Aktuellt

TRANSCENDING EUROPE

A conference organised by the "University of Helsinki Network for European Studies" project "Rethinking Cultural Diversity in Europe"

Date: 12. - 13. april 2012
Venue: University of Helsinki

Europe, today, is at pains with its universality. On the one hand, it appears as a universal construction that cannot satisfy particularistic passions within, and on the other hand, it appears as only a particular culture that cannot match the universality of the global world.

But what is European universality? In the conference "Transcending Europe" it will be studied as a philosophical concept: as the paradox of a "situated universality". Maybe European universality cannot be understood as a model that could be used as a source of identification, but rather as a regulative principle with ethical and political dimensions? Maybe Europe is not a particular idea imposing itself on a global framework of thought, but a desire of universality that can only be realöoised as a constant self-transgression and openness towards what is other to it?

The conference 'Transcending' Europe looks for new philosophical articulations of European universality, its way of being supranational without being global and of being ideal without being merely cultural.

The keynote speakers of the conference are Rodolphe Gasché, who has recently published "Europe, or the Infinite Task. A Study of a Philosophical Concept", and Denis Guénoun, whose "Hypothèses sur l'Europe: un essai de philosophie" will soon be published in English.


Program:
thursday 12. april
·      10-12 keynote adress Denis Guénoun: Active or passive transcendence?
·      12-13 lunch
·      13-14 Sergei Prozorov, What is the Other of Europe
·      14-15 Susanna Lindberg, Uprooted Europe
·      15-15.15 coffee
·      15.15-16.15 Peter Trawny, Europe and Revolution
·      16.15-17.15 Jayne Svenungsson, Christian Europe: Borders and
Boundaries  of a Mythological Conception

friday 13. april
10-12 keynote adress Rodolphe Gasché: "Is "Europe" an Idea in the
·      Kantian Sense?"
·      12-13 lunch
·      13-14 Matthias Flatscher: Different Ways to Europe. Critical
Remarks on Habermas and Derrida
·      14-15 Timo Miettinen: Crisis and Utopia
·      15-15.15 coffee
·      15.15-16.15 Mika Ojakangas: European Union: A Polity without Sense
·      16.15 - 17.15 Ari Hirvonen


For further information, contact Susanna Lindberg
(susanna.lindberg at helsinki.fi) or Tuomas Parsio
(tuomas.parsio at gmail.com)

Metaethics as a Confusion of Tongues

Series abstract
Can fundamental normative notions expressed by words like ‘good’, ‘ought’, and ‘reason’ be analyzed and explained?  Naïve attempts to explain the normative by investigating the conceptual meaning of normative words have been widely scorned and abandoned for several decades.  But successful semantic analyses may now be possible due to developments in our understanding of language and how it is used.  Study of normative words supports the End-Relational theory that things are good, reasons, or ought to be done only in relation to some end.  Many central problems of metaethics arise out of the ways normative language is used in practical contexts in pursuit of our ends, and can be resolved through a better appreciation of these conversational pragmatics.  This includes problems about the relationship between normative judgement and motivation, and the “categorical” character of moral claims.  Special attention is paid to problems concerning the nature and extent of normative disagreement.  A pragmatic solution to these metaethical problems has the virtues of expressivist views without their vices.

Lecture 1, Metaethics: Why and How?
27 februari kl. 13.15 -15, Hörsal E
Ethics or “practical philosophy” seeks to resolve disagreement about how we ought to act.  Questions in Metaethics concerning the metaphysics and semantics of the normative have important implications for the possibility of a method for Ethics.  But what method should we employ for Metaethics?  Traditionally, philosophers offered analyses of the meaning of normative language.  Today this analytic method stands in disrepute as a hopeless failure.  This lecture responds to four challenges: Primitivist, Expressivist, Externalist, and Revisionist.  While they may reveal the analytic method to be naïve, they do not show that it is not the right method for Metaethics.  A presumptive case can be made in its favour.


Lecture 2, The Semantics of ”Ought”
28 februari kl. 13.15 -15, Hörsal F
‘Ought’ is often claimed by moral philosophers to express an irreducibly normative concept.  The correct semantic theory of the word suggests otherwise, however.  The word ‘ought’ is used in a variety of different ways, but a relative of the standard semantics for modals due to Angelika Kratzer can provide a unifying analysis.  This analysis points toward an End-Relational theory of the normative ‘ought’ in terms of comparative probability of certain ends.  Special attention is paid to the meaning of the normative ‘ought’ in instrumental conditionals, which have puzzled many philosophers.  A compositional analysis identifying the instrumental ‘ought’ with the ‘ought’ of prediction generates a plausible reduction.

Lecture 3, The Pragmatics of Normative Disagreement
29 februari kl. 13.15 -15, Hörsal E

Many central problems of metaethics arise from uses of normative language—especially in moral discourse—that appear incompatible with the kind of simple semantics advanced for ‘ought’ in Lecture 2.  The Problem of Disagreement is a conspicuous case in point.  But might these features be explicable by supplementing a simple semantic theory with the right account of conversational pragmatics?  Exploring this idea for disagreement can be motivated by observing that similar problems confront any plausible semantic theory for ‘ought’.  It is argued that when combined with a basic and intuitive Instrumental Principle of pragmatics, the End-Relational theory of ‘ought’ systematically generates correct predictions about when normative claims disagree with each other.  This solution is “quasi-expressivist” in recognizing that normative disagreement does not always consist in a conflict in belief, but it enjoys significant advantages over expressivism proper.


Arrangör:
Institutionen för Idé- och Samhällsstudier, Umeå universitet
http://www.idesam.umu.se/om/amnen/filosofi/

Call for Papers til Slagmark nr. 65

Temaet for dette nummer er ”Helte og skurke”. Hvordan har begreberne ”helt” og ”skurk” historisk formet og reflekteret menneskets selvforståelse? Hvilken rolle spiller disse begreber i og for nutidens samfund? Hvorfor er mennesket så fascineret af helte- og skurkeskikkelser? Disse spørgsmål kan bl.a. diskuteres litterært, filosofisk, idéhistorisk, sociologisk, antropologisk og psykologisk, men bidrag fra alle faglige perspektiver og metoder er velkomne.

Deadline for indsendelse af artikler er 1. maj 2012. Forespørgsler, idéudkast og generelle spørgsmål rettes til Carsten Fogh Nielsen (filoffen1(a)hum.au.dk) eller Carla Birgitte Nielsen (cn(a)teo.au.dk). Artikelforslag sendes til helteogskurke(a)gmail.com.

Slagmark accepterer artikler på dansk, svensk, norsk og engelsk.

Læs det fulde call for papers på forlagets hjemmeside:
http://www.slagmark.dk/sider/CFP/65.pdf

***

Tidsskriftet Slagmark har eksisteret siden 1983. Det opstod i miljøet omkring Afdeling for Idéhistorie ved Aarhus Universitet, hvor det stadig har hjemme.

Slagmark dækker hovedområderne indenfor den vestlige idéhistorie: Den filosofiske tænknings historie, de æstetiske ideers historie, de politiske, økonomiske og sociale ideers historie samt naturvidenskabernes idéhistorie. 

Indenfor dette felt har tidsskriftet en ambition om både at kaste nyt lys over klassikere og at introducere et dansk publikum for danske og internationale emner og teoridannelser. Igennem tiden har Slagmark således aktualiseret gamle såvel som introduceret nye tanker og intellektuelle strømninger.

I hvert nummer ligger hovedvægten på temaartikler af førende forskere i ind- og udland, mens der midtvejs er et intermezzo med interviews og artikler udenfor tema. Hvert nummer indeholder til slut en fyldig anmeldelsessektion. Tidsskriftet henvender sig til idéhistorikere, filosoffer, sociologer, politologer, litterater og andre med interesse for den vestlige idéhistorie. Slagmark udkommer 3 gange om året.

