announcements

cfp: Minds, Bodies, Problems

Richard Brown Leave a comment

Via István Aranyosi; for more info visit the conference website: http://minds.bilkent.edu.tr/

Conference Announcement and 1st CALL FOR PAPERS

Minds, Bodies, and Problems —

A philosophy of mind conference

hosted by Bilkent University, Ankara, 7-8 June, 2012.

High-quality submissions are invited on the many aspects of the mind-body problem.

Some suggested topics include: naturalistic/physicalistic reduction of intentionality and/or phenomenal consciousness, the potential constitutive role of the body in mental states, the extended mind hypothesis, the potential conceptual role of the Peripheral Nervous System in the characterization of mental states/processes, body and mental causation, body/brain and free will, consciousness related topics in neuro- and bio-ethics, potential novel philosophical implications of focusing on less studied sense modalities: olfaction, proprioception, interoception, kinesthesia, etc.

Self-standing papers are preferred rather than papers responding to/commenting on another paper or book. Each talk will be 45 minutes long, including Q&A.

Keynote speakers:

Prof. Murat Aydede (University of British Columbia)

Prof. David Chalmers (Australian National University/New York University)

Prof. Tim Crane (Cambridge University)

Prof. Katalin Farkas (Central European University)

Prof. Shaun Gallagher (U. of Memphis/U. of Hertfordshire)

Interested speakers should submit an extended abstract (500-1000 words) by uploading it to the system to be found on the website of the conference:

http://minds.bilkent.edu.tr/

Submissions will be blindly refereed by a group of people comprising some of the keynote speakers, some of the faculty members of the Department of Philosophy at Bilkent University, and some members of the Turkish philosophical community.

We will select 8-10 speakers based on the submitted abstracts, and every effort is made to publish the final versions of the papers in an edited volume. The criteria of selection are both the perceived quality of the papers and the maximization of the conference’s overall diversity as far as the topics are concerned.

Abstract submission deadline: 15 January, 2012.

Expected date of a decision: 1 March, 2012.

Registration details:

Selected speakers will be asked to pay a conference fee of 160 EUR, which will cover the following:

– Three nights’ accommodation (6, 7, 8 June, 2012) in on-campus guest apartments.

– Lunches and dinners on 7 and 8 June, 2012.

– Breakfast on 8 June, 2012.

– Coffee, tea, and refreshments during the two conference days.

There will also be a two-day post-conference trip (9-10 June, 2012) to Cappadocia, which interested participants will have to pay for separately at a concession rate (approximately 100 EUR) which will cover transportation, tour guide, 4-star hotel accommodation, breakfast, dinner, and two lunches. For information on Cappadocia, see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cappadocia

The conference fee will also cover a fourth night at Bilkent upon return from Cappadocia, for of those who opt for joining us on that trip.

Payment details will be available to selected speakers by the time the final decision on the program will have been made.

The conference is open to the public, but the University is not able to arrange for accommodation and meals for non-speaker participants.

Two more reminders of the call for papers will be sent out: on 30 November, 2011, and on 30 December, 2011.

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Organization

Organizing department/institution: Department of Philosophy/Bilkent University

Organizer: Dr. István Aranyosi (Bilkent University)

Program Committee:

Prof. Varol Akman (Bilkent University)

Dr. Sandy Berkovski (Bilkent University)

Dr. Hilmi Demir (Bilkent University)

Dr. Kourken Michaelian (Bilkent University)

Assoc. Prof. Erdinç Sayan (Middle East Technical University)

Dr. Simon Wigley (Bilkent University)

Dr. Bill Wringe (Bilkent University)

Remembering Dr. John J. Glanville

Richard Brown 12 Comments

I recently was saddened to discover that a former professor of mine, John J. Glanville at SF State University, passed away. Dr. Glanville, as I knew him (he referred to me a Mr. Brown, saying he would call me ‘Richard’ after I had earned my M.A.), was one of those professors who you either loved or hated. He had very high standards and was not squeamish about hurting one’s feelings if he thought one’s answers/work was sub-par. I was one of the one’s that loved him (I took 5 class with him, where I learned everything I know about Ancient Philosophy. He would often remark that for someone with my modern interests I gave “unusual attention to the history of Ancient and Medieval philosophy”) so I thought I would take a couple of minutes to reflect on his influence on me.

