are strongly encouraged, and there will be a $175 prize for the best paper submitted by an untenured faculty member, a $125 prize for the best graduate student paper, and a $100 prize for the best undergraduate paper.
July 15, 2010
2nd Annual Dutch Conference on Practical Philosophy
By S. Matthew Liao
The Annual Dutch Conference on Practical Philosophy brings together ethicists and political philosophers as well as philosophers and researchers working in related fields to present and discuss work in practical philosophy. A central meeting place for members and Ph.D. students of the Netherlands School for Research in Practical Philosophy (Onderzoekschool Ethiek), it warmly welcomes non-members and researchers in practical philosophy from outside The Netherlands.
Conference dates: 8 and 9 October, 2010
Venue: Het Kasteel, Groningen, The Netherlands
Keynote speakers: Onora O’Neill (Cambridge), Michael Smith (Princeton)
Registration: EUR 275 (members), EUR 350 (non-members), EUR 200 (Ph.D. students)
June 19, 2010
7th Annual Metaethics Workshop in Wisconsin
By S. Matthew Liao
The program for the 7th Annual Metaethics Workshop has been finalized and can be found here. It looks fantastic! The workshop will be held on Sept 24-26, 2010 in Madison, WI. Registration is free and all are welcome. If you would like to attend, please email Professor Russ Shafer-Landau (shaferlandau -at- wisc.edu).
June 7, 2010
NYU Conference on Valuing Lives
By S. Matthew Liao
The NYU Center for Bioethics, in conjunction with the NYU Environmental Studies Program, will be hosting ‘Valuing Lives: A Conference on Ethics in Health and the Environment’ on Saturday, March 5, 2011.
SUBMISSION GUIDELINES:
Various policy issues in environmental and health-related matters force policymakers to trade human lives against other values. Original, unpublished papers from philosophers, economists and legal scholars that address whether and how this can be done in a morally acceptable manner are welcomed. Possible topics include, but are not limited to: commensurability of human life and environmental values; compensation for harms to health; polling, public deliberation, and the appeal to expertise in evaluative matters; prioritizing the life and health of the young and the poorly-off; discounting future lives; saving identifiable lives vs. saving statistical lives; the precautionary principle; the human dignity objection to measuring the value of human life.
May 27, 2010
Workshop on the Ethics of Self-Defence at Oxford
By S. Matthew Liao
The Oxford Institute for Ethics, Law and Armed Conflict (ELAC) is holding a workshop entitled “Eliminative and Manipulative Agency in the Ethics of Self-Defence.”
Date: June 15, 2010
Location: Old Indian Institute, James Martin 21st Century School, Oxford
Time: 0900-1800
SPEAKERS
Dr. Helen Frowe (Sheffield): ‘Threats And Bystanders’
Dr. Gerald Lang (Leeds): ‘Self-Defence And Agency’
Dr. Seth Lazar (Oxford): ‘Scepticism About The Eliminative/Manipulative Agency Distinction’
Professor Victor Tadros (Warwick): ‘Duty And Liability’
RESPONDENTS
Jo Firth (Oxford)
Dr. Jon Quong (Manchester)
Dr. David Rodin (Oxford)
Guy Sela (Oxford)
May 25, 2010
The Bowling Green Workshop in Applied Ethics and Public Policy
Call for Abstracts
“Freedom, Paternalism and Morality”
April 1-2, 2011
The Bowling Green Workshop in Applied Ethics and Public Policy will take place in Bowling Green, Ohio on April 1-2, 2011. Keynote speakers will be Gerald Dworkin (University of California at Davis) and Douglas Husak (Rutgers University)
Those interested in presenting a paper are invited to submit a 2-3 page abstract (double-spaced) by September 1, 2010. We welcome submissions in all areas in applied ethics and philosophical issues relevant to public policy. Special consideration will be given to papers relevant to this year’s conference theme: Freedom, Paternalism, and Morality.
Only one submission per person is permitted. Abstracts will be evaluated by a program committee and decisions made in early October 2010. Please direct all abstracts and queries to: pibarra@bgsu.edu
May 20, 2010
CONF: Judy Thomson’s Normativity at MIT
By S. Matthew Liao
The Department of Linguistics and Philosophy at MIT will host a one day conference on Judy Thomson‘s recent book Normativity. All are welcome.
Date: Friday 11 June 2010
Location: Stata Center (map), MIT. Room 32-d461 (take the elevator in the Dreyfoos Tower to the Fourth Floor; map)
Schedule:
10.30 – 12.00
Peter Railton (Michigan)
1.00 – 2.30
Gideon Rosen (Princeton)
3.00 – 4.30
Michael Smith (Princeton)
4.45 – 5.45
Round-table discussion with the speakers and Judy Thomson
http://web.mit.edu/holton/www/confs/Judyconf/judyconf.html
Organizer: Richard Holton – holton (at) mit.edu
May 11, 2010
2010 BSET Registration Open
By S. Matthew Liao
Registration is now open for the 2010 conference of the British Society for Ethical Theory, to be held at the University of Nottingham, 7th-9th July. (This is the period directly before the 2010 Joint Session.)
Details of the programme and registration forms are available here:
http://www.bset.org.uk/nextconference.html
Keynote speakers:
Jamie Dreier (Brown)
Tim Mulgan (St. Andrews)
Submitted Papers:
“Value Incomparability and Indeterminacy” – Cristian Constantinescu (Cambridge)
“A New Theory of Well-Being” – Jennifer Hawkins (Duke)
“Sentimentalism and Deontological Intuitions” – Antti Kauppinen (Amsterdam/Trinity College Dublin)
“Faith in Humanity” – Ryan Preston-Roedder (Chapel Hill)
May 11, 2010
Beitz on Human Rights at Stanford
By S. Matthew Liao
There is a fantastic “Author Meets Critics” event being held at Stanford this week, which will discuss Professor Charles Beitz’s book, The Idea of Human Rights.
