Mar
3
Sat
Recent Work in Decision Theory and Epistemology Workshop @ Philosophy Hall rm 716
Mar 3 all-day

Speakers:

Jennifer Carr (University of California, San Diego)
Ryan Doody (Hebrew University of Jerusalem)
Harvey Lederman (Princeton University)
Chris Meacham (University of Massachusetts, Amherst)

Organizer:

Melissa Fusco (Columbia University)

9:30 – 10:00 Breakfast (716 Philosophy Hall)
SESSION I Chair: Melissa Fusco
10:00 – 11:30 Jennifer Carr: “Can Accuracy Motivate Modesty?”
11:30 – 11:45 Coffee Break I
SESSION II Chair: Jessica John Collins
11:45 – 1:15 Ryan Doody: “Hard Choices Made Harder”
1:15 – 2:30 Lunch
SESSION III Chair: Jennifer Carr
2:30 – 4:00 Harvey Lederman: “Verbalism”
4:00 – 4:30 Coffee Break II
SESSION IV Chair: Ryan Doody
4:30 – 6:00 Chris Meacham: “Decision in Cases of Infinitely Many Utility Contributions”
6:00 Drinks
The Social Responsibility of Intellectuals Conference @ Wolff Conference Room, D1103
Mar 3 all-day

Many academics work on issues of social justice, and in this politically tumultuous moment, we want to ask: What is our social responsibility as academics? What does it mean to assume this responsibility?

In response to the untimely suspension of all Cultural Studies & Comparative Literature programs at Stony Brook University, the final graduate conference (co-sponsored by Minorities and Philosophy, NSSR) will be an interdisciplinary event where we aim to confront the limitations of our position as academics and conceive possibilities for moving beyond those limitations.

Schedule

9:45–10:15     Participant Registration/ Coffee & Bagels

10:15–10:30   Opening Remarks

10:30–12:00   Panel 1: Humanities & Political Insight

10:30–11:00  Amy Cook (Associate Professor of Theatre Arts and English, Stony Brook University): “Disciplinary Futures and the Political Impact of Counter Casting”

11:00–11:30  Jack Wilson (PhD Student History, UCLA): “The View from the Waste Land: Poetry as Anti-Totalitarian Critique in Postwar Japan and Beyond”

11:30–12:00   Sabrina Tremblay-Huet (LLD Student Université de Sherbrooke, Visiting Research Fellow Fordham School of Law): “Human Rights and the Trap of Speaking for Others: Law in Literature as a Better Source of Resistance Discourse?”

12:00–1:30   Lunch Break

1:30–2:30     Panel 2: Institutional Critique

1:30–2:00      Jonathan Rawski (PhD Student Linguistics, Stony Brook University): “Pirates and Emperors: On Publishers, Journalists, and Academic Elites”

2:00–2:30      Forrest Deacon (PhD Student, Politics, The New School for Social Research): “Foucault’s Clinic and the Academy: Systems of Truth, Intelligibility, and Repetition”

2:30–2:45      Coffee Break (light refreshments)

2:45–3:45      Panel 3: The Praxis of Academics

2:45–3:15     Andrew Dobbyn (PhD Student Philosophy, Stony Brook): “Praxis Makes Perfect: Why Politics Isn’t like Riding a Bike”

3:15–3:45    Laura Pérez (Postdoctoral Fellow in Philosophy, Cornell University Society for the Humanities): “The Objects of Philosophical Inquiry as Public Entities”

3:45–4:00    Coffee Break (light refreshments)

4:00–5:00    Keynote: Professor Patrice Nganang (Cultural Studies & Comparative Literature, Stony Brook University, Visiting Professor Princeton University): Title TBA

5:00–5:15    Closing Remarks

5:15–6:30    Reception (wine and refreshments)

Presented by The New School for Social Research.