Slagmark anser peer review for at være en vigtig del af arbejdet med at sikre tidsskriftets fortsat høje kvalitet. Alle artikler indsendt til Slagmark indgår i denne sammenhæng i en peer review-proces, hvor Slagmark både trækker på et panel af anerkendte danske og internationale forskere.

http://www.slagmark.dk

Early Modern Metaphysics of Causality and Representation
University of Turku, Department of Philosophy
16-17 December 2011
Publicum, Lecture Hall 4 (Pub4)


Friday 16 December 2011

9:30 Valtteri Viljanen: Opening words

9:35 Helen Hattab (University of Houston): Suarez and Descartes: A priori Arguments Against Substantial Forms and the Decline of the Formal Cause

10:35 Coffee

11:00 Frédéric Manzini (Catholic University of Paris): Spinoza?s Intuition as Opposed to Abstraction Rather Than to Deduction

Chair/Commentator: Mika Perälä (University of Jyväskylä

12:00 Lunch

13:15 Raffaella De Rosa (Rutgers University, Newark): Descartes? Causal Principle and the Case of Body-to-Mind Causation

14:15 Juhana Lemetti (University of Helsinki): Passive and Active Imagination in the Sixth Meditation

Chair/Commentator: Lilli Alanen (Uppsala University)

15:15 Coffee

15:45 Mogens Laerke (University of Aberdeen/ENS de Lyon): Spinoza and the Cosmological Argument According to Letter 12

16:45 Break

17:00 Valtteri Viljanen (University of Turku): The Architecture of Spinoza’s Ontology Geometrically Illustrated

Chair/Commentator: Juhani Pietarinen (University of Turku)

18:45 Dinner


Saturday 17 December 2011

9:30 Jon Miller (Queen’s University): Spinoza and the Stoics on Happiness

Chair/Commentator: Valtteri Viljanen (University of Turku)

10:30 Coffee

10:45 Justin Steinberg (Brooklyn College, CUNY): Spinoza on Mental Causation

Chair/Commentator: Olli Koistinen (University of Turku)

11:45 Lunch

13:30 Peter Myrdal (Uppsala University): Leibniz on Powers, Faculties, and Laws

Chair/Commentator: Markku Roinila (University of Helsinki)

14:30 Coffee

15:00 Jani Hakkarainen (University of Tampere): Hume?s Refutation of the Principle of Sufficient Reason

Chair/Commentator: Arto Repo (University of Turku)

16:00 Break

16:15 Andreas Schmidt (University of Tübingen): Kant and the Notion of Existence

17:15 Olli Koistinen (University of Turku): Kant on Representing Causality

Chair/Commentator: Hemmo Laiho (University of Turku)

19:00 Dinner


For more information, see http://users.utu.fi/valvil/EMMCR.htm
 

VACANT POSITION,  LINKÖPING UNIVERSITY

Postdoc in Applied Ethics (60%) at the Centre for Applied Ethics, Linköping University, Sweden.

The successful candidate will be expected to conduct research within ethics of technology and social ethics, analyzing ethical implications of surveillance technology and electronic identification documents such as e-passports. He or she will also be expected to do some teaching. This position is part of an emerging research environment with focus on Ethics, migration and surveillance technology.


Duties: A Postdoctor will essentially carry out research. The position may also involve teaching.

Qualifications: The position requires a doctorate or an equivalent degree in Moral philosophy or Ethics. The doctorate shall have been obtained no longer than three years before the expiration date of the application.

Equal opportunities: Linköping University shall continue to develop as an attractive and creative work place characterized by equal opportunities, and therefore works actively to promote diversity and gender equality.

Appointment time: A Postdoctor is appointed until further notice, but for no longer than two years.

Starting date: 2012-04-01

Salary: The University applies individual salary scales. Please specify the expected salary level in your application.

Information: For questions or an informal discussion about this position please contact Professor Göran Collste +46(0)13-281826 (goran.collste(a)liu.se), or Post doctoral research fellow Elin Palm , +46(0)13-28 5636 (elin.palm(a)liu.se).
Union representatative: Örjan Lönnevik (SACO), +46 (0)13-28 6634 (orjlo(a)ifm.liu.se, Gabriel Thott (OFR/S), +46 (0)11-36 3171 (gabriel.thott(a)isak.liu.se). Human Resources: Mats Tholander, tel + 46 (0)10-103 8496 (mats.tholander(a)liu.se) provide information on remuneration and other conditions.

 Application procedure: Your application marked with the Registration number LiU-2011-01870, accompanied by your Curriculum Vitae and other documents you may wish to refer to, must reach the University Registrar no later than 2012-01-31 at the following address:
e-mail: registrator(a)liu.se
or
Linköpings Universitet
Registrator
SE-581 83 Linköping
SWEDEN

Documents that are sent electronically shall be in the formats MS Word or pdf.

Applications submitted too late will not be considered.

Vi söker en doktorand i filosofi med inriktning bioetik och miljöetik inom ramen för det nya Mistraprogrammet Mistra Biotech. Programmet handlar om utveckling av grön bioteknologi.
 
Lämplig bakgrund är magisterexamen eller motsvarande i etik eller filosofi.

Även sökande med huvudexamen inom biologiskt eller jordbruksanknutet ämne kan komma i fråga. Kunskap om jordbruksfrågor och/eller bioteknologi är meriterande. Tjänsten kräver kunskaper i något skandinaviskt språk.

Utlysningstext med instruktioner hur man ansöker finns här:
http://www.kth.se/jobb/phd-phil

Sista datum för ansökan är 9 januari 2012.

Sprid gärna detta till sådana ni tror kan vara intresserade! Den som har frågor eller vill diskutera något är välkommen att kontakta mig.

Bästa hälsningar
Per Sandin

-------------------------------------------------

Per Sandin, Ph.D.

Senior Lecturer in Bioethics and Environmental Ethics
Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Uppsala

Dept of Plant Physiology and Forest Genetics
P.O. Box 7080
SE-75007 Uppsala, Sweden
Phone +46(0)18673342
e-mail: per.sandin(a)slu.se

http://www.slu.se/persandin

Samuel Weber in Helsinki 13–17 December 2011
http://figuresoftouch.com/?p=278

Samuel Weber, one of the leading American thinkers across the disciplines of literary theory, philosophy, and psychoanalysis will visit Helsinki in December 2011, invited by the Figures of Touch research project.

Weber will give three open lectures at Aalto/Taik. Additionally, he will be one of the main speakers at the Hölderlin Research Day on 17 December at Teak, which is also an open event. In the frame of Weber’s visit, Figures of Touch research project organizes in cooperation with the Media Aesthetics research group also a closed text seminar with Weber. Invited participants will be informed about the programme and readings in advance.

Weber’s open lectures at Taik focus on the topic of singlarity in regard to media, politics and poetics. The references he will take up include, among others, Leni Riefenstahl’s “Triumph of the Will”, Carl Schmitt’s thesis of “redemptive killing” and “911″. He will also discuss the relation of money, time, credit and credibility as well as the crisis of “sovereign debt” that is currently upon us. A further theme will be the significance of anxiety for psychoanalysis, but also for politics and culture more generally.

Samuel Weber’s open lectures

Aalto / Taik
Hämeentie 153 C, Helsinki
8th floor, lecture hall
10–12am

Tuesday 13 Dec: “Aesthetics, Media and Terror—Clouds”
Thursday 15 Dec: “Money is Time”
Friday 16 Dec: “On the Singularity of Poetic Knowledge”

––––––––

Samuel Weber is the Paul de Man Chair at the European Graduate School (EGS) and the Avalon Professor of Humanities at Northwestern University. Earlier he has also been a Professor of English and Comparative Literature at the University of California, Los Angeles, and the Director of the Northwestern University’s Paris Program in Critical Theory. He has played a major role in introducing and commenting the thinking of Mikhail Bakhtin, Walter Benjamin, Theodor Adorno, Jacques Derrida and Jacques Lacan in the United States. His work is not limited to the academic context. In numerous occasions he has engaged himself in debates that touch upon decisive questions of our time. He has also served as a dramaturge to German opera houses and theaters in Frankfurt, Stuttgart, Düsseldorf, and Ludwigsburg during the 1980s.
 

I 1900-talets brännspegel

Seminarium om Georg Henrik von Wrights essäistik

Fredagen den 4 november 2011,
Svenska litteratursällskapets hus, Riddaregatan 5, Helsingfors.

Georg Henrik von Wright gjorde sig ett namn inom 1900-talets filosofi genom sin engelskspråkiga produktion inom bland annat logik, handlingsfilosofi och etik, men har kanske alltid i sitt hemland varit mera känd för sin svenskspråkiga essäistiska insats som sträcker sig från essäer om Tolstoj och Dostojevskij, via populärvetenskapliga framställningar om filosofi, till 80–90-talens samtidskritiska debatter. Detta seminarium ger en bred inblick i von Wrights svenskspråkiga arbete och dess plats i 1900-talets tankeströmningar.

Programmet:
11–11.20 Henrik Meinander: Inledning
11.20–11.55 Johan Strang: Georg Henrik von Wright och Ingemar Hedenius ¬– rollen som intellektuell analytisk filosof i Finland och Sverige
12.00–12.35 Merete Mazzarella: Några synpunkter på Georg Henrik von Wright som essäist

Kaffe med smörgås

13–13.35 Anna-Stina Lindholm: Från tanke till omtanke – en undersökning av von Wrights och Lilius essäistik
13.40–14.15 Thomas Wallgren: Mitt i 1900-talets brännspegel: Den oförlösta spänningen mellan vetenskapstro och utvecklingspessimism som kreativ drivkraft i von Wrights verk
14.20–14.55 Bernt Österman: Värdefilosofin i von Wrights essäer

Efter föredragen fortsätter diskussionen fritt över ett glas vin fram till ca.15.50. Seminariet är öppet för allmänheten. För att vi ska kunna bedöma mängden av traktering som behövs vill vi gärna att du anmäler dig senast måndagen 31.10 till Bernt Österman, bernt.osterman(a)helsinki.fi.

