organisation

Financed by the Swiss National Science Foundation and supported by the research project Iris, Kevin Mulligan (Geneva), Gianfranco Soldati (Fribourg), Michael Esfeld (Lausanne) and I are organising a summer school ("école doctorale"/"Graduiertenkurs") on abstract entities during summer term 2004. The school consists in five workshops, with two invited speakers each.

The aim of the workshops is to maximise interaction and discussion between the invited speakers and the other participants. There are two ways of participating in the workshops:

Workshops start with a tutorial on Thursday morning, where student participants discuss the paper they read and introduce themselves to the topic.

At the end of every workshop, we have a "general question period", where the invited speakers answer written questions by other participants, on either their presentation or other parts of their work. These questions are to be given to Philipp Keller before Saturday morning, so that the speakers have some time to prepare themselves.

calls for papers

Corresponding to the workshops, there are five calls for discussion papers, to be presented during the workshop. Discussion papers do not have to be well-polished publishable articles. The submitted written version will be distributed to all participants of the workshop - the oral presentation of about 20 minutes only summarises the argument. Presentations are in English, though papers may be in other languages too. Please send your papers as pdf documents to philipp.keller@lettres.unige.ch. Here are possible topics (all disjunctions are inclusive):

• papers on modality or (preferably related) work by Ian Rumfitt or Bob Hale. Deadline: 12 March.
• papers on facts, events or (preferably related) work by Terence Parsons or Stephen Neale. Deadline: 16 April.
• papers on Humean supervenience or (preferably related) work by Frank Jackson or John Hawthorne. Deadline: 16 April.
• papers on relations, order, variables or (preferably related) work by Kit Fine or Manuel García-Carpintero. Deadline: 21 May.
• papers on time, tense or (preferably related) work by Dean Zimmerman or Peter Ludlow. Deadline: 18 June.

(Humean) Supervenience

Participants: Frank Jackson, John Hawthorne
Date: 6-8 May
Place: University of Geneva, B302.
Click here for a very beautifully designed poster.
Program: (click here for a pdf version)

• Thursday afternoon 14h15-14h30: introductory session
• Thursday afternoon 14h30-15h45: presentation by Philipp Keller, "Supervenience and Dependence";
• Thursday afternoon 16h15-18h30: talk by John Hawthorne, "Direct Reference and Dancing Qualia", commentator: Frank Jackson
• Friday morning 10h15-11h30: presentation by Philipp Keller, "The thickness of A-intensions"
• Friday afternoon 14h30-15h45: presentation by Davor Bodrozic, "Conceivability, physicalism and logical supervenience"
• Friday afternoon 16h15-18h30 (B112): talk by Frank Jackson, "Supervenience: types of and lessons from", commentator: John Hawthorne
• Saturday morning 10h15-11h30: presentation by Otto Bruun, "Being Frank about Ethics"
• Saturday morning 11h45-13h: questions for Jackson and Hawthorne
• Saturday afternoon 14h30-15h45: presentation by Dan Lopez de Sa: "Defending "Restricted Particularism" from Jackson, Pettit & Smith"
• Saturday afternoon 16h15-17h: round table and general question period

Suggested reading:

• Jackson, Frank 1995, Essentialism, mental properties, and causation, Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society
• Jackson, Frank 1998, From Metaphysics to Ethics: A Defense of Conceptual Analysis, Oxford: Oxford University Press
• Jackson, Frank 2001, Précis of (Jackson 1998) and Replies to Commentators, Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 62
• Hawthorne, John 1996, The Epistemology of Possible Worlds: A Guided Tour, Philosophical Studies 84, pp. 183-202
• Hawthorne, John 2002, Advice for Physicalists, Philosophical Studies 109(1), pp. 17-52

Available papers:

• Hawthorne, John 2004, Direct Reference and Dancing Qualia, ms.
• Hawthorne, John 2002, Advice for Physicalists, Philosophical Studies 109(1), pp. 17-52
• Jackson, Frank 2004, Why we need A-Intensions, Philosophical Studies 118, pp. 257--277
• Jackson, Frank 2004a, A priori physicalism, ms.
• Jackson, Frank 2004b, Supervenience: types of and lessons from, ppt presentation
• Jackson, Frank 1996, Mental Causation, Mind 105(419), pp. 377--413
• Lopez de Sa, Dan 2004, Evaluative Relativism: A Presuppositional Defense, ms.
• Lopez de Sa, Dan 2004a, Defending "Restricted Particularism" from Jackson, Pettit & Smith, ms.
• Lewis, David 2004, Ramseyian Humility, ms.