Mar
5
Mon
Evidence and Theory in Neuroscience – Seminars in Society and Neuroscience @ Faculty House, Columbia U
Mar 5 @ 4:15 pm – 6:15 pm

What constitutes evidence is rarely self-evident. We need theories to make sense of evidence—to transform patterns of physical occurrences into something meaningful, i.e., data. This relationship between theory and evidence is often at least partially opaque, particularly in a field like neuroscience that often aims to use physical evidence to characterize mental, and in some cases social, events. Neuroscience navigates this relationship by purporting to offer mechanistic descriptions of “how” mental processes operate. Yet, this inquiry relies on theoretical assumptions that are not fully tethered to data. Neuroscience can certainly generate predictions from theories that have practical implications and link them with mechanistic knowledge of the physical (e.g., anatomy and physiology). But changing the basis of our assumptions can change the kinds of questions we ask and how we interpret experimental findings. So, exactly what kind of knowledge does neuroscience offer? How independent is it from psychology? How do we navigate this potential divide, particularly in cases in which we would want to use neuroscience to characterize constructs that are heavily influenced by theoretical priors?

This event addresses this question from a range of perspectives in neurology, psychiatry, philosophy, and economics.  We consider the relationship between theory and evidence by exploring how practitioners, theorists, and experimentalists negotiate the multiple dimensions of evidence in neuroscience.

Speakers:
Peter Bearman, Jonathan R. Cole Professor of the Social Sciences, Columbia University
Suzanne Goh, Co-Founder & Chief Medical Officer, Cortica

Moderator:
Aniruddha Das, Associate Professor of Neuroscience, Columbia University

More speakers to be confirmed soon.

Free and open to the public, but RSVP is required via Eventbrite. This event is part of the Seminars in Society and Neuroscience series.

Hindus Against God: Anti-theistic Arguments in Sāṃkhya and Vedānta Philosophy – Andrew Nicholson (SUNY Stony Brook) @ Knox Hall, Room 208
Mar 5 @ 4:15 pm – 5:45 pm
Moderated by Sheldon Pollock, Arvind Raghunathan Professor of South Asian Studies, MESAAS
Andrew J. Nicholson is Associate Professor at State University of New York at Stony Brook. He earned his PhD in South Asian Languages and Civilizations at Chicago.  Nicholson’s primary area of research is Indian philosophy and intellectual history, most recently focusing on medieval Vedānta philosophy and its influence on ideas about Hinduism in modern Europe and India. His first book, Unifying Hinduism: Philosophy and Identity in Indian Intellectual History (2010) was part of the South Asia Across the Disciplines book series sponsored by the university presses at California, Chicago, and Columbia.  In 2011, it won the American Academy of Religion’s Award for Best First Book in the History of Religions.  His second book is Lord Śiva’s Song: The Īśvara Gītā (2014).
Logic & Metaphysics Workshop @ CUNY Grad Center, rm 3309
Mar 5 @ 4:15 pm – 6:15 pm

Feb 26 Martin Pleitz, Muenster
Mar 5 Vera Flocke, NYU
Mar 12 Roy Sorensen, WUSTL
Mar 19 Alex Citkin, Private Researcher
Mar 26 Chris Scambler, NYU
Apr 2 SPRING RECESS. NO MEETING
Apr 9 Greg Restall, Melbourne
Apr 16 Daniel Nolan, Notre Dame
Apr 23 Mel Fitting, CUNY
Apr 30 Sungil Han, Seoul National
May 7 Andreas Ditter, NYU
May14 Rohit Parikh

The Metasemantics of Indefinite Extensibility – Vera Flocke (NYU) @ CUNY Grad Center, rm 3309
Mar 5 @ 4:15 pm – 6:15 pm

Indefinite extensibility is the thesis that any domain of quantification can always be expanded. But how is the possibility of expanding domains of quantification reflected in the semantics of quantified sentences? This paper discusses the relevant meta-semantic options within a framework that distinguishes between semantic values and assertoric contents. This choice of a framework is independently motivated, helps received accounts of indefinite extensibility to escape weighty objections and adds to the available metasemantic options. I then argue for a hitherto overlooked view according to which quantified sentences express stable semantic values but variable assertoric contents. Specifically, the semantic value of quantified sentences are sets of possible worlds that are structured by two equivalence relations, one of which models counterfactual necessity and the other one of which models objectivity. Assertoric contents however are ordinary possible worlds propositions. The advantage of this view is that it explains succinctly what’s at issue in the debate between generality-absolutists, who think that quantification over absolutely everything is possible, and generality-relativists. If the box expresses objectivity, this disagreement concerns the Barcan formula, which entails that domains do not grow as one moves to objectively-accessible worlds.

