Thursday, November 13, 2014 at 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm
Wolff Conference Room, Albert and Vera List Academic Center, D1103 6 East 16th Street, New York, NY 10011, Room D1103
Valérie Cordonier (a junior research fellow at France’s CNRS, specifically in the Centre d’Histoire des Sciences et des Philosophies Arabes et Médiévales (UMR 7219, Université Paris Diderot, Sorbonne Paris Cité) will give a talk titled: “How Some Ancient Ideas Work: The Case of the Electric Fish from Aristotle to Averroes.”
The electric fish (or the electric ray, or torpedo) is known for being able to cause numbness to other fish or to the fishermen’s hands when captured into their nets. Such a paralyzing power, which was described for the first time in Aristotle’s biological works, was subsequently referred to and discussed in various contexts. By tracing back the most decisive occurrences of this topos in Galen, Alexander of Aphrodisias and Averroes, Valérie Cordonier will illustrate what kind of philosophical relevance a study of the Peripatetic tradition as such can have – in particular concerning disciplines in which Aristotle’s contribution is definively outmoded, as is the case with the philosophy of nature.
Sponsored by the Department of Philosophy at The New School for Social Research.
One hundred years after the publication of her masterpiece The Accumulation of Capital, Rosa Luxemburg’s ideas have come back in a big way across much of the left. If she were still here, what would Rosa say about contemporary feminist movements, the mass strike and Occupy, our deepening ecological crisis, or other crucial issues of our time?
The Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung—New York Office, in collaboration with Verso Books and The New School, presents: Rosa Remix: New Takes on a Longtime Classic. The event will begin on Friday, August 21 at 6:00 p.m. at the Verso Books office in Downtown Brooklyn, where we will celebrate 100 years of The Accumulation of Capital with fresh analysis from Rick Wolff, Patrick Bond, and Raphaele Chappe, followed by a reception with drinks and light snacks. A new translation of the Complete Works of Rosa Luxemburg: Volume II, which contains The Accumulation of Capital, published by Verso with support from RLS–NYC, will be available for sale.
On Saturday we will move to The New School’s Wollman Hall, where, from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., we will hold a series of panels on issues that explore the relevance of Rosa’s works to issues ranging from climate change to war, spontaneity and contemporary social movements, and today’s women’s movement. We will also get a sneak peek at Red Rosa, a forthcoming graphic biography presented by editor Paul Buhle and artist Kate Evans. Amongst the many questions that will be asked over the course of the day, our overarching theme will be whether fresh interpretations of Rosa Luxemburg’s work can help to strengthen the shared struggles of the international left in today’s world.
Friday, August 21
6:00-8:00 p.m. l Reception to follow
Verso Books, 20 Jay Street, Suite 1010, Brooklyn, NY
“THE ACCUMULATION OF CAPITAL”: 100 YEARS LATER
Patrick Bond (University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa)
Richard D. Wolff (New School for Social Research)
Raphaële Chappe (Brooklyn Institute for Social Research)
Stefanie Ehmsen (Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung—New York Office)
Saturday, August 22
10:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m. Coffee and lunch will be provided
The New School, 65 West 11th St., Wollman Hall, New York, NY
10:00-11:30 a.m.:
SOCIALISM OR BARBARISM? WAR, CLIMATE CHANGE, AND THE FUTURE OF THE PLANET
Bhaskar Sunkara (Jacobin Magazine)
Helen C. Scott (University of Vermont)
Rory Castle (Swansea University, Wales, UK)
11:45 a.m.-1:15 p.m.:
FROM MASS STRIKE TO OCCUPY: THE ELEMENT OF SPONTANEITY
Sandra Rein (University of Alberta, Canada)
Holger Politt (Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung, Berlin)
Ethan Earle (Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung—New York Office)
He Ping (Wuhan University, China)
Jason Schulman (Lehman College, New York)
2:00-2:45p.m. :
RED ROSA: A GRAPHIC BIOGRAPHY OF ROSA LUXEMBURG (Verso, forthcoming)
Paul Buhle (“Red Rosa” Editor)
Kate Evans (“Red Rosa” Author and Artist)
3:00-4:30 p.m.:
ROSA LUXEMBURG: A LEGACY FOR FEMINISTS?
Amber Frost (Freelance Writer)
Kate Evans (“Red Rosa” Author and Artist)
Alhelí Alvarado-Díaz (Columbia University)
Nancy Holmstrom (Rutgers University, Newark, emeritus)
4:30-5:00 p.m.:
INSTEAD OF A CONCLUSION: PUBLISHING THE COMPLETE WORKS OF ROSA LUXEMBURG
Peter Hudis (Oakton Community College, Illinois)
Paul Le Blanc (La Roche College, Pennsylvania)
Sponsored by Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung–New York Office, Verso Books, and the Global Studies program at The New School.
