Philosophy » Research Seminar in Post-Kantian European Philosophy, 2019/2020

30/04 2pm-4pm: WMA Talk - Carol Rovane (Columbia University) 'Some Perplexities about Consciousness'

Stephen Houlgate — Tue, 21 Apr 2026 14:33:13 GMT

When: 2pm - 4pm, Thu, 30 Apr '26

Where: S0.20

WMA Seminar
Carol Rovane (Columbia University): 'Some Perplexities about Consciousness'

Abstract:

Some decades ago, I offered novel interpretation and defense of Locke’s distinction between personal identity and human (animal) identity. Locke himself had equated personal identity with “sameness of consciousness”, and then argued that sameness of human (animal) life is neither necessary nor sufficient for sameness of consciousness. I granted for the sake of argument that Locke was wrong about this, but then argued for a version of his distinction anyway, on the ground that a person is a rational agent, and there can be single group agents that span many human lives as well as multiple agents within a single human life. Each such individual agent has its own first person point of view, which is the rational point of view from which it deliberates and acts and engages in interpersonal relations with others. Yet this is not the same as the phenomenological point of view from which a subject of experience has access to phenomena in consciousness, by virtue of what they are like. This distinction between two different kinds of point of view forces us to look harder at what role consciousness might play in mental life. We may no longer be sure whether consciousness is an essential and defining feature of mental phenomena, or if so, why; but secondly, even if we retain that conviction, we should find it curious that the unity of consciousness is neither necessary nor sufficient for the sort of rational unity that defines what it is for an individual agent to be fully, or ideally, rational. I want to emphasize that my arguments do not proceed from standard sorts of functionalist considerations, but from purely normative considerations to do with agency.

13/03 9:30am-5pm: Self-Awareness and Intersubjectivity Conference (Day 2)

Stephen Houlgate — Fri, 06 Mar 2026 12:06:18 GMT

When: 9:30am - 5pm, Fri, 13 Mar '26

Where: Wolfson Research Exchange

Date:13 March 2026. Location: Wolfson Research Exchange, Main Library.

9.30 - 10.50 Henrike Moll (University of Southern California): “The intersubjective basis of identity: The case of dissociation”

10.50- 11.10 Tea & Coffee

11.10 -12.30 Richard Gipps (Oxford University): “What is superstition? Confusions of self-self, self-world, and self-other relating”

12.30 - 13.30 lunch

13.30 - 14.50 Eliza Little (University of Warwick): "Literary knowledge and intersubjectivity"

15.00 - 16.20 Johannes Roessler (University of Warwick): “Joint attention and perceptual knowledge”

16.20 Tea & Coffee

12/03 1:30pm-6:10pm: Self-Awareness and Intersubjectivity Conference (Day 1)

Stephen Houlgate — Fri, 06 Mar 2026 12:06:07 GMT

When: 1:30pm - 6:10pm, Thu, 12 Mar '26

Where: Scarman Space 11

Date:12 March 2026. Location: Scarman, Space 11.

13.30 - 14.50 Lucy O’Brien (University College London): "Reflection on One’s Interpersonal Self-Consciousness"

15.00 - 16.20 Matthew Boyle (University of Chicago): "From Other Selves to Intersubjectivity"

16.20- 16.50 Tea & Coffee

16.50 - 18.10 Naomi Eilan (University of Warwick): “Subjective, intersubjective, objective: On the role of joint attention”

Dinner at Radcliffe Restaurant, on campus.

11/03 2pm-4pm: WMA Seminar: Seishu Nishimura (Shiga University, Japan): 'Episodic memory: a centered possible worlds account'

Stephen Houlgate — Tue, 03 Mar 2026 10:39:21 GMT

When: 2pm - 4pm, Wed, 11 Mar '26

Where: R0.04

25/03 2pm-6:30pm: WMA Workshop on 'When knowledge isn't power'

Stephen Houlgate — Wed, 25 Feb 2026 08:29:21 GMT

When: 2pm - 6:30pm, Wed, 25 Mar '26

Where: MB0.08

Webpage

2.00 – 2.15 Intro & welcome: Chenwei Nie

2.15 - 3.15 Knowing in Selfie Culture, Heather Widdows (Warwick), and Fiona MacCallum (Psychology, Warwick).

