Death in Biopolitics: Ege Selin Islekel (Fordham University)

Guest Speaker: Paul Silva (University of Cologne)

Title: 'Knowledge, Belief, and the Possession of Reasons'

Abstract. Lottery cases, cases of naked statistical evidence, fine-tuning arguments, and profiling evidence can provide a thinker with evidence that ensures a high probability in some claim p. Yet it's widely believed that p's being very probable on one's evidence is insufficient for justified belief that p and therefore also insufficient for knowing that p. Accordingly, lottery cases (etc.) are cases where justified belief and knowledge are inaccessible. This lesson seems to naturally extend to fine-tuning arguments (for theism or a multiverse) as well as profiling cases.

In this paper I provide cases where one's evidence is "statistical" in a way that parallels lottery cases (etc.) but, shockingly, our intuitions are reversed: these parallel cases are cases where high probability justifies belief and holds the promise of knowledge. Existing accounts of what goes wrong in cases of "merely statistical evidence" cannot explain the justificatory asymmetry between the parallel cases of statistical evidence. I examine two explanations. One builds on insights from Timothy Williamson. Another builds on insights from David Lewis. Lessons are drawn about the flaws and limitations of fine-tuning arguments as well as a certain class of arguments for the existence of moral encroachment on justification.

Subject: Music

Please contact Giulia Lorenzi for further information.

Guest Speaker: Alan Millar (Stirling)

Title: 'Detached Factual Knowledge'

Programme

10.00am - Welcome

10.10am-11.10am - Quassim Cassam (Warwick): 'Extremism: A Philosophical Analysis'

11.10-11.20 - Break

11.20-12.20 - Bill Brewer (KCL): 'The Metaphysics of Perception and the Place of Consciousness in the Natural World'

12.20-12.30 - Break

12.30-1.30 - Adrian Moore (Oxford) 'The Possibility of Absolute Representations'

1.30-2.30 - LUNCH

2.30-3.30 - Matthew Soteriou (KCL): 'The First Person Perspective'

3.30-3.40 - Break

3.40-4.40 - M.G.F Martin (Oxford/Berkeley): Title TBC

Please contact Maria Corrado for further information.

Guest Speaker: Anton Ford (Chicago)

Title: 'The Objectification of Agency'

Guest Speaker: Rachel Dudley (CEU)

Title; 'The Pragmatics of Knowing'

Abstract:

 "Children’s understanding of propositional attitude reports (and their understanding of others’ minds) has played a central role in the study of cognitive development for several decades. Over the years, an orthodox perspective emerged whereby children fail to understand attitude reports, with sources of difficulty being syntactic, semantic or even conceptual in nature. This orthodoxy has also been ported over into other fields such as epistemology and philosophy of mind. However, a wave of findings from new methods and analyses has cast this orthodoxy into doubt. These new findings suggest that even infants have a greater understanding of mental state concepts than we once suspected, and that the apparent difficulties in later childhood stem from pragmatic sources. Resolving the conflict between these new findings and the orthodox perspective is critical to understanding the development of children’s minds and their language faculties, but the debate is far from settled.

In this talk, I’ll discuss my research on children’s understanding of the attitude verbs "know" and "think" and how it relates to the broader conflict. While both verbs can be used to describe beliefs, there are subtle differences between them. As a factive verb, "know" only felicitously describes true beliefs about propositions which we take for granted. In contrast, the non-factive "think" can describe false beliefs or beliefs which we do not take for granted. Using a combination of behavioral methods and corpus analyses, I investigate how children come to master this subtle contrast. Results from this line of research highlight the importance of pragmatic cues to the language acquisition process, particularly from the different kinds of discourse moves that adults make in everyday conversation (e.g., I think it's time for bed, Do you know where my keys are?). Results also suggest that we are sensitive to related pragmatic factors even much later in development. Ultimately, this supports a broader picture where older children’s errors with attitude reports are pragmatic performance errors and not deeper conceptual or semantic errors, highlighting the need for more research on the interplay between semantic and pragmatic development in early development."