Arrangörer är arbetsgruppen för von Wright, von Wright och Wittgenstein-arkivet vid HU samt SLS, med stöd från Svenska Kulturfonden.
http://www.helsinki.fi/wwa/

Guidelines for abstract proposal for presentation at the symposium

Philosophy with Children
– How and Why?

at the 40th NERA conference in Copenhagen, 8-10th of March 2012

Abstract
• A maximum of 350 words
• It is beneficial if the proposal indicates the following:
1. Title of paper
2. Author(s) of proposal
3. Research topic/aim
4. Theoretical and methodological framework (if applicable)
5. (Expected) conclusions/findings
6. Relevance to Nordic educational research
7. Attachment to NERA-network (i.e., Network 16: Nordic Society for Philosophy of
Education)
8. Attachment to NERA-symposium (i.e., the symposium entitled ”Philosophy with
Children – How and Why?”)
• Deadline for submission: 8th of November 2011
• Each presenter must submit the abstract separately (as a ”symposium presentation”)
• The abstract, paper and presentation must be in English.
• Submit your abstract through using the following Internet address:
http://nera2012.au.dk/callforpresentations/

Information about the symposium
The symposium regards philosophy with children (or even wider: philosophy in education), with focus on different perspectives on the performing of it and why it should be performed. The scope is broad, and theoretical as well as practical contributions are welcome. There will be a discussant at the symposium who have read the conference papers in advance and who will provide response. This requires that each presenter sends his or her conference paper to the discussant within appropriate time limits. More information about this will be sent to you further on.
Information about the specific date and time will be found in the general programme for the NERA conference presentations when this is set.

For other questions regarding the symposium: Please contact Ylva Backman, organiser of the symposium, at: ylva.backman(at)ltu.se

Further requirements
• All presenters are expected to bring copies of their papers (10-15 will be sufficient)
• Each participant must register to the general NERA conference to be able to participate in the symposium. Information about registration is to be found at:
http://nera2012.au.dk/registrationaccommodation/

For more (general) information about the 40th NERA conference,
please visit: http://nera2012.au.dk/
 

10th Anniversary of Helsinki Collegium for Advanced Studies
HCAS celebrates its 10th Anniversary on Thursday 20 October
http://www.helsinki.fi/collegium/events/anniversary.htm

Free admission but registration is required for catering purposes. Please sign up by sending an email to:

maria.soukkio(at)helsinki.fi

PROGRAMME:

Thursday 20 October
What’s the Use? The Human Sciences in Contemporary Society
Venue: Unioninkadun juhlahuoneistot, Unioninkatu 33, Helsinki

09:30 Refreshments
10:00 Welcome words by Chancellor Ilkka Niiniluoto and Director Sami Pihlström

Discussion: ”What’s the Use of the Human Sciences?”
Chair: Sami Pihlström

Professor Paavo Hohti, CEO, Council of Finnish Foundations
Professor Marja Makarow, Chief Executive, European Science Foundation 

12:00 o’clock  Lunch break

2:00 p.m. Teach in: "Putting Use into Action: Research done by Collegium Fellows"

5-minute short presentations by HCAS fellows
Chair: Anne Birgitta Pessi

William van Andringa: Religion and Integration: Learning from the Roman Empire Experiences
Kathryn Edwards: The Science of Spirits
Pentti Haddington: Conversation Analysis and Traffic Safety
Maijastina Kahlos: Outsiders and Human Rights - The Heritage of Late Antiquity Sari Kivistö: Johann Balthasar Schupp and a Seventeenth-century Satirical Utopia of Useful Knowledge
Nikolay Koposov: History and Democratic Citizenship
Rogier De Langhe: Understanding the Nature of Mankind's Most Valuable Economic Resource: Knowledge
Alejandro Lorite Escorihuela: Our Laws over Animal Life: Thinking the Global Dominion
Kirill Postoutenko: Social Asymmetries: What They Are, And How They Shape Our Lives.
Simon Rabinovich: Setting and Navigating the Boundaries of Religious Autonomy in the Modern State (tbc)
Peter Swirski: Two Cultures... and the Twain Shall Never Meet
Thomas Wallgren: Search for Truth as Search for Oneself: Socrates and Gandhi on the Unity of Philosophy and Politics
Sirpa Wrede: Professionalism as an Inequality Regime in Globalising Care

3:30 p.m. Coffee break

4:00 p.m. Concluding discussion
 
                                                      

An International PPhiG Symposium
Feminist Theory and the Philosophical Tradition

University of Helsinki, Finland
Main building, Room 5
Fabianinkatu 33, third floor
December 2nd, 2011

This symposium will explore the connections and the tensions between contemporary feminist theory and the tradition of philosophy. Contemporary feminist thinkers have appropriated the tradition of philosophy in imaginative ways, but these allegiances also divide feminist thinkers: they sometimes appropriate very different or even opposing philosophical ideas about the subject, gender and power, for example.

Some of the questions that we want to explore in this symposium are: How are various philosophical ideas and thinkers appropriated in contemporary feminist theory? What are the implications of these allegiances for our understanding of sex, gender, and sexuality? To what extent is it necessary for feminists to engage in a fundamental rethinking of philosophical concepts and categories in order to act politically in the present? Is it possible to identify something like ‘feminist philosophy’ or should we contend that there are only ‘feminist philosophies’ fundamentally contesting each other?

Keynote speaker: Dr Stella Sandford
Stella Sandford is Reader at the Centre for Research in Modern European Philosophy, Kingston University, London. She is the author of The Metaphysics of Love: Gender and Transcendence in Levinas (2001), How to Read Beauvoir (2006) and Plato and Sex (2010).

Program

10.15-10.30 Johanna Oksala: Welcome

10.30-12.00 Stella Sandford (Kingston University): Short Circuits: Contemporary Feminist Theory and the History of Philosophy

12.00-13.30 Lunch break

3.30-15.00 Panel I:
Miira Tuominen (University of Jyväskylä): Diotima and the Erôs of the Individual in Plato's Symposium
Eva Maria Korsisaari (University of Helsinki): The Discourse of Ennobling Love in Antiquity and the Middle Ages: Irigarayan Approaches

15.00-15.30 Coffee break

15.30-17.00 Panel II:
Rachel Jones (University of Dundee): Feminist Philosophy as a Post-Kantian Project: Irigaray's Transformation of the Transcendental
Tuija Pulkkinen (University of Helsinki): Traces of Hegelian Thought in Contemporary Feminist Theory

19.00 Dinner

This symposium is free and open to all. If you would like to attend the conference dinner (at your own expense), please send an email to tuija.modinos(at)helsinki.fi by November 15, 2011.

Organizer: Research team Politics of Philosophy and Gender (PPhiG), Centre of Excellence Political Thought and Conceptual Change, University of Helsinki. http://www.coepolcon.fi/pphig

Further information: Coordinator Tuija Modinos tuija.modinos(at)helsinki.fi
 

*** Filosoficafé 2.10 - Politisk konsumtion ***

Tid: Söndag 2.10.2011 kl. 17.00
Plats: Restaurang skolan (Historiesalen), Eriksgatan 18, Åbo
Inledare: Filosof Yrsa Neuman & statsvetare Henrik Serup Christensen, Åbo Akademi
Tema: Politisk konsumtion

Människors politiska preferenser styr också deras konsumtionsbeteende, eller åtminstone en del av det. Det kan röra sig om att bojkotta vissa produkter eller att medvetet köpa ekologiskt och rättvisemärkt. Men när kan man kalla konsumtionsval ”politiska”? Och fungerar det? I så fall när? Bidrar fenomenet politisk konsumtion till ett starkare medborgarsamhälle, eller kan utvecklingen vara ett hot mot demokratin?

Christensen och Neuman diskuterar dessa och andra frågor i relation till politisk konsumtion.

Fritt inträde & alla välkomna!

arrangör:

Folkets Bildningsförbund rf
Hagsgatan 12
20540 Åbo
tel 050 5147297
e-mail fbf (@) kaapeli.fi
www.fbf.fi

Helsinki Metaphysical Club 27.9.

Erkki Kilpinen:

"George Herbert Mead as an Empirically Responsible Philosopher"

The first meeting of the Helsinki Metaphysical Club for this academic year will take place in lecture room 19 of the University main building on 27 September at 4 pm. The meeting will include a presentation by Erkki Kilpinen and planning for the upcoming sessions during the autumn term.

Announcements about upcoming Metaphysical Club meetings in the autumn term will be posted (only) on the Finnish mailing list for pragmatism. To join this list, please visit
http://list.filosofia.fi/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/pragmatismi. (The page is also
available in English from the pull-menu on the upper right corner.)

Welcome!