3.15 - 3.45 Coffee

3.45 - 4.45 The Valuing Body, Kate Kirkpatrick (Oxford)

4.45 – 5.00 Break

5.00 – 6.00 The Importance of Feeling for Knowing, Kathleen Murphy-Hollies (Birmingham)

6.00– 6.30 Concluding reflections: Quassim Cassam

Hosted by The Warwick Mind and Action Research Centre (WMA) and Funded by Leverhulme Trust.

Organisers: Heather Widdows & Chenwei Nie.

Department of Philosophy, University of Warwick.

Registration is free. However, as space is limited, please email Chenwei (chenwei.nie@warwick.ac.uk) if you plan to attend.

14/02-15/02: MindGrad2026

Stephen Houlgate — Fri, 06 Feb 2026 14:36:41 GMT

When: Sat, 14 Feb - Sun, 15 Feb '26

Where: MS.04

Keynote speakers:

Helen Steward (Leeds)

Jessie Munton (Cambridge)

Rory Madden (UCL).

04/02 12pm-2pm: WMA Graduate Research Seminar

Stephen Houlgate — Tue, 16 Dec 2025 09:16:57 GMT

When: 12pm - 2pm, Wed, 04 Feb '26

Where: S1.88

Week 4 (4 Feb), 12:00-14:00, room: S1.88

21/01 12pm-2pm: WMA Graduate Research Seminar

Stephen Houlgate — Tue, 16 Dec 2025 09:15:37 GMT

When: 12pm - 2pm, Wed, 21 Jan '26

Where: S1.88

Week 2 (21 Jan), 12:00-14:00, room: S1.88

22/10 2pm-4pm: WMA Seminar - Mental Imagery and Harmful Language

Stephen Houlgate — Thu, 02 Oct 2025 11:26:56 GMT

When: 2pm - 4pm, Wed, 22 Oct '25

Where: S0.11

Date: Wednesday, 22 October 2025

Location: Social Sciences Building, S0.11

Schedule:

14:05-14:55

Speaker: Michelle Liu (Monash)

Title: Mental Imagery and Harmful Language*

14:55-15:05

Coffee Break

15:05-15:50

Q&A

*Abstract:

Research on pernicious language tends to focus on harmful beliefs and associations transmitted by such language. In this paper, I explore the idea that pernicious language often transmits harmful mental imagery. Empirical studies suggest that mental imagery is a pervasive feature of language processing. Furthermore, mental imagery prompted by language can influence our memories and judgements in an insidious way. Focusing on language containing misinformation about witnessed events, as well as generics and metaphors about social groups, this paper argues for the importance of mental imagery for theorising harmful language and suggests ways to combat the imagistic harm.

17/09 11am-6pm: Avishai Margalit Workshop

Stephen Houlgate — Tue, 26 Aug 2025 07:38:46 GMT

When: 11am - 6pm, Wed, 17 Sept '25

Where: Scarman House

'We are holding a workshop on September 17^th to celebrate the work of Avishai Margalit, to which you are warmly invited. The workshop will have as background a manuscript consisting of a brief autobiography and an extended interview linking much of his published work, books and articles. If you would like to take part in it, please let me know, as we need to register people. The bibliography below gives an indication of some of the work that may be discussed. The speakers giving brief discussion-introducing talks to issues raised in Margalit’s work will be: Quassim Cassam, John Dunn, Assaf Sharon, Moshe Halbertal, Ulrike Heuer, Michael Waltzer. (David Enoch will be joining us by zoom).

Publications

Books

· Idolatry (jointly with Moshe HalbertalLink opens in a new window), Harvard University PressLink opens in a new window, 1992.

· The Decent Society, Harvard University Press, 1996.

· Views in Review: Politics and Culture in the State of the Jews, Farrar, Straus and GirouxLink opens in a new window, 1998.

· The Ethics of Memory, Harvard University Press, 2002. ISBNLink opens in a new window 978-0-674-00941-7Link opens in a new window (A partial German version of this book, Ethik der Erinnerung, was published by Fischer Taschenbuch VerlagLink opens in a new window in 2000.)

