Calendar

To mark the occasion of the 60th anniversary of Philosophy at Warwick, the Philosophy Department will hold a one-day conference (25th of April 2026) to celebrate the life and work of one of its Honorary Doctoral Graduates (and one of the pre-eminent philosophers of the 20^th century), Gilbert Ryle. Ryle tends to be associated with a small set of well-known ideas — for example, resistance to Cartesian dualism or the distinction between knowledge-that and knowledge-how. And there has been a widespread tendency to pigeon-hole Ryle as a ‘philosophical behaviourist’. The workshop aims to get beyond caricatures and to promote an appreciation of the depth and breadth of Ryle’s manifold contributions to philosophy, as well as their relevance to contemporary concerns, in philosophy and beyond.

Organisers: Tom Crowther & Johannes Roessler

Title TBC

Hold the date - further details to follow.

Week 2: Thursday 7^th May 12noon–2pm – Introduction + Chapter 1 Mind

Week 3: Thursday 14^th May 12noon–2pm – Chapter 2 Mind and Body

Week 4: Thursday 21^st May 12noon–2pm – Chapter 3 The Objective Self

Week 5: Thursday 28^th May 12noon–2pm – Chapter 4 Knowledge

Week 6: Thursday 4^th June 12noon–2pm – Chapter 5 Thought and Reality

Week 7: Thursday 11^th June 12noon–2pm – Chapter 6 Freedom

Week 8: Thursday 18^th June 12noon–2pm – Chapter 7 Value

Week 9: Thursday 25^th June 12noon–2pm – Chapter 8 Ethics

Week 10: Thursday 2^nd July 12noon–2pm – Chapter 9 Living Right and Living Well

Week 11: Thursday 9^th July 12noon–2pm – Chapter 10 Birth, Death, and the Meaning of Life

Hold the date - further details to follow.

CRPLA Talk Wed 13 May, 4pm S0.17 

Daniel Star (Boston University)

Appreciation as a Process, and Well-being (from a coauthored project with Joel Van Fossen)

Aesthetic appreciation is here understood to be an at least partly conscious process, with respect to which agents exercise a significant degree of intentional control, that involves attending to objects and their aesthetic properties, where such are objects are taken to be worth appreciating aesthetically, and cognitively and affectively engaging with them. There are significant differences between this process and two other mental processes about which more has been written: practical deliberation and epistemic inquiry. Some of the similarities and differences between these processes concern the metaphysics of them, but some concern the value and role of the processes. One important conclusion reached is that appreciation, unlike the other two processes, is primarily to be valued in itself as a process, rather than merely instrumentally in relation to the value of its outcomes. And the fact that this is how appreciation is to be properly valued is closely related to what appreciation does for us, so far as our well-being is concerned. A key alternative for what might be thought to be of primary value as a product of appreciation — correct aesthetic judgment — is considered and rejected.

Week 2: Thursday 7^th May 12noon–2pm – Introduction + Chapter 1 Mind

Week 3: Thursday 14^th May 12noon–2pm – Chapter 2 Mind and Body

Week 4: Thursday 21^st May 12noon–2pm – Chapter 3 The Objective Self

Week 5: Thursday 28^th May 12noon–2pm – Chapter 4 Knowledge

Week 6: Thursday 4^th June 12noon–2pm – Chapter 5 Thought and Reality

Week 7: Thursday 11^th June 12noon–2pm – Chapter 6 Freedom

Week 8: Thursday 18^th June 12noon–2pm – Chapter 7 Value

Week 9: Thursday 25^th June 12noon–2pm – Chapter 8 Ethics

Week 10: Thursday 2^nd July 12noon–2pm – Chapter 9 Living Right and Living Well

Week 11: Thursday 9^th July 12noon–2pm – Chapter 10 Birth, Death, and the Meaning of Life

Week 2: Thursday 7^th May 12noon–2pm – Introduction + Chapter 1 Mind

Week 3: Thursday 14^th May 12noon–2pm – Chapter 2 Mind and Body

Week 4: Thursday 21^st May 12noon–2pm – Chapter 3 The Objective Self

Week 5: Thursday 28^th May 12noon–2pm – Chapter 4 Knowledge

Week 6: Thursday 4^th June 12noon–2pm – Chapter 5 Thought and Reality

Week 7: Thursday 11^th June 12noon–2pm – Chapter 6 Freedom

Week 8: Thursday 18^th June 12noon–2pm – Chapter 7 Value

Week 9: Thursday 25^th June 12noon–2pm – Chapter 8 Ethics

Week 10: Thursday 2^nd July 12noon–2pm – Chapter 9 Living Right and Living Well

Week 11: Thursday 9^th July 12noon–2pm – Chapter 10 Birth, Death, and the Meaning of Life