Best wishes,
Henrik Rydenfelt
 

Ctrl-Z
New | Media | Philosophy
http://www.ctrl-z.net.au/#

Ctrl-Z is a peer-reviewed international online journal and exhibition space from the Centre for Culture&  Technology at Curtin University.

The journal flickers at the intersection of multiple possible relations between ‘new’, ‘media’ and ‘philosophy’, disrupting any notion of these being understood as a simple series of modifying terms. To what extent, for example, do ‘new media’ represent a new concept and mode of art, or provide for radically different forms of social and political practice?

What kinds of histories, social formations and aesthetic transformations may be called for or identified by ‘new media’ understood in the broadest possible sense of the term? What does philosophy have to say about new media, given that it has never had much to say about ‘old’ media? What are the implications of media—new or old—for the objects or fields of enquiry (existence, knowledge, ethics and so on) that have traditionally been the domain of philosophy? What might a philosophy of (new) media look like? What forms and concepts might it invent?

Alternatively, have art and philosophy been made redundant by new media?
Or can electronic and networked communications technologies function as new media of philosophical investigation and creative practice? Is a new philosophy (a ‘new ontology’, forinstance) or a philosophy of ‘the new’ possible today and, if so, to what extent must such philosophy allow for questions of (the) media? To what extent, too, do new media necessitate a rethinking of traditional concepts of communication and representation? If these concepts may be seen to underpin traditional ideas of community and the public (to which, historically, journalism has addressed itself), then what might new media have to say to and about contemporary political, professional and philosophical frameworks for traditional media practice? These and similar matters—questions concerning culture and technology, as it were—are the focus of Ctrl-Z, which welcomes creative and critical submissions in experimental, traditional and multimedia formats.

Editors:
Robert Briggs
Niall Lucy

Website:
http://www.ctrl-z.net.au/#!
 

Valon aika Turussa: Luonnontieteet ja Kunink. Akatemia 1700-luvulla

Ljusets tid i Åbo: Naturvetenskaperna och Kungl. Akademien på 1700-talet

Oppihistoriallinen seminaari Turun Akatemian luonnontieteellisestä kukoistuskaudesta 1700-luvulla pidetään Åbo Akademin Arkenissa 7 - 8 lokakuuta 2011, järjestäjinä Suomen oppihistoriallinen seura ja Suomen 1700-luvun tutkimuksen seura. Kotimaisten asiantuntijoiden lisäksi esitelmöitsijöitä saapuu Ruotsista, Venäjältä ja Saksasta. Esitelmät ovat suomeksi, ruotsiksi ja englanniksi ja koskevat Turun akatemiaa, luonnontieteitä, sekä kemiaa, fysiikkaa ja tähtitiedettä; erityishuomiossa on turkulainen matemaatikko Anders Johan Lexell. Ohjelmaan sisältyy kävely akatemiakortteleissa. Vapaa pääsy. Lisätietoja: Johan Stén (Johan.Sten(a)vtt.fi) tai Päivi Maria Pihlaja (Paivi.Pihlaja(a)helsinki.fi)

Ett lärdomshistoriskt seminarium om Kungliga Akademiens i Åbo naturvetenskapliga blomstringstid under 1700-talet hålls i Åbo Akademis Arken  den 7 - 8 oktober 2011. Seminariet organiseras av Finlands lärdomshistoriska samfund r.f. samt Finska sällskapet för 1700-talsstudier r.f. Utöver inhemska sakkunniga har talare inbjudits från Sverige, Ryssland och Tyskland. Föredragen hålls på finska, svenska och engelska, och berör Åbo Kungl. Akademi, naturvetenskaperna, samt kemin, fysiken och astronomin; speciell uppmärksamhet ägnas den Åbobördiga matematikern Anders Johan Lexell. Vandring genom akademikvarteren ingår i programmet. Fritt inträde. Tilläggsuppgifter och program: Johan Stén (Johan.Sten(a)vtt.fi) eller Päivi Maria Pihlaja (Paivi.Pihlaja(a)helsinki.fi)

http://www.helsinki.fi/historia/1700/su/dokum/akatemia.htm

ONE-DAY CONFERENCE

PRACTICAL CONFLICTS AND DEGREES OF MORAL RIGHTNESS

The Department of Philosophy at Stockholm University in association with the Swedish Research Council will host a one-day conference on  November 9th 2011. The conference seeks to address such questions as: What is the nature of moral conflict? Can conflicting obligations successfully be resolved into an all-things-considered moral verdict and, if so, what is the structure of such verdicts? Are deontic concepts such as rightness and wrongness binary or can they be a matter of degree?

Organiser: Anna Bergqvist

Please note that Prof. Wlodek Rabinowicz will also present at this conference.
The conference will therefore start at 9.30 am, and not at 10 am as previously
advertised.

Location: Stockholm University, Main Frescati Campus, Geovetenskapens Hus, Room U29.

Date: Wednesday 9 November 2011
Time: 9.30 am - 6 pm

CONFERENCE PROGRAM
[updated 20.10.2011]

9.30 – 10.15 Brief welcome and introduction, followed by Martin Peterson (Eindhoven) and Nicolas Espinoza (Stockholm): ‘Degrees of Moral Rightness’

10.15 – 11.15 Johan Brännmark (Lund): ‘About Right’

11.15 – 11.30 Coffee 11.30 – 12.30 Keynote Address: Jonathan Dancy (UT Austin): ‘More Right than Wrong’

12.30 – 13.45 Lunch

13.45 – 14.45 Wlodek Rabinowicz (Lund): ‘Aggregation of Value Judgments vs. Aggregation of Preferences’

14.45 – 15.45 Andrew Sepielli (Toronto): ‘What to Do When You Don’t Know What to Do When You Don’t Know What to Do’

15.45 – 16.00 Coffee

16.00 – 17.00 Björn Eriksson (Stockholm): ‘Degrees of Moral Wrongness’

17.00 – 18.00 Alan Thomas (Tilburg): 'Laws and Generalisations in Ethics’

REGISTRATION
If you wish to attend, please contact Anna Bergqvist
(anna.bergqvist(at)philosophy.su.se). The conference is free of charge, but places
are limited. The deadline for registration is October 31st 2011. There will be a
dinner afterwards (at self-cost). If you wish to attend the conference dinner,
please indicate this in the email. Email to Anna Bergqvist
anna.bergqvist(at)philosophy.su.se

Campus map:
http://www.su.se/english/about/campus/maps/frescati

Travel directions:
http://www.su.se/english/about/campus/getting-to-stockholm-university Please forward this information to anyone you think might be interested. Thank you.
 

CFP:

ESITELMÄKUTSU

Kutsumme 1800-luvusta kiinnostuneita eri alojen tutkijoita osallistumaan 1800-luvun tutkimuksen verkoston neljänteen vuosiseminaariin

Modernin kohtaaminen 1800-luvulla

1800-lukua luonnehtivat monenlaiset aatteet, ismit ja ilmiöt, joita voidaan kutsua modernin ilmentymiksi. Miten moderni kohdattiin 1800-luvun tieteessä, taiteessa ja kirjallisuudessa, miten arjessa ja juhlassa? Miten siihen vaikuttivat sukupuoli, säätyasema ja maantiede? Mitä modernin omaksuminen, puolustus tai vastustus merkitsi makro- ja mikrotasolla? Mitä annettavaa modernin käsitteellä on nykytutkimukselle? Yhtenä erityisaiheena on näyttämötaide. Miten moderni kohdattiin oopperassa, teatterissa tai kabareessa? Session "Näyttämöillä! / På scener! / On Stages!" keynote-esitelmöitsijä on yhdysvaltalainen Roberta M. Marvin. Lisätietoja: anne.sivuoja[at]siba.fi.

Konferenssi järjestetään Helsingissä 26.-27.1.2012 yhteistyössä Topelius-seuran kanssa. Järjestelytoimikuntaan kuuluvat Anna Kuismin (Helsingin yliopiston tutkijakollegium), Eeva-Liisa Bastman (Helsingin yliopisto), Kaisa Kauranen (SKS & Helsingin yliopisto) ja Kirsi Tuohela (Turun yliopisto).

Pyydämme ehdotuksia yksittäisistä esityksistä (20 min.) tai kolmen esityksen
kokonaisuuksista. Ehdotuksesta tulee käydä ilmi esitelmän otsikko sekä henkilö- ja yhteystiedot. Korkeintaan yhden A4-liuskan mittaiset tiivistelmät lähetetään järjestelytoimikunnan jäsenille 30.11.2011 mennessä (anna.kuismin[at]helsinki.fi, eeva-liisa.bastman[at]helsinki.fi, kaisa.kauranen[at]finlit.fi, kirsi.tuohela[at]utu.fi.