· Occidentalism: The West in the Eyes of Its Enemies (with Ian BurumaLink opens in a new window), New York: The Penguin PressLink opens in a new window, 2004. ISBNLink opens in a new window 978-0-14-303487-2Link opens in a new window

· On Compromise And Rotten Compromises, Princeton University PressLink opens in a new window, 2010

· On Betrayal, Harvard University Press, 2017

28/05 11am-6pm: Special Symposium on 'Truth and Truthfulness'

Stephen Houlgate — Tue, 20 May 2025 12:39:18 GMT

When: 11am - 6pm, Wed, 28 May '25

Where: MB0.07

Weds. 28th May (Week 6), MB0.07, 11:00-18:00

Special Symposium on Bernard Williams' Truth and Truthfulness:

To register, please email wma@warwick.ac.uk with your name and affiliation. Featuring:

Maria Alvarez (KCL)
Andrew Huddleston (Warwick)
Tim Lewens (Cambridge)
Guy Longworth (Warwick)
Adrian Moore (Oxford)
Mark Philp (Warwick)
Alexander Prescott (Oxford)
Johannes Roessler (Warwick)

01/05 4pm-5pm: Truth and Truthfulness Reading Group

Stephen Houlgate — Wed, 16 Apr 2025 11:33:45 GMT

When: 4pm - 5pm, Thu, 01 May '25

Where: s1.50

In preparation for the WMA Symposium on Bernard Williams' Truth and Truthfulness in week 6, the WMA is hosting a reading group on the book. We aim to cover two chapters of the book each week, all are welcome to join. Any questions please email wma@warwick.ac.uk

24/04 3pm-4:30pm: Truth and Truthfulness Reading Group

Stephen Houlgate — Wed, 16 Apr 2025 11:33:01 GMT

When: 3pm - 4:30pm, Thu, 24 Apr '25

Where: s1.50

08/05 3pm-4:30pm: Truth and Truthfulness Reading Group

Stephen Houlgate — Wed, 16 Apr 2025 11:33:01 GMT

When: 3pm - 4:30pm, Thu, 08 May '25

Where: s1.50

15/05 3pm-4:30pm: Truth and Truthfulness Reading Group

Stephen Houlgate — Wed, 16 Apr 2025 11:33:01 GMT

When: 3pm - 4:30pm, Thu, 15 May '25

Where: s1.50

22/05 3pm-4:30pm: Truth and Truthfulness Reading Group

Stephen Houlgate — Wed, 16 Apr 2025 11:33:01 GMT

When: 3pm - 4:30pm, Thu, 22 May '25

Where: s1.50

07/05 2pm-6pm: MEEP Mini-Workshop: Philosophy of Barbarism

Stephen Houlgate — Wed, 02 Apr 2025 09:46:59 GMT

When: 2pm - 6pm, Wed, 07 May '25

Where: Wolfson Research Exchange, Floor 2 Lib extension.

Weds. 7th May (Week 3), Wolfson Research Exchange (Library), 14:00-18:00

MEEP Mini-Workshop: "Philosophy of Barbarism"

14:00 - 15:45 Maria Boletsi (Leiden)

16:15 - 18:00 Quassim Cassam (Warwick)

Dinner and drinks at Radcliffe will follow. Any questions, please contact lorenzo.serini@warwick.ac.uk and oscar.north-concar@warwick.ac.uk

14/03 4pm-6pm: WMA Seminar: The Cultural Evolution of Speech Act Norms

Stephen Houlgate — Mon, 24 Feb 2025 15:55:02 GMT

When: 4pm - 6pm, Fri, 14 Mar '25

Where: A0.23

Mitch Green (Connecticut) - The Cultural Evolution of Speech Act Norms

After characterizing the notions of information, signal, and verbal signal, I note that since its inception in the mid-twentieth century, speech act theory has been carried on with little attention to how speech acts might have come about in the evolution of communication. I then explain some of the central ideas of cultural evolutionary theory. In that light I sketch a cultural-evolutionary account of the modern practice of assertion according to which that practice emerges from a series of increasingly adaptive “proto”-assertoric speech acts. I then offer a similar though more compact reconstruction for the evolution of imperatives. If these reconstructions are plausible, they suggest that assertoric and directive practices are adaptive in the communities in which they occur. They are therefore not arbitrary, contrary to one commitment incurred by conventionalist approaches to speech acts.