Subject: Contemporary Visual Art

Please contact Giulia Lorenzi for further information.

Biopolitics and the Changing Use of Statistics: Laurence Barry (Hebrew University, Jerusalem)

Guest Speaker: Johannes Roessler (Warwick)

Title: 'Perceptual Self-Knowledge and Doxastic Self-Determination'

Abstract. According to a widely held view of the nature of belief (which I label the Activity thesis, AT), beliefs belong to the ‘active side’ of the human mind. In this paper I explore a challenge to AT. I argue that reflection on the distinctive immediacy of perceptual knowledge, as we ordinarily understand it, puts pressure on an assumption informing AT, viz. that reasons for belief can always coherently be treated as a basis for ‘making up one’s mind’. Our best reasons for perceptual beliefs, I suggest, manifestly entail that we hold the belief they support, and so imply that our minds are already made up. (For example, one's best reason for believing that p may be 'I can see that p'.) I do not mean to suggest that perceptual beliefs should therefore be classified as belonging to the 'passive side' of the human mind. Rather, I think we should question the exhaustiveness (and perhaps usefulness) of the active vs passive distinction, as it has been employed in the philosophy of mind.

Guest Speaker: Miriam Schoenfield (Austin, Texas)

Title: 'Can Bayesianism Accommodate Higher Order Defeat?'

Guest Speaker: Leda Berio (HHU, Düsseldorf)

Title: "Talking about Thinking: Language Acquisition and False Belief Reasoning"

Subject: Literature

Please contact Giulia Lorenzi for further information.

Guest Speaker: Guy Longworth (Warwick)

Title: 'Unsettling Questions'

Abstract: "Should we expect someone who knows by seeing to be in a position positively to settle the questions “How do you know?” “Why do you think so?” or “Are you sure?"? I begin to address that large question by defending the following claims. We should not expect someone who knows by seeing that p to be in a position to know how they know that p (§2). However, we should expect someone who knows by seeing that p to have sufficient reasons for thinking that p, but—in light of the first claim—we should not expect their seeing what they do to figure amongst their reasons. A further issue that will figure in the background to the discussion here concerns how, if at all, sensory awareness of things can furnish one with reasons for thinking things so (§3). Despite the fact that one who knows by seeing need not know how they know and need not have amongst their reasons that they see what they do, still their seeing what they do can play an important role in establishing surety (§4)."

Guest Speaker: Kristina Musholt (Leipzig)

The study of Chinese thought in the West has often been mired with misinterpretation. The causes of this misunderstanding range from simple lack of knowledge and accurate translations to blatant ethnocentrism. This reading group proposes to study early Chinese thinkers on their own terms, without imposing Western concepts on them. It is our goal to create a space of exchange and learning that will enable all to join and get something from it. Therefore, everyone is welcome. No previous knowledge of Chinese thought and languages is required, as we will use English translations of the classics. It will however be one of the goals of the reading group to develop an awareness of the particular meaning of certain Chinese terms, so as to not lose too much in translation.
 
This term, we will be reading the Daodejing 道德經, "The Classic of the Way and Virtue". There are far too many translations, and of too varying outlooks (and quality), to unquestionably recommend any one of them. D.C Lau's 1963 "Tao Te Ching" and Roger T. Ames & David L. Hall's 2003 "Dao de jing: a philosophical translation" are both good starting points, but crossing sources will be very important to grasp all the complexity of this often obscure text.

Everybody welcome! Please contact Thadee Chantry-Gellens for further information.

'Biopolitics and Deconstruction'

Guest Speaker: Naomi Waltham-Smith (Warwick)

his group will focus on reading key Moral and Political philosophical texts. This year we are reading Hegel's Philosophy of Right published in 1821. This work has been described by Stephen Houlgate as 'one of the greatest works of social and political philosophy ever written.' The book traces the true realization of freedom and free will via Hegel's immanent process of dialectics. Arguably, this book is still pertinent and relevant for our times: not only does it acknowledge that freedom can be enhanced by economic opportunities, but, moreover, it recognizes that unregulated capitalism is a cause of alienation, inequality and poverty.

