May 12-14, 2016
Prof. Ned Hettinger will be in Bloomington at Indiana University for the Environmental Ethics and Aesthetics Conference presenting “Defending Aesthetic Protectionism.”
Author Archives: konglc
Helen Longino is giving a talk, “Putting Social Epistemology of Science Into Practice”, on Thursday 4/14/16 at 6:30 pm in Alumni Hall
Helen Longino, Clarence Irving Lewis Professor of Philosophy, Stanford University
Thursday, 4/14/16 at 6:30pm in Alumni Memorial Hall
Sponsored by the SC Coastal Conservation League and the Department of Philosophy
The role of background assumptions in determining the evidential relevance of observational data to hypotheses seems to put claims for scientific objectivity in jeopardy. What I call strong social epistemology argues that this so-called underdetermination problem is best addressed by bringing the social interaction within science into the orbit of epistemology. The talk will develop this argument and suggest how the epistemological norms of social epistemology can be deployed in environmental science.
Prof. McKinnon to Speak at University of British Columbia.
Professor Rachel McKinnon will be speaking at a symposium, on March 11, in Kelowna at University of British Columbia on free expression. This symposium covers both philosophy of language and political philosophy.
Robert J. Howell is giving a talk “From Subjective Physicalism to Panpsychism: How Deep Does Subjectivity Go?” Thursday, 2/25/16 at 3:15 pm in Addlestone Library Room 227.
From Subjective Physicalism to Panpsychism: How Deep Does Subjectivity Go?
Thursday February 25, 2016 at 3:15pm in Addlestone Library Room 227
Robert J. Howell
Southern Methodist University
Abstract
According to Subjective Physicalism, the world is completely made of physical stuff, but certain parts of the world can only be fully understood by subjects who instantiate certain physical states. So, for example, though conscious states are physical states, they can only be fully understood by those who have them. One challenge for this approach to the mind/body problem is that subjective physicalism might collapse into a form of panpsychism, according to which consciousness is everywhere, even in sticks, stones and electrons. In this paper I discuss this challenge and suggest some ways the subjective physicalist can respond.
Short bio of the speaker:
Robert J. Howell is Dedman Family Distinguished Professor of Philosophy at Southern Methodist University. He works on topics in metaphysics, epistemology, and philosophy of mind, especially concerning the nature of subjectivity and the self. Professor Howell is the author of Consciousness and the Limits of Objectivity (OUP, 2013), The God Dialogues, with Torin Alter (OUP, 2011), and A Dialogue on Consciousness, with Torin Alter (OUP, 2009), among other publications.