Month: February 2015

REMINDER: Deadline for Doctoral Studentship applications in Practical Philosophy at Lund University: 2015-03-02

Job opening (http://www.lunduniversity.lu.se/erek/category/D)

Doctoral studentship in Practical Philosophy at Lund University

Type of employment: Limit of tenure, Maximum 4 years
Extent: 100 %
Location: Department of Philosophy, Lund
First day of employment: 2015-09-01
Official Records Number: HTPA 2015/15

Deadline for applications: 2015-03-02

Practical philosophy, as understood in this context, studies philosophical foundations of ‘practical thinking’ (its metaphysics, epistemology, and logics), with emphasis on values, attitudes to life and norms of behaviour. Value theory and analysis of normative standpoints constitute the core of practical philosophy. The areas of "practical thinking" which are studied in various subdisciplines of practical philosophy are morals (studied in metaethics, normative theory, and applied ethics), law (philosophy of law), politics (political philosophy, social ontology), practical rationality (decision theory, philosophy of action), religion (philosophy of religion) and art (aesthetics).

Department’s website: http://www.fil.lu.se/en/.

The announced position is a proper employment, subject to the favourable conditions of standard Swedish social benefits, such as paid parental leave.
The expected starting salary is approximately SEK 24000 per month.
The holder of the position will be expected to conduct research in English.

Limit of tenure: 4 years, with a possibility of prolongation in cases of illness, parental leave, etc.

Eligibility/Entry Requirements

The basic requirement for eligibility for the present position is a completed MA in philosophy with specialization in any of the areas of Practical Philosophy as characterized above.Eligibility for doctoral studies is specified in the relevant general syllabus, available at http://www.ht.lu.se/utbildning/utbildning-pa-forskarniva/allmanna-studieplaner/

Basis of Assessment

The selection process will primarily take into account the applicants’ ability to benefit from research studies. This is assessed from the criteria quality, quantity, progression and relevance.

Important! Please use Lund University job application portal when applying.

Deadline for applications: 2015-03-02

The application must include:

– records of first- and second-cycle studies (Ladok transcript or other transcript of courses and grades)

– first- and second-cycle theses/degree projects

– a list of other relevant administrative and educational qualifications

– scholarly journal articles, reports or papers of relevance for the subject

– where applicable, documented skills in a language of relevance for the research studies

– project proposal (1500 words max. excluding references)

The subject must be clearly indicated in the application

For further information please contact:

Professor Toni Rønnow-Rasmussen

46(0)402229486

Toni.Ronnow-Rasmussen

Professor Dan Egonsson

46(0)40222 94 72

Dan.Egonsson

Doctoral training initiative at Kent: evidence and its quality

Doctoral training initiative at Kent: evidence and its quality

The Philosophy Department at the University of Kent is organising a doctoral training initiative on Evidence and its Quality and we welcome applications to our PhD programme from those working on this topic.

This initiative will offer a strong focus on career progression and intellectual development, with students working alongside established researchers and learning about the next steps in an academic career. All PhD Applicants should have, or expect to have, a masters in Philosophy, and should apply here, including a sample of written work. Please see our website for details of potential supervisors. There are also a number of other philosophers at Kent in other departments, such as Classics, History of Art, Film Studies, Law and Politics, and co-supervision arrangements are available.

Funding opportunities include University of Kent d.corfield).

Evidence and its Quality

This year, the Centre for Reasoning begins a research programme on quality of evidence in science and medicine. Collaborative research projects will include:

The Centre for Reasoning will be organising numerous seminars and events on these themes, many in collaboration with project partner organisations. This is a very good opportunity for prospective doctoral students in epistemology and/or philosophy of science to begin doctoral research in an environment conducive to collaboration.