Konferenssin kielinä ovat suomi ja ruotsi, mutta esiintyä voi myös englanniksi.

http://www.finlit.fi/tutkimus/1800/index1800.htm


CALL FOR PAPERS

Vi inbjuder forskare från olika vetenskapsområden att delta i nätverket för
1800-talsstudiers fjärde årskonferens som går under temat

1800-talet och mötet med det moderna

1800-talet karakteriseras av ett flertal fenomen, ideologier och ismer som kan ses som yttringar av moderniteten. Hur möttes tradition och modernitet i 1800-talsmänniskornas vardag och fest? Hur kom dessa möten till uttryck inom vetenskapen, konsten och litteraturen? Vilken inverkan hade faktorer som kön, stånd eller geografi på sättet att förhålla sig till det moderna? På vilka sätt bejakade, försvarade eller förkastade man moderna intryck och idéer och vilka blev konsekvenserna på makro- och mikronivå? Vad kan begreppet modernitet tillföra forskningen?

Konferensen ordnas i Helsingfors den 26.-27.1.2012 i samarbete med Topeliussällskapet. Organisationskommittén består av Anna Kuismin (Forskarkollegiet vid Helsingfors universitet), Eeva-Liisa Bastman (Helsingfors universitet), Kaisa Kauranen (Finska litteratursällskapet & Helsingfors och Kirsi Tuohela (Turun yliopisto).

Intresserade ombeds komma med förslag på föredrag (20 min.) eller förslag på helheter med tre föredrag. Abstraktet (max. en A4:a) förses med föredragets rubrik samt forskarens namn och kontaktuppgifter och sänds till organisationskommitténs medlemmar senast den 30.11.2011 (eeva-liisa.bastman[at]helsinki.fi, kaisa.kauranen[at]finlit.fi, anna.kuismin[at]helsinki.fi, kirsi.tuohela[at]utu.fi).

Konferensspråken är finska och svenska men föredrag kan också hållas på engelska.

http://www.finlit.fi/tutkimus/1800/index1800.htm
 

Uppsala University welcomes applications for the Chair in Theoretical Philosophy (previously named "Chair in Logic and Metaphysics"). The position has existed since 1604 and has previously been held by, among numerous others, Stig Kanger and Krister Segerberg. The successful candidate does not need any prior proficiency in Swedish but is expected to be able to teach and to take part in departmental meetings in Swedish within two years.

There is information on the web:
http://www.personalavd.uu.se/ledigaplatser/962Chair.html
 

Nordic Network for German Idealism (NNGI)
Sixth international conference
German Idealism Today

October 31 — November 2 2011
Aarhus University, Denmark
Lakeside Lecture Theatre
(Sø-auditoriet)

The conference is sponsored by Nordforsk and The Department of Philosophy and History of Ideas, Aarhus University

Attendance is free but prior registration is required at:
www.webshop.dpu.dk/german_idealism_today_2011
Please visit nngi.org for further information

Speakers:
Markus Gabriel
Universität Bonn
Sebastian Gardner
University College London
Arne Grøn
University of Copenhagen
Rolf-Peter Horstmann
Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
Stephen Houlgate
University of Warwick
Axel Hutter
Ludwig-Maximillians-Universität München
Robert Pippin
University of Chicago
Sebastian Rödl
Universität Basel
Camilla Serck-Hanssen
University of Oslo
Günter Zöller
Ludwig-Maximillians-Universität München
 
The program can be found here:
http://www.idealismekredsen.dk/blog/wp-content/Endeligt-program-uden-PhD...
 

Levinas' ethics and the demand of politics

Colloquium in honour of the 50th anniversary of Emmanuel Levinas' magnum opus Totalité et infini. Languages. English and Finnish.

Organised by the discipline of Philosophy of the School of Social Sciences and Humanities of the University of Tampere

The 28 october 2011,
Venue PinniB 1097 (http://www.uta.fi/english/locations.html)

This year is the 50th anniversary of Emmanuel Levinas' magnum opus Totalité et infini. Essai sur extériorité (Totality and infinity: Essay on exteriority). The book is one of the essential classics of the 20th century. In it, Levinas confronts philosophy with the terrifying experience of war, and against this background he draws the outline of the first phenomenological ethics, developped by means of an existential phenomenology.

Totalité et infini has been an extremely influential book, because it formulates most radically the idea that the measure of humanity is an infinite responsibility of the other human being. Although this main idea is generally held to be very impressive, the book has also risen several important debates concerning the task of philosophical ethics. Levinas' way of grounding ethics on intimate experience has made feminist philosophers ask whether Levinas' explicitely masculine point of view is a force or a weakness. Furthermore, Levinas' demand of an infinite responsibility of the other has not been understood only as the foundation of  personal ethics, but also as a question adressed to the 20th century political theories (like marxism and liberalism) that seem to be incompatible with such an ethics. On the other hand Levinas has also been said to underestimate politics (e.g. Jacques Derrida, Adieu à Emmanuel Levinas, Alain Badiou, L'éthique: essai sur la conscience du mal). This is why we ask: what is Levinas' ethics? To what extent does Levinas' ethics challenge politics, to what extent does it is on the contrary challenged by politics?


Konferenssin pääpuhuja on prof. Danielle Cohen-Levinas (Université Paris IV, La Sorbonne). Hän on filosofi, musikologi ja runoilija, joka on erikoistunut yhtäältä saksalaisen idealismin musiikinfilosofiaan, sellaisiin nykyajattelijoihin kuin Rosenzweig, Benjamin, Adorno, Levinas, Derrida, Blanchot, Nancy, sekä myös juutalaiseen filosofiaan. Hän on julkaissut useita kirjoja, ja toimittanut mm. kokoelmat Emmanuel Levinas, Pour une philosophie de l'hétéronomie (Bayard 2006), Levinas et les théologies (co-dir. Shmuel Trigano) (InPress 2007), Levinas/Derrida: lire ensemble, (co-éd. Marc Crépon) (Éditions Herrman, à paraître) sekä Lire Totalité et infini d'Emmanuel Levinas. Études et interprétations. Herrman, 2011.

Program (changes are possible)

10.00 Opening of the conference (Susanna Lindberg)
10.15-11.15 Prof. Danielle Cohen-Levinas (in English)
11.15- 11.45 Irina Poleschuk (in English)
11.45 - 12.45 lunch
12.45 - 13.15 Tommi Wallenius
13.15 - 14.45  Olli-Pekka Moisio
14.45 - 15.15 Marke Europaeus
15.15. - 15.30 pause
15.30 - 16.00 Virpi Lehtinen
16.00 - 16.30 Ilmari Kortelainen
16.30 - 17.00 Mika Ojakangas
17.00 - 17.15 pause
17.15 - 17.45 Janne Porttikivi
17.45 - 18.15 Riku Roihankorpi

Further information: lecturer of philosophy Susanna Lindberg, Susanna.E.Lindberg(at)uta.fi
 
****************************************************************

Levinasin etiikka ja politiikan vaatimukset
Levinas' ethics and the demand of politics
Colloquium (in English and in Finnish) in honour of the 50th anniversary of Emmanuel Levinas' magnum opus Totalité et infini; English translation below.

Konferenssi Emmanuel Levinasin pääteoksen Totalité et infini. Essai sur extériorité (Totality and infinity: Essay on exteriority) 50-vuotisjuhlan kunniaksi.

Järjestäjänä Filosofian oppiaine, Kulttuurin ja yhteiskunnan tutkimuksen yksikkö, Tampereen yliopisto.

Aika: 28. 10. 2011, klo 10 - 18.45.
Paikka Pinni B 1097
Venue PinniB 1097 (http://www.uta.fi/esittely/sijainti.html)

Emmanuel Levinasin pääteoksen Totalité et infini. Essai sur extériorité (Totality and infinity: Essay on exteriority) julkaisemisesta tulee tänä vuonna kuluneeksi 50 vuotta.  Kirja on yksi 1900-luvun filosofian itseoikeutetuista klassikoista. Levinas tuo siinä filosofian vastatusten kauhistuttavan sodan kokemuksen kanssa, ja hahmottelee tätä taustaa vasten ensimmäisen varsinaisen fenomenologisen etiikan, jonka hän kehittelee eksitentiaalisesti painottuneen fenomenologian keinoin.

Totalité et infini on ollut tavattoman vaikutusvaltainen teos ennen kaikkea siksi, että se sisältää radikaaleimman mahdollisen ajatuksen siitä, että ihmisyyden mitta on ääretön vastuu toisesta ihmisestä. Vaikka Totalité et infinin perusajatusta yleensä pidetäänkin hyvin vaikuttavana, teos on myös herättänyt useita merkittäviä kiistoja filosofisen etiikan tehtävästä. Levinasin tapa perustaa etiikka intiimiin kokemukseen synnytti feminismin piirissä kiistan siitä, onko Levinasin eksplisiittisesti maskuliinen näkökulma hänen teoriansa voima vai heikkous. Edelleen, Levinasin vaatimusta äärettömään vastuuseen toisesta ei ole ymmärretty vain henkilökohtaisena vaatimuksena, vaan myös kysymyksenä siitä, missä määrin 1900-luvun vaikuttavista poliittisista teorioista kuten marxilaisuudesta tai liberalismista puuttuu etiikka. Toisaalta Levinasia on myös syytetty politiikan merkityksen vähättelemisestä (Jacques Derrida, Adieu à Emmanuel Levinas, ja nyttemmin Alain Badiou, L'éthique: essai sur la conscience du mal (suom. Etiikka: essee pahan tiedostamisesta). Sen takia kysymyksemme kuuluukin: mitä on Levinasin etiikka? Missä määrin Levinasin etiikka haastaa politiikan ja missä määrin päin vastoin politiikka haastaa sen?