Everybody welcome! Please contact Andrew Paull to receive further information and a link to participate.

The study of Chinese thought in the West has often been mired with misinterpretation. The causes of this misunderstanding range from simple lack of knowledge and accurate translations to blatant ethnocentrism. This reading group proposes to study early Chinese thinkers on their own terms, without imposing Western concepts on them. It is our goal to create a space of exchange and learning that will enable all to join and get something from it. Therefore, everyone is welcome. No previous knowledge of Chinese thought and languages is required, as we will use English translations of the classics. It will however be one of the goals of the reading group to develop an awareness of the particular meaning of certain Chinese terms, so as to not lose too much in translation.
 
This term, we will be reading the Daodejing 道德經, "The Classic of the Way and Virtue". There are far too many translations, and of too varying outlooks (and quality), to unquestionably recommend any one of them. D.C Lau's 1963 "Tao Te Ching" and Roger T. Ames & David L. Hall's 2003 "Dao de jing: a philosophical translation" are both good starting points, but crossing sources will be very important to grasp all the complexity of this often obscure text.

Everybody welcome! Please contact Thadee Chantry-Gellens for further information.

Guest Speaker: Andy Hamilton (Durham)

Title: 'Art for Art's Sake: Aestheticising Engaged Art and Philistinism'

Guest Speaker: Edward Harcourt (Oxford)

his group will focus on reading key Moral and Political philosophical texts. This year we are reading Hegel's Philosophy of Right published in 1821. This work has been described by Stephen Houlgate as 'one of the greatest works of social and political philosophy ever written.' The book traces the true realization of freedom and free will via Hegel's immanent process of dialectics. Arguably, this book is still pertinent and relevant for our times: not only does it acknowledge that freedom can be enhanced by economic opportunities, but, moreover, it recognizes that unregulated capitalism is a cause of alienation, inequality and poverty.

Everybody welcome! Please contact Andrew Paull for further information and to receive a link to participate.

The study of Chinese thought in the West has often been mired with misinterpretation. The causes of this misunderstanding range from simple lack of knowledge and accurate translations to blatant ethnocentrism. This reading group proposes to study early Chinese thinkers on their own terms, without imposing Western concepts on them. It is our goal to create a space of exchange and learning that will enable all to join and get something from it. Therefore, everyone is welcome. No previous knowledge of Chinese thought and languages is required, as we will use English translations of the classics. It will however be one of the goals of the reading group to develop an awareness of the particular meaning of certain Chinese terms, so as to not lose too much in translation.
 
This term, we will be reading the Daodejing 道德經, "The Classic of the Way and Virtue". There are far too many translations, and of too varying outlooks (and quality), to unquestionably recommend any one of them. D.C Lau's 1963 "Tao Te Ching" and Roger T. Ames & David L. Hall's 2003 "Dao de jing: a philosophical translation" are both good starting points, but crossing sources will be very important to grasp all the complexity of this often obscure text.

Everybody welcome! Please contact Thadee Chantry-Gellens for further information.

'Transgressive Resistance and Biopolitics'

Guest Speaker: Guilel Treiber (KU Leuven)

his group will focus on reading key Moral and Political philosophical texts. This year we are reading Hegel's Philosophy of Right published in 1821. This work has been described by Stephen Houlgate as 'one of the greatest works of social and political philosophy ever written.' The book traces the true realization of freedom and free will via Hegel's immanent process of dialectics. Arguably, this book is still pertinent and relevant for our times: not only does it acknowledge that freedom can be enhanced by economic opportunities, but, moreover, it recognizes that unregulated capitalism is a cause of alienation, inequality and poverty.

Everybody welcome! Please contact Andrew Paull for further information.

Subject: Censorship