We welcome applications for research on any topic related to evidence and its quality, such as:

  • Cognitive outsourcing and evidence evaluation in medicine. The value of outsourcing the gathering and processing of evidence is an important question in epistemology. This sort of outsourcing is also widely practiced in evidence based medicine (EBM). How can epistemological theory and EBM practice inform each other?
  • Evaluating evidence in mathematics. Polya and Lakatos emphasised that proof is not the only sort of evidence in mathematics. Induction, analogy and counterexample are all involved in theory construction. But what are the other sorts of evidence? And when different sorts of evidence conflict, how do they weigh against each other?
  • Evidence aggregation and meta-analysis. How should multiple agents merge or aggregate their evidence? Can this tell us anything about meta-analysis – i.e., the practice of evaluating evidence provided by multiple research groups?
  • The nature of evidence in science. The nature of evidence is a hot topic in epistemology. Theories include: evidence is knowledge; evidence is what is believed; evidence is information; evidence is what is rationally granted. But how well do these theories cope with the use of evidence in science and medicine?
  • Evidence, justification and knowledge. Many epistemologists believe that there is an important connection between having evidence for one’s beliefs and being justified in those beliefs, and that being justified moreover is necessary for knowing. But what exactlyis evidence? Can only ‘internal’ things like beliefs and experiences constitute evidence, or can the bloody knife found at the crime scene also be evidence? Relatedly, what is it tohave evidence? For something to be in my evidence, do I need to be considering it at the moment, or can I have evidence I might never have considered?

In addition to 50th anniversary GTA funding, opportunities include

CFP: 6th Conference of Experimental Philosophy Group UK

Call for Abstracts

6th Conference of Experimental Philosophy Group UK:

Joining Forces of Philosophy and the Empirical Sciences to Tackle Social Injustices

29-30 June 2015, University of Nottingham

Deadline for Submissions: 31 March 2015

Experimental Philosophy Group UK invites the submission of abstracts for posters and papers to be presented at their upcoming conference. We welcome contributions from researchers (from all disciplines) who are engaged in or interested in the investigation of philosophical topics using empirical methods.

We especially encourage contributions that concern this year’s main theme, ‘Joining Forces of Philosophy and the Empirical Sciences to Tackle Social Injustices’. We intend to bring together philosophers, psychologists and social scientists whose research touches on the issue of social injustice — what it is and how it can be combated. The conference will provide a platform for knowledge exchange as well as networking and help establish new collaborative research projects. Contributions may include, amongst others, empirical research on discrimination (e.g., racial, gender or religious discrimination), social mobility and accessibility to public resources or philosophical analyses of terms like ‘justice’ or ‘fairness’.

Despite this focus, all high-quality contributions from the wider field of experimental philosophy are welcome. This may include submissions presenting recently completed experimental work, engaging with the work of this year’s keynote speakers, proposing new experimental work, discussing existing empirical studies, introducing novel approaches or raising methodological questions.

Submissions are encouraged from all levels of academia. Abstracts of up to 500 words are to be sent as PDF or Word documents to experimentalphilosophyuk@gmail.com by 31st March 2015. The subject line of the email should read ‘SUBMISSION [YOUR NAME]’. In the body of the email please state your name, affiliation and in which category (talk or poster) you wish your submission to be considered. Talks should be about 20 minutes long and will be followed by a brief discussion. Those whose abstracts for talks are not accepted will be automatically considered for a poster. Presenters should be prepared to obtain funding from their home department, or to fund themselves.

Confirmed keynote speakers: Kimberley Brownlee (University of Warwick), Edouard Machery (University of Pittsburgh), Ron Mallon (Washington University in St. Louis)

Primary organiser: Andreas Bunge (Nottingham)

Co-organisers: James Andow (Reading), Bryony Pierce (Bristol), Robin Scaife (Sheffield)

Registration for the conference will open soon (£25 standard fee, £15 concessionary rate). The link to the registration page will be found at:

http://sites.google.com/site/experimentalphilosophygroupuk

The conference benefits from the financial support of the Mind Association and the Society for Applied Philosophy.

CfP Reminder – Deadline Feb 22: Philosophy of Logic, Mathematics, and Physics Grad Conference

The 14th annual

Philosophy of Logic, Mathematics, and

Physics Graduate Conference

will take place on Thursday-Friday, June 4-5, 2015, at the

University of Western Ontario

in London, Ontario, Canada.

We are pleased to announce that

Elaine Landry (University of California-Davis)

will be giving the keynote address.

Call for Papers

Graduate students who have not yet defended their PhD thesis are invited to submit

papers on any topic in philosophy of logic, philosophy of mathematics, and philosophy of physics.