19/02 2:30pm-6pm: MEEP Internal Mini-workshop: 'Other MiInds, Practical Reason and McDowell's Heterodox Reading'

Stephen Houlgate — Tue, 11 Feb 2025 18:59:41 GMT

When: 2:30pm - 6pm, Wed, 19 Feb '25

Where: S0.21

MEEP Internal Mini-workshop

19 February, 2.30-6.00, S.021

2.30-3.45

Eliza Little: 'Other Minds, Practical Reason and McDowell's Heterodox Reading'.

3.45-4.15

Tea/coffee

4.15-5.00

Guy Longworth: Practical Knowledge of Other Minds.

5.00-5.45

Naomi Eilan: Self-consciousness and Objectivity: On the Role of Other Minds

14/02 11am-6pm: MEEP Workshop - Autobiographical Memory

Stephen Houlgate — Wed, 05 Feb 2025 09:46:46 GMT

When: 11am - 6pm, Fri, 14 Feb '25

Where: A1.05

WMA MEEP Workshop

Autobiographical Memory and Moral Agency

February 14, A1.05

The workshop is based on contributions to Daniel Vanello’s forthcoming collection, Autobiographical Memory and Moral Agency: an Interdisciplinary Perspective, Routledge, which he put together while he held a Leverhulme Fellowship here. The chapters on which the talks will be based are available for pre-read at:

Autobiographical memory workshop - papers

Programme

11-12

The Integrity of Moral Witnesses: Understanding Evil Through Autobiographical Memory, Daniel Vanello, UCL

12-1

Moral Agency and Responsibility in Autobiographical Remembering, Anthony Marcel and Lia Kvavilashvili, University of Hertfordshire

Lunch break

2-3

Episodic memory, memories, and the pleasures of remembering, Christoph Hoerl, University of Warwick

3-4

Autobiographical memory in narratives of addiction and recovery, Thomas Crowther, University of Warwick

Tea break

4.30-5.30

Auld Acquaintance: Remembering People, Naomi Eilan, University of Warwick.

29/01 11am-12pm: Stocker Reading Group

Stephen Houlgate — Tue, 07 Jan 2025 14:50:57 GMT

When: 11am - 12pm, Wed, 29 Jan '25

Where: S1.50

Week	Date	Chapter(s)	Room
2	15/01	1: Dirty Hands and Ordinary Life	S1.50
3	22/01	2: Moral Immorality	S1.50
4	29/01	3 + 4: Moral and Value Conflict	S1.50
5	05/02	5: Evaluative and emotional coherence	S1.50
7	19/02	6: Plurality and Choice	S1.50
8	26/02	7: Akrasia	S1.50
9	05/03	8: Monism, Pluralism and Conflict	S2.77
10	12/03	9 + 10: Conceptual and Evaluative Problems with Maximisation	S1.50

15/01 11am-12pm: Stocker Reading Group

Stephen Houlgate — Tue, 07 Jan 2025 14:49:47 GMT

When: 11am - 12pm, Wed, 15 Jan '25

Where: S1.50

Week	Date	Chapter(s)	Room
2	15/01	1: Dirty Hands and Ordinary Life	S1.50
3	22/01	2: Moral Immorality	S1.50
4	29/01	3 + 4: Moral and Value Conflict	S1.50
5	05/02	5: Evaluative and emotional coherence	S1.50
7	19/02	6: Plurality and Choice	S1.50
8	26/02	7: Akrasia	S1.50
9	05/03	8: Monism, Pluralism and Conflict	S2.77
10	12/03	9 + 10: Conceptual and Evaluative Problems with Maximisation	S1.50

22/01 2pm-7pm: WMA Mini Workshop "Experience and Rationality"

Stephen Houlgate — Mon, 02 Dec 2024 15:33:37 GMT

When: 2pm - 7pm, Wed, 22 Jan '25

Where: S0.19

09/12 4pm-7pm: WMA Event with Paula Rubio Fernandez

Stephen Houlgate — Thu, 28 Nov 2024 13:00:37 GMT

When: 4pm - 7pm, Mon, 09 Dec '24

Where: Lib2

On December 9th my group will host a talk from Paula Rubio Fernandez (https://www.mpi.nl/people/rubio-fernandez-paula). Paula has in recent years done important work on the relationship between pragmatics and theory of mind, on cross cultural differences in the organisation of intersubjective space, and on the collaborative foundations of reference.