This meeting is open to all who are interested. Please feel free to pass this announcement on, or direct others to our website at logic.commons.gc.cuny.edu.

Logic and Metaphysics Workshop

Spring 2018 

Feb 26 Martin Pleitz, Muenster
Mar 5 Vera Flocke, NYU
Mar 12 Roy Sorensen, WUSTL
Mar 19 Alex Citkin, Private Researcher
Mar 26 Chris Scambler, NYU
Apr 2 SPRING RECESS. NO MEETING
Apr 9 Greg Restall, Melbourne
Apr 16 Daniel Nolan, Notre Dame
Apr 23 Mel Fitting, CUNY
Apr 30 Sungil Han, Seoul National
May 7 Andreas Ditter, NYU
May14 Rohit Parikh

Philosophy of Language Workshop @ NYU Philosophy Dept. rm 302
Mar 5 @ 6:30 pm – 8:30 pm

29 January
Gillian Russell (UNC)

5 February
Mandy Simons (CMU)

12 February
(No Workshop)

19 February
(No Workshop)

26 February
Daniel Rothschild (UCL)

5 March
Chris Kennedy (UChicago)

12 March
Rachel Sterken (Oslo)

19 March
No Workshop (NYU Spring Break)

26 March
Andreas Stokke (Uppsala)

2 April
Rebekah Baglini (Stanford)

9 April
Henry Schiller (UT Austin)

16 April
Gary Ostertag (CUNY)

23 April
Manuel Križ (Jean Nicod)

30 April
Maria Aloni (ILLC/Amsterdam)

7 May
Alexis Wellwood (USC)

Mar
6
Tue
Mind and Language Research Seminar @ NYU Philosophy Dept. rm 202
Mar 6 @ 4:00 pm – 7:00 pm

Our topic for Spring 2018 will be Formal Frameworks for Semantics and Pragmatics. We’ll be investigating a range of questions in semantics and/or pragmatics which involve or are relevant to the choice between different kinds of overall structure for theories in these areas.

In most sessions, the members of the seminar will receive a week in advance, copies of recent work, or work in progress from a thinker at another university. After reading this work, students discuss it with one of the instructors on the day before the colloquium. Then at the Tuesday colloquium, the instructors give a summary review and raise criticisms or questions about the work. The author responds to these, and also to questions from the audience.

Meetings

The main seminar meetings are on Tuesday from 4-7, in the second floor seminar room of the Philosophy Department. Additionally, there will be a supplementary meeting open to all students participating in the seminar (whether enrolled or not) on Mondays from 4-5, in the same location in the fifth-floor seminar room.

This seminar is open to all interested parties.

There is a googlegroups mailing list for the class. If you want to receive announcements, please add yourself to that list. (To be able to access the mailing list’s web interface, you’ll need to log into Google’s systems using an identity Google recognizes, like a Gmail address, or a NYU email address because of how NYU’s authentication systems are connected to Google. But there’s no real need to see the mailing list’s web interface. You just need some email address to be added to list, then any messages we send to the list will get forwarded to all the email addresses then registered on the list. If you want us to add an address to the list that you can’t log into Google’s systems with, just send us a message with the address you want registered.)


Schedule and Papers

Papers will be posted here as they become available. Some may be password-protected; the password will be distributed in class.