Papers in philosophy of physics will be considered for the 12th Annual Clifton Memorial

book prize. The contest will be adjudicated by philosophy of physics faculty members at Western.

Submission Guidelines

The maximum paper length is 5,000 words, including footnotes and appendices (but not

references). If the paper includes tables, figures, or equations, an appropriate number

of words should be subtracted from the limit. Papers are to be prepared for anonymous

review, and should be accompanied by an abstract (no longer than 300 words). Coauthored papers are not eligible for submission.

Deadline: Papers should be submitted via EasyChair by February 22nd, 2015. https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=lmp2015

Authors of accepted papers will be limited to 30-35 minutes for presentation, followed by

a 20-minute period of discussion. We will endeavour to make accommodations available

to all visiting graduate students. This year, the 2015 LMP Conference will precede the

annual Philosophy of Physics Conference, taking place June 6.

Additional information can be found on our website: http://logicmathphysics.ca

Please send questions to the LMP Conference Committee: uwolmp

We look forward to receiving your submission,

– The 2015 LMP Conference Committee

CFP/CFR: Truth Pluralism and Logical Pluralism Conference (UConn)

The Philosophy Department at the University of Connecticut in partnership with the Pluralisms Global Research Network funded by the National Research Foundation of Korea is delighted to announce a conference on Truth Pluralism and Logical Pluralism, to be held from April 17-19, 2015, at the University of Connecticut, Storrs.

What does a mean for a sentence or proposition to be true? Can there be more than one way for something to be true? What does it mean for a logic to be "correct", and can there be multiple equally correct logics? This conference is aimed at exploring issues in pluralisms about truth and logic and their rival theories, as well as the connections between them.

Currently confirmed participants include:

Dorit Bar-On (UConn)

Jc Beall (UConn)

Roy T. Cook (Minnesota)

Aaron Cotnoir (St Andrews)

Douglas Edwards (Hamilton)

Filippo Ferrari (Aberdeen)
Michael Glanzberg (Northwestern)

Paul Horwich (NYU)
Rosanna Keefe (Sheffield)

Seahwa Kim (Seoul)

Teresa Kouri (OSU)

Michael P. Lynch (UConn)

Nikolaj Pedersen (Yonsei)

Kevin Scharp (OSU)
Stewart Shapiro (OSU)

Paul Simard Smith (UConn)

Keith Simmons (UConn)

Neil Tennant (OSU)

Crispin Wright (NYU/Stirling)

Cory Wright (California State – Long Beach)

Jeremy Wyatt (Yonsei)

SUBMISSIONS:

We will also have room for 2-3 contributed papers. We invite submissions of full papers, suitable for 35 minute presentation. Please submit the paper, in .pdf format and formatted for blind review, as well as a separate cover sheet with contact information. Papers should be submitted to Nathan Kellen, by 11:59PM EST on February 15th, 2015. Papers should address the topic of the conference, and papers addressing the connections between truth pluralism and logical pluralism are especially welcome.

We encourage submissions from all scholars, including early career researchers and graduate students, and especially those from underrepresented groups in philosophy.

REGISTRATION:

We have opened up registration for the conference. While the conference is free and open to the public, registration is required. Details on nearby hotels can be found on the registration form. Please register by March 15th. You can register for the conference by clicking here.

If you have any questions, please contact the conference organiser, Nathan Kellen.

Nonhuman Animal Ethics CONF/CFA (9-10 Apr. 2015, University of Birmingham, UK)

CONFERENCE and Call for Abstracts

This is an announcement, and call for abstracts, for the two-day international conference – ‘Ethics and/or Politics: Approaching the Issues Concerning Nonhuman Animals’ – to be held at the University of Birmingham on the 9th and 10th of April, 2015.

The conference is in association with, and supported by: the Society for Applied Philosophy, the Mind Association, the Aristotelian Society, and the University of Birmingham College of Arts and Law.