Her talk will take place at 4pm on December 9th in Lib2 in the library. It's a large room and the talk is out of term time, so please feel free to share details of the talk with anyone who might be interested.
All are welcome. Title and abstract are below.
All the best;

Richard

The Cognitive Trinity of Common Ground

Paula Rubio-Fernandez

Human communication is built around interlocutors’ common ground (CG), or the information they assume to share. Despite having been the focus of intense interdisciplinary research for more than 60 years, we do not yet understand how CG works, or even what exactly it is. In this talk I will introduce a new research program that is essential to understanding CG: I propose to study CG as a product of cultural evolution. This approach requires identifying (i) those cognitive capacities that are required for the emergence of CG in human cognition, and (ii) how those capacities interact in (a) the development of CG through children’s social learning across cultures; (b) its formation through social interaction across the lifespan, and (c) its management in conversation across languages. I hypothesize that forming and using CG is a complex human ability that emerges from the interaction of three cognitive capacities — joint attention, shared memory, and the use of reference systems — under a rationality principle. This is what I informally call the Cognitive Trinity of Common Ground, which could also be described as a naïve model of rational memory.

27/11 12:30pm-2pm: WMA Seminar: "Joint Attention to Flavour"

Stephen Houlgate — Tue, 12 Nov 2024 11:16:19 GMT

When: 12:30pm - 2pm, Wed, 27 Nov '24

Where: S2.77

Giulia Martina (Dortmund) - "Joint Attention to Flavour"

Contact: eve.poirier@warwick.ac.uk

21/11 6pm-9pm: WMA Party

Stephen Houlgate — Mon, 28 Oct 2024 15:27:24 GMT

When: 6pm - 9pm, Thu, 21 Nov '24

Where: The Graduate, The Dirty Duck

Please join us for dinner and (a) drink to celebrate making it (almost) to the end of term 1 2024/25!

Please RSVP here!

contact: eve.poirier@warwick.ac.uk

10/10 4pm-6pm: WMA Seminar: Understanding ADHD

Stephen Houlgate — Fri, 20 Sep 2024 11:47:14 GMT

When: 4pm - 6pm, Thu, 10 Oct '24

Where: A0.23

Roberta Locatelli (Tübingen) - "Understanding ADHD and Bridging the Gap Between the Neurodiversity Model and the Disorder Model"

13/11 2:30pm-6pm: WMA Mini-Workshop: Address

Stephen Houlgate — Thu, 19 Sep 2024 10:43:20 GMT

When: 2:30pm - 6pm, Wed, 13 Nov '24

Where: S0.20

14:30 - 16:00 Richard Moore - Three Ways of Addressing Others

16:30 - 18:00 Naomi Eilan - Address and The Second Person

Contact: eve.poirier@warwick.ac.uk

16/10 2:30pm-6pm: WMA Mini Workshop: Self-Identification and Self-Alienation

Stephen Houlgate — Thu, 19 Sep 2024 10:42:34 GMT

When: 2:30pm - 6pm, Wed, 16 Oct '24

Where: S0.20

WMA Mini-Workshop: Self-Identification and Self-Alienation

16th Oct (Wed Wk3), S0.20, 14:30 - 18:00

To kick off our programme of events for this year, we are delighted to welcome from Nottingham both Dr. Craig French and Warwick alumnus Dr. Joe Cunningham for our Mini-Workshop on Self-Identification and Self-Alienation.

Programme:

14:30 - 16:00 Craig French (Nottingham) - "Experiences of Derealization: A Naïve Realist Account"

16:30 - 18:00 Joe Cunningham (Nottingham) - "What is the Deep Self?"

Please feel free to join us for drinks afterwards, likely in the Radcliffe bar on campus.

Contact: eve.poirier@warwick.ac.uk

16/10 11:30am-12:30pm: WMA Management Committee Meeting

Stephen Houlgate — Fri, 13 Sep 2024 14:10:50 GMT

When: 11:30am - 12:30pm, Wed, 16 Oct '24