I transfered to SF State as an undergraduate in the Spring of 1997. Coming from a community college, I was very excited to be at a four-year school and to be taking classes in my major. In the Fall of 1997 I took Ancient Philosophy and History of Christian Thought, both with Dr. Glanville. Dr. Glanville was a very intimidating figure in the classroom, always asking questions about the readings and chastising those who did not know the answers. But he was also a teacher who took his job seriously and I have never had so much feedback on papers and exams as I did from him. I would turn in 10 double-spaced pages and get back the same 10 pages with copious notes in the margin and between the lines full of challenges, comments, queries, encouragement, etc. All written in tiny print and in pencil. He once famously wrote on one of my classmate’s papers (who shall remain nameless), “I have stopped reading for fear of what I might find,” a testament to his blunt no-nonsense approach. It was the first time I had ever felt like someone was taking my work seriously. For me it was a tremendous feeling. But beyond this gruff task master exterior lay an intellect and wit that was hard to surpass. He could be quite funny in the class, often making jokes that dated him, and it was obvious that he kept up with the literature, often making a comment about a new book or article on Parmenides or Democritus. As tough as he was on our work, he was twice as hard on his own work. We read a couple of his papers in grad seminars and they were excellent. He would say ‘I’ll send them off when they are better’ and we would be blown away; how could they be better? I surmise that there must be several books worth of material lying around in his house. I hope these come out some day and he is recognized for the tremendous scholar that he was.

I remember one particular incident in the History of Christian Thought class I took with him. I was to give a presentation on the section of Acts (I don’t recall the specific passage) where they discuss an encounter with Greek philosophy. Those who know me know that I am agnostic about the existence of God but I am not, nor have I ever been, agnostic about extant religions. I find that they have been a major force for evil in the history of Human Beings, well, at any rate, the point is that I started that presentation by writing on the board a quote from Neitzsche: “There is only one Christian and he died on the cross”. I then proceeded to criticize the metaphysical and epistemological principles of Christianity, arguing that they lost the argument with the Greek philosophers. I later found out that Dr. Glanville was deeply religious but he did not stop me or show anger of any kind (some annoyance seeped out as I recall ;). Rather, he engaged with the arguments that I was presenting in a serious way, trying to show me that I did not quite have it right, and that some of what I said was apt, etc. Now, as an instructor myself, I can only imagine what his real thoughts must have been!

In spite of all this Dr. Glanville ended up writing me a letter of recommendation when I applied to PhD programs in late 2001. He sent me a copy of the letter with a short handwritten note on it. I still to this day find it to be some of the nicest things ever said about me and one of the greatest compliments I have ever received. I here quote a short bit of the letter,

Brown has a lively imagination which he knows how to apply in the service of philosophy. This put him in sync with the thought experiments found in the Pre-Socratics and the response in kind needed by modern readers to test their hypotheses. I am reminded of Heisenberg’s observation on the challenge to his imagination in arousing his mind to a life of work in theoretical physics –the challenge offered, he says, by his study of the Pre-Socratics on the Gymnasium level of German education. –Just the sort of stimulus so often missing in the education of our American youth.

In my considered judgment Richard Brown will one day make significant contributions in the area of Philosophical Psychology. His record of talks and publications already portend that, as does his MA record with us at SFSU.

Dr. Glanville then hand wrote on the letter “Richard, now you have to live up to it!” (This was the first time he had ever called me ‘Richard’, by the way). I used to joke that my 2006 paper “What is a Brain State?” which was published in the journal Philosophical Psychology had discharged this obligation. I always thought I would run into him at some apa meeting and get to make that joke in person. Sadly I won’t get that opportunity. Nor will I get the opportunity to thank him in person for his belief in me, his patience with my ignorance, his stern criticisms of my sloppiness, and his impact on my life. But I like to think he knows already. I am sure he had that level of impact on countless students. We should all be so lucky.