23 Jan
Introductory session (no meeting on Monday 22 Jan), Jim’s handoutSome people asked for more background reading. Here are two useful textbooks: Heim & Kratzer, then von Fintel & Heim. Here is a survey article about different treatments of pronoun anaphora. Here is a course page with links to more reading.
30 Jan
Jim Pryor (NYU, web, mail), “De Jure Codesignation
6 Feb
Mandy Simons (CMU, web, mail), “Convention, Intention, and the Conversational Record” and (with Kevin Zollman) “Natural Conventions and the Semantics/Pragmatics Divide“(Mandy is also speaking in the NYPL on Monday 5 Feb at 6:30.)
13 Feb
Paul Pietroski (Rutgers, mail), “Semantic Typology and Composition
20 Feb
Karen Lewis (Columbia/Barnard, web, mail)
27 Feb
Daniel Rothschild (UCL, web, mail)(Daniel is also speaking in the NYPL on Monday 26 Feb at 6:30.)
6 Mar
John Hawthorne (USC, mail)
13 Mar
Spring Break
20 Mar
Lucas Champollion (NYU, web, mail)
27 Mar
Matthew Mandelkern (Oxford, web, mail)
3 Apr
Paolo Santorio (UC-San Diego, web, mail)
10 Apr
Una Stojnić (Columbia, web, mail)
17 Apr
Seth Yalcin (UC-Berkeley, web, mail)
24 Apr
Stephen Schiffer (NYU, web, mail)
1 May
Maria Aloni (ILLC and Philosophy/Amsterdam, web, mail)(Maria is also speaking in the NYPL on Monday 30 Apr at 6:30.)
Minorities and Philosophy Spring Workshop Series @ Various Locations around NYC
Mar 6 @ 7:00 pm – 9:30 pm

The Minorities and Philosophy (MAP) Chapters of Columbia, The New School, Rutgers, CUNY, NYU, and Princeton invite submissions from graduate students and postdoctoral fellows from underrepresented groups for a workshop series (NY-MAPWorks) in spring 2018.

Dates: Jan 30th (NYU), Feb. 20th (New School), March 6th (CUNY), April 17th (Columbia), May 8th (NYU), 7-9:30pm.

Submission Guidelines:

To apply, please compete the following by December 15th, 2017:

  1. Send an extended abstract of 750-1,000 words (.pdf or .doc), prepared for blind review, suitable for a 25-30 minute presentation to a general philosophical audience to nymapshop@gmail.com.
  2. Provide your contact information by completing this google form.

Applications will only be accepted from individuals from groups underrepresented in academic philosophy.

Accepted participants will be notified by January 14th. For further details, see our philpapers posting at https://philevents.org/event/show/37294.

Mar
7
Wed
CUNY Colloquium @ CUNY Grad Center, rm 9204/5
Mar 7 @ 4:15 pm

Each colloquium is held on Wednesday at 4:15 P.M. All colloquia will take place at the Graduate Center in rooms 9204/9205 except as otherwise noted. Please call (212) 817-8615 for further information.

February 7th • Jerrold Katz Memorial Lecture
David Papineau (CUNY Graduate Center | King’s College London)
“Kinds and Essences: Taming Metaphysical Modality”

February 14th
Jane Friedman (NYU)
“The Epistemic and the Zetetic”

February 21st
Muhammad Ali Khalidi (York U)
“Are Sexes Natural Kinds?”

February 28th
Laurie Paul (UNC)
“De Se Truth and Epistemic Revolution”

March 7th • Marx Wartofsky Memorial Lecture
Steven Lukes (NYU)
Title TBD

March 14th
Collin O’Neill (CUNY Lehman College)
“Consent and Third-Party Coercion in Medicine and Research”

March 21st
Edouard Machery (Pittsburgh)
TBD

March 28th
Greg Restall (Melbourne)
“Accommodation, Inference, Generics and Pejoratives”

April 4th: No Colloquium (Spring Recess)

April 11th: No Colloquium (CUNY Friday Schedule) 

April 18th
Shaun Nichols (Arizona)
“The Wrong and the Bad: On the Rational Acquisition of Moral Rules”

April 25th
Quayshawn Spencer (UPenn)
“A Radical Solution to the Race Problem”

May 2nd
Tim Crane (CEU)
“Putnam’s Ant: On the Reduction of Meaning and Intentionality”

May 9
Kathryn Tabb (Columbia)
“Locke on the Complexity of Ideas and the Ethics of Belief”


Download an interactive PDF version of the schedule here.