Konferenssin pääpuhuja on prof. Danielle Cohen-Levinas (Université Paris IV, La Sorbonne). Hän on filosofi, musikologi ja runoilija, joka on erikoistunut yhtäältä saksalaisen idealismin musiikinfilosofiaan, sellaisiin nykyajattelijoihin kuin Rosenzweig, Benjamin, Adorno, Levinas, Derrida, Blanchot, Nancy, sekä myös juutalaiseen filosofiaan. Hän on julkaissut useita kirjoja, ja toimittanut mm. kokoelmat Emmanuel Levinas, Pour une philosophie de l'hétéronomie (Bayard 2006), Levinas et les théologies (co-dir. Shmuel Trigano) (InPress 2007), Levinas/Derrida: lire ensemble, (co-éd. Marc Crépon) (Éditions Herrman, à paraître) sekä Lire Totalité et infini d'Emmanuel Levinas. Études et interprétations. Herrman, 2011.

Ohjelma (muutokset mahdollisia)

10-00 - 10.15 Konferenssin avaus (Susanna Lindberg)
10.15-11.15 Prof. Danielle Cohen-Levinas (englanniksi)
11.15- 11.45 Irina Poleschuk (englanniksi)
11.45 - 12.45 lunch
12.45 - 13.15 Tommi Wallenius
13.15 - 14.45  Olli-Pekka Moisio
14.45 - 15.15 Marke Europaeus
15.15. - 15.30 pause
15.30 - 16.00 Virpi Lehtinen
16.00 - 16.30 Ilmari Kortelainen
16.30 - 17.00 Mika Ojakangas
17.00 - 17.15 pause
17.15 - 17.45 Janne Porttikivi
17.45 - 18.15 Riku Roihankorpi

Lisätietoja: filosofian yliopistonlehtori Susanna Lindberg, Susanna.E.Lindberg(at)uta.fi

Filosofian opiskelijoilla on mahdollisuus kirjoittaa konferenssista raportti osana suoritusta PHILAIK5 Etiikka tai PHILSY 1 E Etiikka ja yhteiskuntafilosofia. Kiinnostuneet kutsutaan valmistelevaan istuntoon 20.9. klo 12-14 Pinni B 3108.
 

*** FBF:s Filosoficafé 18.9 - Vårt behov av andra för att bli oss själva - Victoria Fareld ***

Inledare: Idéhistoriker Victoria Fareld, Göteborgs universitet
Tema: "Vårt behov av andra för att bli oss själva. Om Hegel, erkännande och utsatthet"
Tid: Söndag 18.9.2011 kl. 17.00
Plats: Restaurang skolan (Historiesalen), Eriksgatan 18, Åbo

Fritt inträde & alla välkomna!

Synopsis

Fareld diskuterar om man kan bygga en politisk filosofi på människors beroenden och sårbarhet istället för på deras självständighet, socialitet eller förnuftskapacitet. Med 1800-tals filosofen Hegel som bundsförvant omformulerar hon den politisk-filosofiska frågan om människors behov av erkännande och argumenterar för en filosofi som utgår från människors utsatthet - en vidkännandets filosofi.

Victoria Fareld är författare till boken "Att vara utom sig inom sig : Charles Taylor, erkännandet och Hegels aktualitet".

Victoria Fareld är författare till boken "Att vara utom sig inom sig : Charles Taylor, erkännandet och Hegels aktualitet".

http://www.daidalos.se/sok?11_bookView=1&11_subject=388

http://www.dn.se/dnbok/bokrecensioner/g-w-f-hegel-andens-fenomenologivictoria-fareld-att-vara-utom-sig-inom-sig

--
Folkets Bildningsförbund r.f.
Hagsgatan 12
FIN-20540 Åbo
tel 050 5147297
e-post fbf (@) kaapeli.fi
www.fbf.fi

Hei / Dear all (in English below),

Prof. Huw Price (University of Sydney; Cambridge) luennoi Helsingin yliopistossa otsikolla "Rethinking Representationalism" 12-14 syyskuuta 2011.

Kurssin järjestää Nordic Pragmatism Network yhteistyössä teoreettisen filosofian oppiaineen kanssa. Lisätietoja kurssille ilmoittautumisesta, kurssin suorittamisesta sekä materiaaleista on osoitteessa:

http://www.nordprag.org/nlp1.html

Professor Huw Price (University of Sydney; Cambridge) will give a set of six lectures with the title "Rethinking Representationalism" at the University of Helsinki in 12-14 September 2011.

The course is organized by the Nordic Pragmatism Network in cooperation with Theoretical Philosophy at the University of Helsinki. For more information about enrolment and completion as well as the course materials, please see:

http://www.nordprag.org/nlp1.html


Parhain terveisin / Best wishes,
Henrik Rydenfelt
 

Professor (em.) ALAN KIRMAN (Université d'Aix-Marseille) will give a lecture on

"The crisis in economic theory"

TIME AND PLACE:
Thursday, September 1st, 18:15 – 19:15
Small Festival Hall (Pieni Juhlasali), University Main Building

ABSTRACT:
In this presentation I will discuss modern macroeconomic and financial models in the light of the current crisis. Theory has been revealed to be inadequate in its explanation of the origins and the nature of the crisis, as Jean-Claude Trichet the Governor of the European Central bank and his colleagues at other central banks have indicated. Basic macroeconomic models, however sophisticated have continued to be based on the same foundations shown to be wanting in the 1970s and financial market models have continued to use the « efficient markets hypothesis » despite warnings by numerous mathematicians and economists since 1900 as to its unsound foundations. I will not dwell on the details of standard macroeconomic models but will suggest some ways forward. We need to construct models, which may not be able to predict the timing of the onset of a crisis but will encompass the possibility of one. The most promising candidates for such models are those, which view the economy as a complex adaptive system, may use some of the tools of statistical physics and do not necessarily use the standard equilibrium approach. Such models put the interactions between individuals in the centre of the picture, and reveal how major changes in the states of the economy can result, as in many models in physics and in biology, from relatively minor changes in key parameters. Crises are a characteristic of the endogenous dynamics of the system and not the result of some unspecified exogenous shocks.

The visiting lecture is a part of the IX conference of the International Network of
Economic Methodology (INEM 2011), but OPEN FOR ALL.

For further enquiries, please contact paivi.a.seppala(at)helsinki.fi

Welcome!
 

4th Edition
BUCHAREST CONFERENCE IN APPLIED ETHICS 2011
“Ethical Aspects in New and Emerging Technologies”
October 28-29, 2011
Bucharest, Romania

[CALL FOR PAPERS]

What are the ethical challenges raised by the new and emerging technologies? How will these technologies affect the way we perceive ourselves and the society at large? Can we establish a common ground for evaluating the moral implications of any new or emerging technology? Should we be more cautious or should we let the chance take its course when we develop a new technology? In a world more and more concerned with the risks of its developments, these questions come to open the public debate on the need for ethical evaluation in technology research, development and implementation.

The 4th edition of the Bucharest Conference in Applied Ethics will provide the platform to make this debate as rich as possible for both specialists and the public. Our aim is to bridge the academic sector with the economic and research sectors and discover the ways ethical evaluation can lead to smoother acceptance of those technologies that best respond to our common ethical concerns.

The BCAE 2011 is being organized by a consortium of organizations with Smart Solutions & Support, Romania, and the Research Centre in Applied Ethics of the University of Bucharest as coordinators. Among our partners are the UNESCO Romanian National Committee and Victor Babeş National Institute of Pathology Bucharest (Romania).

The 2011 edition will be dedicated to ethical explorations in borderline fields regarding new and emerging technologies, with a particular focus on ethical evaluation and the new democratic societies. Five directions of interest have been set up. Each direction is circumscribed by subsequent topics that might guide the specialists interested in delivering presentations or participating with corporate presentation panels:

1. INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGIES & GAMES: privacy issues; piracy and free access to knowledge; digital divide; Information Society and public participation; Informational Capitalism vs. Info-Communism; aesthetic ownership in games; on-line pornography and regulating the Internet; the new Internet security enhancements.
2. MEDICINE & PHARMACEUTICS: BioBanks and Human Genetic Information Security; ethical aspects of Cell Therapies; new drugs research ethical evaluation.
3. ROBOTICS & ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE: the proliferation of robots in industries and the social impact on labour; the proliferation of robots in home environments; robots, humans and moral agency; robot enhanced reality; interconnected sexual robots.
4. BIOTECHNOLOGIES & ARTIFICIAL LIFE: Bioengineered foods, food safety and moral concerns; seeds and food labelling; bio-terrorism and moral use of biotechnologies; artificial life and moral agency.
5. NANOTECHNOLOGIES: military vs. civil research and usage of nanotechnologies; human enhancement; privacy and freedom in ICT applications of nanotechnologies; ethical responsibilities in nanotechnology research.