Friday, May 14, 2010
Philippines Room-3rd Floor Encina Hall
Stanford University
12:15 -5:00pm
Critics: Barbara Herman (Philosophy, UCLA)
Tim Scanlon (Philosophy, Harvard)
Jenny Martinez (Law, Stanford)
James Fearon (Political Science, Stanford)
Response: Charles Beitz ( Politics, Princeton)
Professor Charles Beitz is a Professor of Politics at Princeton University. His philosophical and teaching interests focus on international political theory, democratic theory, the theory of human rights and legal theory. He coedited International Ethics and Law, Economics, and Philosophy. His current work includes projects on the philosophy of human rights and the theory of intellectual property.
May 6, 2010
Stockholm Workshop on Ethics and Epistemology
By S. Matthew Liao
Stockholm June Workshop in Philosophy 2010:
Ethics and Epistemology
Thursday 3 June, 10 am – 5 pm,
Room D207, Frescati
Stockholm University
10.00 Welcome
10.05 Brian McElwee (Oxford): ‘The Structure of Demandingness Objections’. Commentator: Katharina Berndt (Stockholm).
11.05 Coffee
11.20 Åsa Wikforss (Stockholm): ‘What Justifies Beliefs about One’s Own Beliefs?’ Commentator: Sara Packalén (Stockholm).
12.20 Lunch
13.40 Karl Karlander (Stockholm): ‘The Varieties of Pain’. Commentator: Jonas Olson (Stockholm).
14.40 Break
14.45 Jonas Åkerman (Stockholm): ’Referential Intentions’. Commentator: Emma Wallin (Stockholm).
15.45 Coffee
16.00 Chris Heathwood (UC Boulder): ‘Could Morality Have a Source’? Commentator: Jens Johansson (Stockholm).
May 4, 2010
Symposium on Human Rights at UCL
By S. Matthew Liao
THE IDEA OF HUMAN RIGHTS & FOREIGN POLICY
15 June 2010
University College London
Sponsored by The UCL Institute for Human Rights, King’s College London and The LSE Centre for the Study of Human Rights
About the event:
This one-day symposium brings together leading theorists of politics and law to discuss the nature and importance of human rights.
Capacity for this event is very limited, with a maximum of 35 participants. Those interested in participating should express their interest via e-mail to human.rights (at) ucl.ac.uk by 10 MAY 2010.
April 17, 2010
Workshop on Experimental Philosophy and Metaethics
By S. Matthew Liao
Date: May 1, 2010
Time: 10am to 5pm
Location: NYU Silver Center, Room 207
Hosted by the Metro Experimental Research Group (MERG)
(All details available at: http://www.yale.edu/cogsci/metaxphi.htm)
A series of recent experimental studies have examined people’s intuitions about metaethical issues. Participants in this workshop will discuss the implications of these studies both for questions about people’s ordinary folk views and for broader philosophical questions about moral realism, moral relativism and expressivism.
Invited Speakers: Stephen Darwall, Geoff Goodwin, Gilbert Harman, Jesse Prinz, Hagop Sarkissian and David Wong
I’ll be presenting with some colleagues and I look forward to seeing you there!
April 7, 2010
Fordham Epistemic Normativity Workshop
By S. Matthew Liao
A workshop on epistemic normativity will be held at Fordham’s Lincoln Center campus in Manhattan, on April 16th and 17th, 2010.
Visitors to the workshop are welcome, and attendance is free. If you are interested in attending, please contact Stephen Grimm at sgrimm (at) fordham.edu. The website for the workshop can be found here. I’ll be attending this fantastic workshop, and I hope to see you there!
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Schedule:
April 16th (location = Law School, Room 430BC)
9:00: welcome and coffee
9:30-10:50
Thomas Kelly (Princeton)
“Following the Argument Where it Leads”
chair: Michael DePaul (Notre Dame)
March 29, 2010
CONF: St Andrews-Rutgers Evidence Conference
By S. Matthew Liao
Date: 29 May, 2010 – 30 May, 2010
Location: Parliament Hall, St Andrews
The philosophy departments at St Andrews and Rutgers are holding what looks to be a very interesting joint conference to examine philosophical questions about the nature and epistemic role of evidence.
Programme
Saturday 29th May
10.30–12.30 Ram Neta (UNC, Chapel Hill)
“Easy Knowledge, Bootstrapping, and Higher-Order Reasons”
13.30–15.30 Alvin Goldman (Rutgers)
“Toward a Synthesis of Reliabilism and Evidentialism”,
16.00–18.00 Susanna Siegel (Harvard)
“Cognitive Penetration as an Undercutter”
March 29, 2010
CFP: 2nd Arizona Workshop in Normative Ethics
By S. Matthew Liao
The Second Annual Arizona Workshop in Normative Ethics will be held at the Westward Look Resort, Tucson, Arizona from January 6 through January 8, 2011.
Normative ethical theory addresses general questions about the right and the good and attempts to answer such questions as: What sorts of actions are right or wrong and why? What sort of person ought one to become and why? Normative ethical theories, including, for instance, versions of consequentialism, deontology, contractualism, natural law theory, and virtue ethics address such questions.
Keynote Speakers:
Robert Audi – David E. Gallo Professor of Business Ethics in the Mendoza College of Business and Professor of Philosophy, University of Notre Dame





























