Guest speakers include:

* Gary Steiner (Bucknell University)
* Elisa Aaltola (University of Turku/University of Eastern Finland)
* Robert Garner (University of Leicester)
* Tony Milligan (University of Hertfordshire)
* Alasdair Cochrane (University of Sheffield)
* Tatjana Visak (Saarland University)
* Oscar Horta (University of Santiago de Compostela)
* Steve Cooke (University of Sheffield)
* Kay Peggs (University of Portsmouth)

-Conference Overview-

The recent turn in nonhuman ethics – from ethics to political theory – has raised many questions of how is best to approach theorizing about, and the most effective and convincing practical solutions regarding, nonhuman animals. At the same time individual issues in nonhuman ethics continue to be debated and increase in both social and political importance; yet the connection between the recent turn and these issues, and what the effects may be, remains untapped.

This conference shall consider this current political question in how nonhuman ethics ought to proceed and ask how this relates to practical issues within the area, and the effect it will have on society.

The conference will address (but is not limited to) issues such as:

1. ‘How we ought to intervene for nonhumans (peacefully, not at all, violently, and so on)’ and whether the introduction of political/legal/ethical questions affects our conclusions on these matters.
2. ‘Whether concepts of personhood are adequate in nonhuman ethics when politics/law is introduced (e.g. companies and items can be legal persons, what effect does/should this have if we open the field)’.
3. Which approach ought we to take towards ‘animal ethics’ and its issues; ethics, politics, or both? Would the introduction of political and legal approaches affect our conclusions on the issues? (E.g. such as on ‘personhood’). If there are effects what would this mean for issues relating to humans (such as poverty, hunger, activism, and civil disobedience).
4. Other issues that relate to the theme (such as what the impact of this move/these questions could have on areas that concern humans; e.g. civil intervention, protest aims, hunger, etc).
5. Different approaches towards traditional problems (e.g. factory farming, experimentation, etc) and newer debates (e.g. in-vitro meat, debates on what to do about (and our relations with) wild and ‘liminal’ nonhumans, and questions about ‘living space’ (both within and without human habitation)).
6. What the human relation with nonhumans is or should be, what this means for the human, what approach (ethics/politics, et al) would be more adequate for this, and what this means for ‘animal ethics’ and its issues (e.g. human relation to the biosphere and its implications).

The aim of the conference is to bring the ‘political turn’ question into relation with the issues, not just the general theory, and to apply them to actual, practical concerns that can be put forward for a real-world impact. The purpose of this is three-fold: (1) this link has yet to be explored, (2) such questions raise new and interesting avenues in the debates that will have a practical impact on the discipline and, hopefully, social aims, and (3) nonhuman issues, in current academia (at least in the UK) is often swept aside under current ‘practical/economic concerns’ – this conference aims to show that nonhuman ethics (and each discipline involved) has practical impact, interdisciplinary reach, and real-world relevance.

By drawing on interdisciplinary views the conference aims to move theorizing within the area forward while also providing insight into the most effective approach for both practical and theoretical issues, as well as providing further thought for research.

As the conference will be interdisciplinary, we especially welcome abstracts from philosophy, political sciences, law, and sociology.

As well as the above, some topics might include (though any other topic is welcomed):

* Humans as Animals
* The Importance speciesism/human chauvinism (etc) takes on with this change
* Rights
* Justice
* Activism

The conference is free and open to all – though registration via email confirming intent to attend will be required. Registration emails should be sent to: savingnonhumansbham2015

Further information will be released shortly, and all information will be available on the conference website: http://savingnonhumansbham2015.github.io/

-Call for Abstracts-

Proposals for papers should be at maximum 500 words. Proposals should not indicate the author’s name as the selection process will be blind.

Accompanying the abstract should be a short biography, detailing status, name, institution, contact information, and the title of the abstract/proposed paper.

Abstracts should be sent in .doc, .docx, or .pdf format.

The closing date for abstract submission is: 20th February 2015

Successful authors will be notified by: 24th February 2015

Abstracts must be sent electronically to: savingnonhumansbham2015

The successful papers will be allocated 30 minutes each for presentation.

For any information, please contact: Andrew Woodhall or Gabriel Garmendia da Trindade at any of the following email addresses:

savingnonhumansbham2015

acw269

gxg322

We look forward to seeing you there!

Sincerely,

Savingnonhumansbham2015.

PhD Scholarships in Climate Justice (Reading)

PhD Scholarships in Climate Justice

5 full PhD Scholarships for projects on Climate Justice are available at
the University of Reading (commencing October 2015 for 3 years). The
Scholarships are funded by the Leverhulme Trust.