To provide an integrative perspective over the ethical aspects and social impact of New and Emerging Technologies in the European Union, we also propose three longitudinal topics covering the five directions. The first topic examines the fairness of technology transfer between Western democracies and those from the rest of Europe. The second one focuses on intellectual property, identity and knowledge control in the era of logical and biological malleability. The last one proposes the mapping of social inequalities and knowledge gaps driven by new and emerging technologies.

The conference will also host a 3 hours public round-table. The topic will be “Experts vs. Participatory Democracy: what kind of policies should we have for new and emerging technologies?” The keynote speakers will be announced by October 1, 2011.

Only one paper per person/research group is permitted and must represent an original contribution, not published or submitted elsewhere. Early submissions are highly encouraged. This way, the prospective participants may receive the acceptance letters sooner. Prospective participants must send a 400 words abstract by August 29, 2011, and final papers by September 19, 2011. Papers will circulate before conference and will be temporarily published on the official website. After the conference, a selection of the presented papers will be published in the BCAE Proceedings. The selection will be determined via a peer reviewing system with the support of the Scientific Advisory Board.

The official language is English and papers must be proofread before submission. All papers must observe the editorial guidelines and must be prepared for blind-review (one Word/OpenOffice file containing the title, author's name, and the academic affiliation + a separate Word/OpenOffice file containing the 400-words abstract with only the title). All correspondence should be sent to: 2011(at)bcae.ro.

Companies and their representatives are encouraged to participate with conference lectures or presentation panels about their technologies and the ethical frameworks they employ in assessing their technologies. Special panel sessions (2 days show cases) and conference open space will be provided to them. Live presentations of their technologies can be set up during the 2 days. Refer to “Company package” from our website. Inquiries should be directed to corporate(at)bcae.ro.

There is no participation fee, but the participants will have to manage on their own travelling and accommodation costs. The organizers will provide a list of hotels (3, 4 and 5 stars), close to the conference hall, that can accommodate the participants.

BCAE has been developed mainly as a debate and experience sharing platform where theorists and practicians meet together and discuss the most important topics in the fields of Applied Ethics. The general aim of these conferences is the advancement of significant solutions for the real word.
www.bcae.ro

Previous Editions:
3rd Edition: “Legislating Ethics”
October 29-30, 2010; University of Bucharest, Faculty of Philosophy
2nd Edition: “Ethics Committees and Other Ethical Tools”
October 30-31, 2009; University of Bucharest, Faculty of Philosophy
1st Edition: “Ethical Management, Corporate Strategy, and Sustainable Development”
October 30-31, 2009; University of Bucharest, Faculty of Philosophy
 

CFP Nordic Wittgenstein Review

FIRST CALL FOR PAPERS: Nordic Wittgenstein Review

The new journal Nordic Wittgenstein Review invites submissions.

The journal welcomes original contributions on all aspects of Wittgenstein's thought and work - exegetical studies as well as papers drawing on Wittgensteinian themes and ideas in  contemporary discussions of philosophical problems.

The journal is interdisciplinary in character, and welcomes contributions in the subject areas of philosophy and other human and social studies including philology, linguistics, cognitive science, and others. The journal includes a book review section, and a section in which high-quality seminal works are re-published or where previously unpublished archive materials are made available for the first time.

While we encourage papers on Wittgenstein and Ethics for the first issue of the journal, we would also welcome submissions on other themes.

The journal articles will be interlinked with other online Wittgenstein resources such as Wittgenstein Source (www.wittgensteinsource.org, containing 5000 pages of Wittgenstein Nachlass material). By the help of high quality peer review and indexing, the journal will provide its contributors with academic support and wide visibility.

INSTRUCTIONS FOR AUTHORS: http://www.nordicwittgensteinreview.com

Theme: Wittgenstein-related research
Publication: Nordic Wittgenstein Review, Issue 1 (2012) – Submission
deadline: Dec. 1, 2011
Publication form: Open Access online & Print by Ontos Verlag
Form of peer-review: Double-blind
Range: International
Language: English

Published by the Nordic Wittgenstein Society.

FURTHER INFORMATION
http://www.nordicwittgensteinreview.com
 

The international conference Axel  Hägerström and Modern Social Thought, on occasion of the centennial of  his 1911 lecture On the Truth of Moral Ideas, will take place on  September 23-24 in Uppsala.

For information: www.hagerstromcentennial.se

Välkommen till filosofiseminarium i Hangö i augusti 2011!

Det traditionella filosofiseminariet ordnas 19.-21.8.2011 i Hangö. Om
jag inte räknat fel, så är det faktiskt 10-års(!) jubileum för seminariet i år. Programmet och de praktiska arrangemangen följer samma mönster som tidigare. Bakom arrangemanget och finansieringen står Interbaas rf.

Avsikten med seminariet är att i en informell omgivning diskutera frågor kopplade till ämnet filosofi på ett filosofiskt sätt. Vi fortsätter att behandla ämnen som är relevanta för såväl akademisk som mer tillämpad filosofi. Alla filosofiintresserade är välkomna!

I år kretsar frågorna och programmet kring olika sätt att förverkliga och leda filosofiska samtal i grupp. Vi bekantar oss med och jämför olika sätt och metoder att göra filosofi tillsammans. Programmet kommer att bestå av en sokratisk dialog, två workshopaktiga programpunkter (Filosofi med barn – en presentation av ett projekt vid Helsingfors kulturcentral Annegården samt Filosofi i Oscar Brenifiers anda) och en avslutande diskussion. Vi återkommer med detaljer i början av augusti.

Programmet börjar punktligt kl 18 på fredagen 19.8 hos familjen Garoff, Högbergsgatan 5 i Hangö. En del av diskussionerna och måltiderna äger rum på Café Park mitt emot Hangö Casino, eller utomhus om vädret tillåter. Seminariet avslutas med söndagens frukost. Det är möjligt att ta sig ett morgondopp före frukosten.

Att delta i seminariet är gratis och seminariedeltagarna bjuds på filosofiskt stimulerande program, övernattning hos Garoffs, hemlagad middag på fredag, frukost och lätt lunch på lördag på Café Park samt frukost på söndag. På lördag äter vi middag på restaurang där varje deltagare betalar för sin egen mat och dryck.

Så boka in datumen i kalendern och anmäl ditt intresse att delta till adressen marianne.airisniemi(a)helsinki.fi. Vi skickar mer information när datumet närmar sig. Meddela också gärna ifall du inte tänker övernatta hos Garoffs.

Om du har frågor, kontakta Ferdinand Garoff, ferdinand.garoff(a)gmail.com eller Marianne Airisniemi, marianne.airisniemi(a)helsinki.fi.

mvh, Marianne Airisniemi
Interbaas rf.
tel. + 358 50 358 9640

IAPh Helsinki Summer Symposium on Feminist Philosophy
17th - 18th June 2011

University of Helsinki
Metsätalo, Unioninkatu 40 (U 40)

Friday 17th June
Venue: U 40, 3rd floor, sali/room 6

10.30 – 12.00
Welcome: Tuija Pulkkinen
Key note
Denise Riley: ‘Time lived, but without its flow’: on an altered experience of temporality, after a child’s death
Annemie Halsema: Understanding the Body. The Relevance of Ricoeur´s View of the Body for Feminist Theory

12.00 – 13.30                    Lunch

13.30 – 15.15
Stella Villarmea: Conceptual change and critical rationality in emancipatory languages
Waltraud Ernst: Explicit laws and implicit rules: epistemological considerations on gender and the erotic
Tuija Pulkkinen: The Role of Darwin in Elizabeth Grosz’s feminist thought
 
15.15–16.00                      Coffee break

16.00 – 18.00
Helsinki Doctoral students’ presentations (PPhiG):
Sanna Karhu: Judith Butler on Norms and Subjectivity
Heini Kinnunen: The Term “Public Sphere” in Iris Marion Young’s Work
Jacek Kornak: “Queer” as a Political Concept
Eeva Urrio: Elizabeth Grosz and the Feminist Politics of Unpredictability

Saturday 18th June
U 40, 2nd floor, sali/room 2

 10.30 – 12.15
Penelope Deutscher: Briefly, Precarious, Immune: Reproductive Biopolitics, Judith Butler and Roberto Esposito
Veronica Vasterling: The Political Hermeneutics of Hannah Arendt
Federica Giardini: Difference after Queer Theory

Lunch 12.15 – 13.30

13.30 – 17.00
IAPh Board Meeting:  (with a coffee break)
Chair: Veronika Vasterling


Symposium is organized by IAPh, PPhiG and Gender Studies at the University of Helsinki.
Symposium is open to public and attendance is free of charge.


