New Metaphysics Entries on The Stanford Encyclopedia

There is a new entry on Nominalism in Metaphysics on the Stanford Encyclopedia.

There are also some substantive revisions to the entry on Tropes.

Perspectives on Ontology

Announcing: Perspectives on Ontology

A major international conference on metaphysics to be held at the University of Leeds, Sep 5th-7th 2008.

Speakers:
Karen Bennett (Cornell)
John Hawthorne (Oxford)
Daniel Nolan (Nottingham)
Jill North (Yale)
Helen Steward (Leeds)
Jessica Wilson (Toronto)

Commentators:
Benj Hellie (Toronto)
Kris McDaniel (Syracuse)
Ted Sider (NYU)
Jason Turner (Leeds)
Robbie Williams (Leeds)

Registration details to follow. There will be a number of graduate bursaries. For further information contact Ross Cameron (r.p.cameron@leeds.ac.uk) or Elizabeth Barnes (e.j.barnes@leeds.ac.uk)

We gratefully acknowledge the support of the Mind Association, The Aristotelian Society and the Analysis Trust.

Powers: Their Grounding and Their Realization 7th - 9th July 2008

International Conference at the University of Oxford (Lady Margaret Hall)

7th - 9th July 2008

Invited speakers

Alexander Bird (University of Bristol). Dispositions and Causation.
Kristina Engelhard (University of Cologne). TBA
Kit Fine (New York University). TBA
Toby Handfield (Monash University). Disposition manifestations as natural kinds.
John Heil (Washington University in St Louis). Powers and Qualities.
Jonathan Lowe (University of Durham). On the Individuation of Powers.
Anna Marmodoro (University of Oxford). Can Pure powers Be Pure?
Jennifer McKitrick (University of Nebraska – Lincoln). TBA
Stephen Mumford (University of Nottingham). Primitive Modality
Markus Schrenk (University of Nottingham). The Powerlessness of Necessity.
Ernest Sosa (Rutgers). Virtues and Situations.

Metaphysics of Science conference: 3-5 July 2009

This is a preliminary announcement of a conference on the Metaphysics of Science, which will be held at the University of Melbourne 3-5 July 2009.

Purpose

The purpose of the conference will be to promote discussion of current research in the metaphysics of science. The field of the metaphysics of science is one that barely existed a decade or two ago. But it has now become one of the most active areas of current research in philosophy of science and closely related areas of philosophy. Our aim will be to bring together a significant group of philosophers who are currently working on the metaphysics of science for concentrated discussion of their current research, as well as to explore new directions that are opening up in the field. It is anticipated that at least one major volume of published essays will emerge from papers presented at the conference.

Topics

We anticipate that topics will range over a variety of areas of interest in the metaphysics of science. Such potential topics for discussion may include topics in the ontology of science, such as causation, laws of nature, natural kinds, universals, essences, dispositions and powers. Issues relating to scientific realism and anti-realism, as well as the implications of the realist/anti-realist debate for topics in the metaphysics of science will also be on the agenda. Other topics to be explored are likely to include the nature of possibility and necessity, as well as truth-makers, especially as these topics relate to the metaphysics of science.

International focus

Research in the metaphysics of science is being undertaken throughout the philosophical world. We therefore expect the conference to be international in character. Philosophers in the Australasian region have been active contributors to this new field of research. So we expect a significant presence of Australasian philosophers working in the area. However, we hope to attract significant participation by philosophers from North America, Great Britain and continental Europe, as well as other parts of the world. As details of invited speakers emerge, we will announce a list of invited speakers.

Further details

Further details will be announced on this website, as information becomes available. In particular, we plan in the near future to make announcements of a list of invited speakers, a call for papers, as well as details of the conference venue, registration details and accommodation.

Conference organization

The conference is a joint initiative that is sponsored on a collective basis by the Philosophy programs of La Trobe, Melbourne and Monash Universities. The Centre for Time of the University of Sydney will co-sponsor a symposium which will be held at the conference.

Organizational Committee: David Armstrong, John Bigelow, Andrew Brennan, Brian Ellis, Graham Oppy, Toby Handfield, Huw Price, Graham Priest, Howard Sankey.

For further information, please visit the conference web site here or contact the conference organizer, Howard Sankey: chs@unimelb.edu.au.

INPC - Carving Nature at Its Joints 15-17th March 2008

The Inland Northwest Philosophy Conference is a topic-focused, interdisciplinary conference co-sponsored by the Philosophy Departments at the University of Idaho and Washington State University.

DATES	Saturday morning through Monday afternoon: 15–17 March 2008 (the conference ends shortly before the 2008 Pacific APA) Registration is now available.
LOCATION	Moscow, Idaho (This year, the conference will be held entirely at UI, as the regular venue at WSU is undergoing renovation.) Hotel Info: Our conference block at the hotel has officially expired, but I'm informed that there are still plenty of rooms available. Nevertheless, we recommend booking accommodation as soon as possible. See the Travel & Accommodation page for more information.
COMMITTED PARTICIPANTS	Peter Godfrey-Smith (Harvard), Keynote Speaker Patrick Arens (University of Nebraska) Matt Bedke (Arizona) Alexander Bird (Bristol) Corinne Bloch (Tel Aviv) Andrea Borghini (Holy Cross) Katherine Brading (Notre Dame) Judith Crane (Southern Illinois Univeristy) Troy Cross (Yale) Michael Devitt (CUNY) Bruce Glymour (Kansas State University) Chris Haufe (Virginia Tech) Jussi Haukioja (Academy of Finland) Todd Jones (UNLV) Daniel Korman (University of Illinois–Urbana-Champaign) Marc Lange (UNC Chapel Hill) Noa Latham (Calgary) Mike Maleki (Calgary) Kris McDaniel (Syracuse) Bence Nanay (Syracuse) Karen Neander (Duke) L.A. Paul (Arizona) Rebekah Rice (Seattle Pacific University) Jonathan Schaffer (UMass/ANU) Roy Sorensen (Dartmouth) Achille Varzi (Columbia) Kadri Vihvelin (USC) Neil Williams (Buffalo)
NOTIFICATION	The Call for Papers is closed (as of 2nd January).
CHAIRS & COMMENTATORS	If you would like to act as a session chair or a commentator, please contact <josephc@wsu.edu> with your areas of competence.
CONTACTS	Joseph Keim Campbell, Washington State University <josephc@wsu.edu> Matthew H. Slater, University of Idaho <matthew.slater@uidaho.edu> INPC co-directors

Further Information available on the conference webpage:

Themes in the Metaphysics of David Armstrong

On Saturday & Sunday, 16th & 17th February 2008, the Metaphysics of Science group held a workshop at the Days Hotel Nottingham, in honour of Professor David Armstrong entitled "Themes in the Metaphysics of David Armstrong". The conference, organised by the Nottingham team (Stephen Mumford, Markus Schrenk, Matt Tugby and Rani Lill Anjum), was a great success.

Speakers included Stephen Mumford, Ross Cameron, Anna Sofia Maurin, Daniel von Wachter, Hugh Mellor, Ludger Jansen, Max Kistler, Robin Stenwall, Robbie Williams and Emma Tobin.

Photos from the conference
Conference flyers and paper abstracts are also posted on the MOS website