Week 2: Thursday 7^th May 12noon–2pm – Introduction + Chapter 1 Mind

Week 3: Thursday 14^th May 12noon–2pm – Chapter 2 Mind and Body

Week 4: Thursday 21^st May 12noon–2pm – Chapter 3 The Objective Self

Week 5: Thursday 28^th May 12noon–2pm – Chapter 4 Knowledge

Week 6: Thursday 4^th June 12noon–2pm – Chapter 5 Thought and Reality

Week 7: Thursday 11^th June 12noon–2pm – Chapter 6 Freedom

Week 8: Thursday 18^th June 12noon–2pm – Chapter 7 Value

Week 9: Thursday 25^th June 12noon–2pm – Chapter 8 Ethics

Week 10: Thursday 2^nd July 12noon–2pm – Chapter 9 Living Right and Living Well

Week 11: Thursday 9^th July 12noon–2pm – Chapter 10 Birth, Death, and the Meaning of Life

“Ontological failure in Heidegger and beyond”, 1-2 June 2025, Room: OC0.05

Week 2: Thursday 7^th May 12noon–2pm – Introduction + Chapter 1 Mind

Week 3: Thursday 14^th May 12noon–2pm – Chapter 2 Mind and Body

Week 4: Thursday 21^st May 12noon–2pm – Chapter 3 The Objective Self

Week 5: Thursday 28^th May 12noon–2pm – Chapter 4 Knowledge

Week 6: Thursday 4^th June 12noon–2pm – Chapter 5 Thought and Reality

Week 7: Thursday 11^th June 12noon–2pm – Chapter 6 Freedom

Week 8: Thursday 18^th June 12noon–2pm – Chapter 7 Value

Week 9: Thursday 25^th June 12noon–2pm – Chapter 8 Ethics

Week 10: Thursday 2^nd July 12noon–2pm – Chapter 9 Living Right and Living Well

Week 11: Thursday 9^th July 12noon–2pm – Chapter 10 Birth, Death, and the Meaning of Life

Dorit Bar-On (University of Connecticut): 'Four Milestones in the Evolution of Human Pragmatic Communication’.

Abstract:

So-called Protolanguage is a theoretical construct designed to help explain the phylogenetic emergence of human language from animal communication systems. In Expression, Communication, and Origins of Meaning (forthcoming, OUP), I argue that Protolanguage ought to be conceived as pragmatically (and therefore psychologically) intermediate, and this places certain substantive constraints on the psychological capacities with which we can credit our nonlinguistic ancestors. In particular, we should not credit them with a capacity for Gricean mindreading and the ability to entertain language-like thoughts.

In this talk, I describe four proposed hypothetical milestones on our ancestors’ path toward a pragmatically intermediate Protolanguage (“PIP”), relying on a combination of empirical and theoretical considerations. These milestones can be used to describe a phylogenetic trajectory leading from an ancestral communication system that resembled existing forms of animal communication to PIP. Clarifying the character of – the fourth milestone – and of the preceding three milestones, should, I believe, also shed some light on our ancestor’s progression from PIP to human linguistic pragmatic communication.

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Week 2: Thursday 7^th May 12noon–2pm – Introduction + Chapter 1 Mind

Week 3: Thursday 14^th May 12noon–2pm – Chapter 2 Mind and Body

Week 4: Thursday 21^st May 12noon–2pm – Chapter 3 The Objective Self

Week 5: Thursday 28^th May 12noon–2pm – Chapter 4 Knowledge

Week 6: Thursday 4^th June 12noon–2pm – Chapter 5 Thought and Reality

Week 7: Thursday 11^th June 12noon–2pm – Chapter 6 Freedom

Week 8: Thursday 18^th June 12noon–2pm – Chapter 7 Value

Week 9: Thursday 25^th June 12noon–2pm – Chapter 8 Ethics

Week 10: Thursday 2^nd July 12noon–2pm – Chapter 9 Living Right and Living Well

Week 11: Thursday 9^th July 12noon–2pm – Chapter 10 Birth, Death, and the Meaning of Life

The Life and Work of Andrew Cooper: Reflections and Conversations

On 18-19 June 2026, the Philosophy Department at Warwick will be hosting a commemorative event for Andrew.

The event will run for 1 ½ days and will involve a special guest presentation about Andrew’s most recent work in Tasmania, three roundtable sessions (each devoted to a broad theme in Andrew’s research), and time for personal reminiscences by students and staff.

All are welcome. If you're able to join us, it would be very helpful for planning if you could please register for the event. We will share more details as the planning develops.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact the organisers:

Curie Virág       curie.virag@warwick.ac.uk.

Karen Simecek    k.d.simecek@warwick.ac.uk

Week 2: Thursday 7^th May 12noon–2pm – Introduction + Chapter 1 Mind

Week 3: Thursday 14^th May 12noon–2pm – Chapter 2 Mind and Body

Week 4: Thursday 21^st May 12noon–2pm – Chapter 3 The Objective Self

Week 5: Thursday 28^th May 12noon–2pm – Chapter 4 Knowledge

Week 6: Thursday 4^th June 12noon–2pm – Chapter 5 Thought and Reality

Week 7: Thursday 11^th June 12noon–2pm – Chapter 6 Freedom

Week 8: Thursday 18^th June 12noon–2pm – Chapter 7 Value

Week 9: Thursday 25^th June 12noon–2pm – Chapter 8 Ethics

Week 10: Thursday 2^nd July 12noon–2pm – Chapter 9 Living Right and Living Well

Week 11: Thursday 9^th July 12noon–2pm – Chapter 10 Birth, Death, and the Meaning of Life