The International Association of Women Philosophers (IAPh) is a professional association and network that provides a forum for discussion, interaction and cooperation among women engaged in teaching and research in all aspects of philosophy, with a particular emphasis on feminist philosophy. Founded in 1976 in Würzburg (Germany) as APh (Association of Women Philosophers) the IAPh has gradually grown into an international organization with members all over the world. Currently the IAPh has 380 members from as many as 35 different countries, although most of our members are from continental Europe, Canada and the United States.

http://www.iaph-philo.org/

Politics of Philosophy and Gender (PPhiG) is a research the team within the Academy of Finland Centre of Excellence in Political Thought and Conceptual Change. PPhiG work focuses on conceptual contingency and politics of theory within discourses on gender and sexuality in philosophy, history and politics.

http://www.coepolcon.fi/pphig/

Speakers

Keynote speaker
Denise Riley
Denise Riley took degrees in philosophy at the universities of Cambridge and Sussex. She was Professor of Literature with Philosophy at the University of East Anglia, and is currently A.D. White Professor-at-Large at Cornell University. She teaches occasionally for the London Consortium and for other parts of the University of London, including Birkbeck and Goldsmiths. Riley is a member of the scientific advisory board of PPhiG. Her recent writing is concerned with the immediate emotionality of language, and has included investigations in the philosophy of language and the nature of self-description and irony. Her main books are War in the Nursery: Theories of Child and Mother [1983]; ‘Am I that Name?’ Feminism and the Category of Women in History [1988]; The Words of Selves: Identification, Solidarity, Irony [2000]; The Force of Language, with Jean-Jacques Lecercle [2004]; and Impersonal Passion: Language As Affect [2005].  She has also published many collections of poetry, including Penguin Modern Poets 10 with Douglas Oliver and Ian Sinclair [1996] and Denise Riley: Selected Poems [2000]. She edited Poets on Writing; Britain 1970-1991[1992] and co-edited the Language, Discourse, Society Reader [2004]. Formerly Writer in Residence at the Tate Gallery, London, her teaching has included European modernism and art movements, political philosophy and phenomenology, poetry and poetics.

Speakers

Penelope Deutscher is professor at the Department of Philosophy in the Northwestern University, USA. She specializes in twentieth-century and contemporary French philosophy and philosophy of gender. Her main publications include Yielding Gender: Feminism, Deconstruction and the History of Philosophy  (Routledge 1997); A Politics of Impossible Difference: The Later Work of Luce Irigaray  (Cornell University Press, 2002), How to Read Derrida  (Granta/Norton 2006), and The Philosophy of Simone de Beauvoir: Ambiguity, Conversion, Resistance  (Cambridge University Press, 2008). She is co-editor with Kelly Oliver of Enigmas: Essays on Sarah Kofman (Cornell University Press, 1999), and, with Françoise Collin of Repenser le politique: l'apport du féminisme, an anthology of French translations of contemporary Anglo-American women political philosophers (Paris: Campagne première /Les cahiers du grif, 2004.). She also guest edited for Hypatia: A Journal of Feminist Philosophy the special issue 'Contemporary French Women Philosophers' (15:4, 2000). Other areas of special interest include theories of genealogy and biopolitics (Nietzsche, Foucault, Agamben).

Waltraud Ernst, Ph.D, works at the Department of Gender Studies at the Johannes Kepler University in Linz, Austria. She specializes on concepts of gender in natural sciences and technologies, feminist epistemology and methods of gender studies. Her current research project on “Erotic economies of science. Concepts of the erotic in the emerging european life sciences 1750-1850.” Her publications include: Diskurspiratinnen. Wie feministische Erkenntnisprozesse die Wirklichkeit verändern, Wien: Milena Verlag 1999. She has been the treasurer of the IAPh since 2008.

Federica Giardini teaches Political Philosophy at the Università Roma Tre. She graduated in Philosophy at the University of Pisa with a dissertation on Luce Irigaray’s work (1992). She then worked on the relation between philosophy and psychoanalysis. Her latest investigations use the category of difference to recombine the significations of contemporary issues such as the political realm of relations between human and non human (cosmopolitics) or relations of obedience and disobedience.  She co-founded the Italian feminist journal in philosophy Sofia. Materiali di filosofia e cultura di donne and is a member of the philosophical community “Diotima”; of the directory board of IAPh (Internationale Assoziation von Philosophinnen); of the editorial board of the most ancient Italian feminist journal, DWF.donnawomanfemme; of the international editorial board of European Journal of Women’s Studies, for which she is review editor (www.ejws.uk) . She has authored: L’inquieta alleanza. Dimensioni politiche del linguaggio (“On the political dimensions of language”, Firenze: Le lettere, 2011) and Relazioni. Differenza sessuale e fenomenologia (“Relations. Sexual difference and phenomenology”. Roma: Sossella, 2004); has edited Sensibili guerriere. Sulla forza femminile (“On feminine force”, Roma: Jacobelli, 2011) and co-edited Il pensiero dell’esperienza (“Thinking experience”, Milano: Baldini Castoldi Dalai, 2008), a selection of the papers presented at the XII IAPh Symposyum she directed in Rome in 2006. She works with Luce Irigaray and Françoise Collin, and has translated in Italian several of their texts.

Annemie Halsema, PhD, is Assistant Professor at the Department of Philosophy of VU-University Amsterdam. Her research focuses on the relationship between hermeneutics and feminist philosophy. She is especially interested in the notion of the (embodied) self in the work of Ricoeur, Irigaray, and Butler. She published in the field of feminist philosophy, and is member of the board of the International Association of Women Philosophers (IAPh).  Publications include: ‘The Gift of Recognition. Self and Other in the Multicultural Situation’. (In: H. Fielding, G. Hiltmann, D. Olkowski, A. Reichold (Eds.), The Other. Feminist Reflections in Ethics. Palgrave-Macmillan, 2007, pp. 23-41.), Luce Irigaray and Horizontal Transcendence (Utrecht: SWP, 2010), ´The Time of the Self. A Feminist Reflection on Ricoeur´s Notion of Narrative Identity´ in: C. Schuess, D. Olkowski, H. Fielding (Eds.), Time in Feminist Phenomenology. Indiana University Press, 2011.

Tuija Pulkkinen, is Academy of Finland Academy professor (2011–2015) and professor of Gender Studies at the University of Helsinki. She is the leader of the research team Politics of Philosophy and Gender (PPhiG) within the Finnish Centre of Excellence in Political Thought and Conceptual Change, and she works on feminist theory, political theory and history of feminist thought. Her recent publications include Pulkkinen & Sorainen (eds) Siveellisyydestä seksuaalisuuteen – poliittisen käsitteen historia [From Sittlichkeit/sedlighet to sexuality – history of a political concept] (SKS, 2011);  Hutchings & Pulkkinen (eds) Hegel’s Philosophy and Feminist Thought (Palgrave 2010); Palonen, Pulkkinen, Rosales (eds) The Ashgate Reseach Companion to the Politics of Democratization in Europe: Concepts and Histories (Ashgate, 2008). Pulkkinen is a member of the Board of the International Association of Women Philosophers (IAPh).

Veronica Vasterling is associate professor at the Department of Philosophy and the Institute for Gender Studies of Radboud University Nijmegen in the Netherlands. She is speaker of the board of the International Association of Women Philosophers. She has published numerous articles in gender and feminist theory, political philosophy, philosophical anthropology and hermeneutic phenomenology. She is co-editor of Feministische Phänomenologie und Hermeneutik (Würzburg: Königshausen & Neumann 2005), Practising Interdisciplinarity in Gender Studies (York: Raw Nerve Books 2006).

Stella Villarmea is Associate Professor at University of Alcalá, Madrid, Spain. She has conducted research at St. John's College, Oxford, and taught philosophy at Saint Louis University, Humboldt Universität and Lund University. She is the author of Las direcciones de la mirada moral (Directions of the moral view) (2003), El problema del escepticismo en la epistemología analítica (Scepticism in analytic epistemology) (2003), and of "Good, Freedom and Happiness" (2005), "So you think you can tell sense from nonsense, real doubts from sceptical games" (2006), and "Rethinking the origin: birth and human value (2009). She has published on scepticism, Wittgenstein, hermeneutics, ethics, and feminist theory. She is currently doing research on the moral justification of our beliefs, and the relationship between knowledge and emancipatory action. She is member of the Board of the International Association of Women Philosophers (IAPh).

PhD workshop speakers
Sanna Karhu,
Heini Kinnunen,
Jacek Kornak,
Eeva Urrio

are PhD students in Gender studies at the University of Helsinki and prepare their dissertations within the research team Politics of Philosophy and Gender (PPhiG).