Applications are welcomed for proposals in politics, ethics, law,
philosophy, international relations, economics, geography, development, and
science studies, and for interdisciplinary projects spanning these areas.

Deadline: 27 March

Details on the Programme in Climate Justice, and on how to apply, can be
found here:

http://www.reading.ac.uk/gs-climatejustice.aspx

http://www.jobs.ac.uk/job/AKH619/phd-studentship-leverhulme-doctoral-scholars-programme-in-climate-justice-ethics-politics-law/

PEP Talks 2015 – University of Hamburg

PEP Talks 2015 – University of Hamburg

This April we are conducting a student-led conference, where students

have the opportunity to present their research (experiments,

theoretical papers etc.). The conference is a good opportunity for

students to gain in-depth feedback on their academic works in small

study groups, network with like-minded students and researchers, and

not less importantly, gain practical experience in presenting their

ideas in a conference environment.

The central topic of the conference is decision-making. The

participants are thus expected to present research that would be one

way or another addressing individual or collective choice process. We

chose this topic to draw attention to the wide scope of application of

decision-making analysis.

A number of travel grants will be available for students coming from

outside Hamburg. The grants will be allocated to people who send us

the most interesting and innovative proposals.

For further information please visit our website:

http://tp27.universitaetskolleg.uni-hamburg.de/de/projekte/2014/pep2.html

Ethics events: Spring term: Birkbeck, London

Ethics events: Spring term: Birkbeck, London

Please find below the programme of ethics events during the spring term at
Birkbeck, University of London. All events are free and open to all. Please
note that for reading groups, participants are expected to have read the
paper in advance.

For further information, PDFs or to be added to the mailing list please
email: p.hulme

3.30pm Thurs 5 Feb, ANALYTIC REDUCTIONISM, METAETHICS READING GROUP
Chapter 5, Frank Jackson (1998). From Metaphysics to Ethics. Oxford
University Press.
Discussion to be led by Sander Werkhoven, Venue: B01, 30 Russel Sq, WC1B 5DT

6.45pm Fri 6 Feb, PROF. SIMON MAY SPEAKING ON ‘WHAT IS LOVE?’: DAVID HAMLYN
LECTURE
Venue: Clore Management Centre, 2 Malet Street, WC1E 7HX. Free event.
Booking required:
http://www.bbk.ac.uk/philosophy/about-us/hamlyn-alumni-lecture

1pm Fri 20 Feb, RECENT WORK ON BLAME, BIRKBECK ETHICS GROUP
Pamela Hieronymi, ‘The Force and Fairness of Blame’, Philosophical
Perspectives 18 (2004), 114-148. PDF available at:
http://philpapers.org/archive/HIETFA.pdf
Reading group chaired by Prof. Hallvard Lillehammer. Venue: Rm 501, 30
Russell Sq, WC1B 5DT

3.30pm Thurs 26 Feb, DR MARIA ALVAREZ AT METAETHICS READING GROUP
Alvarez, Maria & Ridley, Aaron (2007). The concept of moral obligation:
Anscombe contra Korsgaard. Philosophy 82 (4):543-552
Dr Maria Alvarez will discuss this paper. Venue: B01, 30 Russel Sq, WC1B 5DT

3.30pm Thurs 5 Mar, REASONS, METAETHICS READING GROUP
Chapter 2 of T. M. Scanlon (2014). Being Realistic About Reasons. Oxford
University Press.
Discussion to be led by Hugo Dixon. Venue: B01, 30 Russel Sq, WC1B 5DT

1pm Fri 13 Mar, RECENT WORK ON BLAME, BIRKBECK ETHICS GROUP
David Owens, ‘Blame and Guilt’, Chapter 1 of his Shaping the Normative
Landscape, OUP 2012, 25-43.
Reading group chaired by Prof. Hallvard Lillehammer. Venue: Rm 501, 30
Russell Sq, WC1B 5DT

3.30pm Thurs 19 Mar, PARTICULARISM, METAETHICS READING GROUP
Sean McKeever & Michael Ridge (2008). Preempting principles: Recent debates
in moral particularism. Philosophy Compass 3 (6):1177-1192. Venue: B01, 30
Russel Sq, WC1B 5DT