The Department of Philosophy of the University of Geneva and the Genevan centre of metaphysics eidos organize a conference entitled "Because", which will take place from the 15th to the 17th of February 2008 in Geneva. This three-day conference will be devoted to the topic of non-causal explanatory links.
The three days immediately preceding the conference will be dedicated to a pro*doc graduate school in metaphysics.
Kit Fine (NYU)
Carrie Jenkins (University of Nottingham)
E. J. Lowe (Durham University)
Göran Sundholm (University of Leiden)
Zoltán Szabó (Yale University)
The use of explanatory concepts, as expressed by means of locutions like 'because' or 'in virtue of', pervades all philosophical disciplines. In many cases what is at stake are causal links, but in many other cases causation is not involved. A currently hotly debated example is provided by the topic of truth-making. A truth-maker is something which makes a truth-bearer (a sentence, or a proposition, etc.) true, and the truth-making relation is commonly spelt out in terms of a non-causal explanatory relationship: for a truth-bearer to be made true by an entity is for it to be true in virtue of that entity, or in virtue of the existence of that entity. Other examples can be found in discussions about ontological dependence, supervenience, substances, essence, reduction, the realism vs. anti-realism debate, or again knowledge. The papers presented at the conference will deal with topics where non-causal explanatory links are crucially involved, as used in order to treat certain philosophical issues, or as the proper topic of philosophical inquiry.
A programme is available here, and some papers / handouts / slides here. The conference venue will be room MR150 of the Uni Mail building on Friday and Saturday, and room B112 of the Uni Bastions building on Sunday.
The conference is organized by:
Fabrice Correia (University of Geneva, eidos - fabricecorreia@gmail.com)
Philipp Keller (University of Geneva, eidos - philipp.keller@lettres.unige.ch)
Kevin Mulligan (University of Geneva, eidos - kevin.mulligan@lettres.unige.ch)
Benjamin Schnieder (Humboldt University of Berlin, phlox research group - b.schnieder@gmx.de)
| |
|
|
Questions and Comments
This document last modified Friday, 28-Mar-2008 18:13:39 CET |
Webmaster |