The Society for the Metaphysics of Science will be holding its first annual conference on September 17-18, 2015 at Rutgers University – Newark. As well as various presentations, the conference will also feature the first organizational meeting of the Society which will elect officers, begin to make various policies, plan future conferences, etc. Both those interested in presenting papers and/or participating in the Society are invited to the conference. (For more information on the society, see the Society for the Metaphysics of Science web page.)
At the conference, presentations will be 40 minutes. Submissions should be on a topic in the metaphysics of science broadly construed, of no more than 6,000 words and should include an abstract of ~150 words and a word count. All papers must employ gender-neutral language and be prepared for blind review.
Submissions must be made using the Easychair online submission system at:https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=sms2015. The submission deadline is March 1, 2015. Notifications of acceptance will be delivered by May 15, 2015. The conference will have a $50 registration fee. (The fee will be waived for graduate students.)
Our keynote speaker will be Barry Loewer, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, and all other sessions will comprise submitted papers.
Program Committee:
Ken Aizawa, Rutgers University, Newark, Chair
Carl Gillett, Northern Illinois University
Alyssa Ney, Rochester University
Thomas Polger, University of Cincinnati
Jessica Wilson, University of Toronto
A Memorial conference for Hilary Putnam
Pragmatic Themes in the Philosophy of Hilary Putnam
Sponsored by Department of Philosophy, New Social for Social Research
10 A. M. Richard J. Bernstein Pragmatist Enlightenment
11 A. M. Alice Crary Putnam and Propaganda
12-2 P. M. Lunch
2 P.M. Naoko Saito Pragmatism, Analysis, and Inspiration
3 P.M. Brendan Hogan and Lawrence Marcelle: Putnam,
Pragmatism and the Problem of Economic Rationality
4 P. M. Philip Kitcher Putnam’s Happy Ending? Pragmatism
and the Realism Debates
Rutgers Workshop on Chinese Philosophy (RWCP) is designed to promote critical engagements and constructive dialogues between scholars of Chinese philosophy and Western analytic philosophy with the hope of bringing the study of Chinese philosophy into the mainstream of philosophical discourses within the Western academy. It is run every other April. The workshop is co-directed by Tao JIANG (Religion), Ruth Chang (Philosophy) and Stephen Angle (Wesleyan).
The theme and format of the fourth RWCP workshop is “Engagements with Western Philosophers.” Thirteen invited scholars will participate in the workshop, including seven experts on Chinese philosophy (one presentation will be jointly offered by two speakers) and six leading voices in the Western analytic philosophy.
Scholars of Chinese Philosophy:
Yong Huang (Chinese University of Hong Kong)
Sungmoon Kim (City University of Hong Kong)
Chenyang Li (Nanyang Technological University, Singapore)
Li Kang (Vassar College)
JeeLoo Liu (California State University, Fullerton)
Justin Tiwald (San Francisco State University) and Bradford Cokelet (University of Kansas)
Scholars of Western Philosophy:
Elizabeth Camp (Rutgers University)
Johann Frick (Princeton University)
Stephen Macedo (Princeton University)
Peter Railton (University of Michigan)
Jonathan Schaffer (Rutgers University)
Jennifer Whiting (University of Pittsburgh)
RSVP is required for attendance. Further information will be forthcoming in the spring of 2018.
What is the metaphysical status of quantum field theory (QFT)? How should field theories be interpreted? These questions have received considerable attention over the past few decades in various research projects in physics, mathematics, and philosophy, but there is no clear consensus on any of them. One finds a variety of different approaches to understanding QFTs — Algebraic QFT, conventional QFT, Bell-type Bohmian QFT, etc. — and different interpretations — realism, instrumentalism, and structuralism. What are the advantages and disadvantages of these approaches? What is the status of the measurement problem in these theories? And more generally, how should QFT inform the metaphysics of science?
The two-day Rutgers workshop aims to bring together researchers who work on these different approaches. It will provide opportunities for in-depth discussions about metaphysical issues in QFT. As we have limited seating in the seminar room, RSVP is required; please send an email to sr3109@columbia.edu if you’d like to attend.
(Information about the previous workshop in 2017, on structural realism, can be found here.)
Organizers: Eddy Chen (Rutgers), Sebastien Rivat (Columbia), Isaac Wilhelm (Rutgers)
Sponsors: Marc Sanders Foundation, Rutgers University Philosophy Department, Columbia University Philosophy Department, Rutgers Graduate Student Association.