Rest in Peace Dr Glanville.

cfp: SSPP

Richard Brown Leave a comment

Pete Mandik is the program chair for the 104th annual meeting of the Southern Society for Philosophy and Psychology, to be held March 22-24, 2012 in Savannah, GA. SSPP meetings feature concurrent programs in philosophy and psychology, as well as plenary sessions jointly sponsored by the philosophy and psychology program committees. The deadline for all submissions is November 1, 2011.

Invited Speakers:

David Rosenthal (CUNY Graduate Center)

William Bechtel (UC San Diego)

Jesse Prinz (CUNY Graduate Center)

Invited Symposia:

Cognition and the Social: Carrie Figdor, Bryce Huebner, Anthony Chemero

Perplexities of Perception: Brian Keeley, Robert Briscoe, Berit Brogaard

Fictionalism, Falsehood and the Epistemic Value of Truth: Anthony Dardis, Chase Wrenn, Tad Zawidzki

Explaining Consciousness: Richard Brown, Josh Weisberg, Kenneth Williford

The Philosophy Program Committee encourages the submission of papers and symposium proposals. Their selection will be based on quality and relevance to philosophy, psychology, and other sciences of the mind. The aim of the committee is to present as balanced a program as the quality of submissions in each area permits.

Papers: Submissions exceeding 3,000 words will not be considered. Submissions should include a word count and an abstract of no more than 150 words. Self-reference should be deleted to permit blind reviewing; authors should indicate their identity only on the cover letter that accompanies their submission. All papers submitted and presented should employ gender-neutral language. Please submit file as lastname.firstname.doc or lastname.firstname.rtf or lastname.firstname.pdf.

Papers, along with the Abstract Submission Form on the website, should be submitted electronically to:

Dr. Pete Mandik petemandik@gmail.com

Certain papers may be selected for commentary depending on overall programmatic considerations. People who wish to comment on a paper or to chair a session may volunteer by sending a short version of their curriculum vitae directly to the program chairperson at the above address.

Please specify ‘SSPP Submission’ in the subject line. If the paper is being submitted in consideration of a Graduate Student Travel Award, please specify ‘SSPP Submisson– GSTA.’ If the paper should be considered for the Griffith prize, please specify ‘SSPP submission – Griffith.’

Further info can be found at the SSPP website and especially in the SSPP August Newsletter.

Call for Proposals: CO4

Richard Brown Leave a comment

It is time to start pre-planning for CO4! There are exciting things in the works for the invited portion of the conference but since they are not finalized I cannot announce them yet. I will make an announcement when I can.

Last year I started a test program of having people organize special sessions, with the result being Jacob Berger’s excellent session featuring Benj Hellie with commentary by Susanna Schellenberg, Jeff Speaks, Jacob Berger, and Heather Logue. I would like to do more like this for CO4. To that end I have already accepted a proposal from James Dow to organize a special session on “The Social Conditions of Self-Consciousness,” and I would like to take this opportunity to announce a general call for proposals to organize special sessions. If you have a proposal please email me at onemorebrown@gmail.com with the theme and possible participants.

OCC Program Finalized

Richard Brown Leave a comment

I am pleased to announce that the program for the third Online Consciousness Conference is finalized and is available at the conference website: http://consciousnessonline.wordpress.com/

 

The conference begins February 18th and lasts until March 4th. Papers (but not commentaries) will be available to read one week before the conference starts February 11th. To be updated on conference events, subscribe to the rss feed at the conference website, or join us on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Consciousness-Online/361010842469

Consciousness Afoot!

Richard Brown Leave a comment

The first paper in the special issue of Consciousness and Cognition that I am guest editing is now available online. Congratulations Pete! The complete special issue will have re-written papers from the second online consciousness conference, new commentary on the papers, and author’s responses. The issue should be finished sometime in 2011.  In the meantime accepted papers will appear online first, so more to come!

The call for papers for the online consciousness conference is now closed and I am working on the program. Things are moving quickly and I expect to have it put together sometime next couple of weeks.