Conference Schedule:
Thursday, May 17
- 9:45 – 10:00. David Baker (Michigan), “Introduction to the Ontology of QFT”
- 10:00 – 11:30. David Baker (Michigan), “Interpreting Supersymmetry”
- 11:45 – 1:15 Ward Struyve (KULeuven), “Bohmian Quantum Field Theory”
- 1:15 – 2:30. Lunch
- 2:30 – 4:00. Tian Yu Cao (Boston), “What is a Quantum Field?”
- 4:15 – 5:45. Anna Ijjas (Columbia), “QFT on Curved Space-times and its Applications in Cosmology”
- 6:30. Conference Dinner
Friday, May 18
- 9.45 – 10:00. Michael Miller (Toronto), “Introduction to Major Approaches to QFT”
- 10:00 – 11:30. Porter Williams (Pittsburgh), “The Physics within Metaphysics”
- 11:45 – 1:15. Laura Ruetsche (Michigan), “Perturbing Realism”
- 1:15 – 2:30. Lunch
- 2:30 – 4:00. Michael Miller (Toronto), “Indeterminacy at Large Order”
- 4:15 – 5:45. David Wallace (USC), “Quantum Metaphysics from an Effective-Field-Theory Viewpoint”
- 6:30. Dinner
Invited Discussants:
Richard Healey (Arizona), Meinard Kuhlmann (Bremen), James Ladyman (Bristol), Jeremy Butterfield (Cambridge), Brian Pitts (Cambridge), Ryan Reece (CERN), David Albert (Columbia), Mario Hubert (Columbia), Elise Crull (CUNY), Noel Swanson (Delaware), Ned Hall (Harvard), David Glick (Ithaca), Ward Struyve (LMU), Gordon Belot (Michigan), Nina Emery (Mount Holyoke), Valia Allori (NIU), Jonathan Bain (NYU), Cian Dorr (NYU), Hartry Field (NYU), Tim Maudlin (NYU), Michael Strevens (NYU), Adam Elga (Princeton), Hans Halvorson (Princeton), Mark Johnston (Princeton), Gideon Rosen (Princeton), Bob Batterman (Pittsburgh), Natan Andrei (Rutgers), Sheldon Goldstein (Rutgers), Matthias Lienert (Rutgers), Barry Loewer (Rutgers), Jill North (Rutgers), Zee Perry (Rutgers), Jonathan Schaffer (Rutgers), Ted Sider (Rutgers), Dean Zimmerman (Rutgers), Alyssa Ney (UC Davis), Paul Teller (UC Davis), Marian Gilton (UCI), Nick Huggett (UIC), Kerry McKenzie (UCSD), Charles Sebens (UCSD), Elizabeth Miller (Yale).
Conference hotel: Hyatt Regency New Brunswick.
*This workshop is made possible through the generous support of the Marc Sanders Foundation, Rutgers University Philosophy Department, Columbia University Philosophy Department, and Rutgers Graduate Student Association. Special thanks to Professor Mark Johnston, Professor Dean Zimmerman, and the administrative staff at Rutgers and Columbia.
What do the worlds of global finance and nationalist populism have in common? How can we understand the rise of today’s ‘new fascisms’ through the prism of financialization? This one-day workshop brings together scholars from across disciplines to debate these key questions for our understanding of contemporary capitalism. The workshop is part of Public Seminar’s Imaginal Politics initiative and is organised jointly with the Department of Social Science, University College London. The workshop will include three panel discussions and will close with a talk by Judith Butler on ‘Anti-gender ideology and the new fascism’.
10-11.45am – Panel 1 (Wolff Conference Room, D1103)
12.-1.30pm -Panel 2 (Wolff Conference Room, D1103)
Chiara Bottici ( The New School)
4.30-6pm – Closing plenary & discussion (UL104, University Center)
‘The New Fascism of the Anti-Gender Ideology Movement’
A number of philosophers working on Buddhist traditions have recently explored similarities between the cultivated experience of not-self, and the clinical experience of depersonalization. In this talk, I will offer some reflections on this theme. But my primary aim will be to push a similar kind of exploratory project one step further. Drawing on tools from cognitive and computational neuroscience, as well as insights from Yogācāra Buddhist philosophy, I will explore some of the most significant similarities and differences between anomalous experiences evoked by meditation, and anomalous experiences that are commonly labeled as hallucinations. I will then argue that understanding how such experiences are produced offers a powerful framework for thinking about the socially and historically situated nature of everyday experience.