National Philosophy Conference Coming to Lafayette Oct. 13-15

The Mind, Body & Realization Conference will be held on campus Friday, Oct. 13 through Sunday, Oct. 15. There are 12 presenters from universities across the nation, who will give talks on their latest research on the concept of realization, the main focus of the conference.

Visit the conference website.

The talks will be held all day from 9:30 a.m.-6 p.m. Friday and Saturday in the Gendebien Room in Skillman Library, and 9:30 a.m.-12:15 p.m. Sunday in Kirby Hall of Civil Rights, room 104. The conference is open to the public.

According to organizer Julie Yoo, assistant professor of philosophy, the conference explores the concept of realization, arguably the most widely invoked concept used to specify the relationship between the mind and the body. While central to contemporary metaphysics and philosophy of mind, the concept of realization is largely unexplored. Its significance extends far beyond functionalism, the original home of the concept, and with the closely related concept of multiple realizability. It is intimately tied up with a number of problems in metaphysics, which include the possibility of mental causation, supervenience, reduction, the nature of dispositions, and puzzles about material constitution.

Yoo is expecting attendees from all over the country, and even a philosopher who will be flying over from Germany. She believes this kind of national conference is necessary for an institution such as Lafayette.

“Lafayette is just as committed to research and scholarship as it is to teaching,” she says.

The schedule of presenters is as follows:

Friday Oct. 13

• 10-11 a.m. Joseph Levine, professor of philosophy at University of Massachusetts, Amherst; “Prospects for a Realization Theory for Consciousness”
• 11:15 a.m.-12:15 p.m. Yoo; “Realizing Realization”
• 1:30-2:30 p.m. Larry Shapiro, professor of philosophy at University of Wisconsin, Madison; “Multiple Realization, Seriously”
• 3:45-4:45 p.m. Louise Antony, professor of philosophy at University of Massachusetts, Amherst; “From Epistemology to Ontology: Defending the Autonomy of Psychology”
• 5-6 p.m. Tom Polger, associate professor of philosophy and director of undergraduate studies at University of Cincinnati; “Three Dogmas of Realization”

Saturday, Oct. 14

• 10-11 a.m. Sydney Shoemaker, former Susan Linn Sage Professor of Philosophy at Cornell University; “Realization and Functionalism”
• 11:15 a.m.-12:15 p.m. John Post, professor emeritus of philosophy at Vanderbilt University; “Adaptation and Realization”
• 1:30-2:30 p.m. Andrew Melnyk, professor of philosophy at University of Missouri, Columbia; “Some Metaphysics and Epistemology of Realization”
• 3:45-4:45 p.m. Gene Witmer, assistant professor of philosophy at University of Florida, Gainesville; “Realization, Higher Order Properties, and Explanatory Import”
• 5-6 p.m. John Heil, professor of philosophy at Washington University in St. Louis; “Realization”

Sunday, Oct. 15

• 10-11 a.m. Carl Gillett, associate professor of philosophy at Illinois Wesleyan University; “Realization in the Sciences vs. Realization in Philosophy: Why a Naturalistic Diet is Good for your (Philosophical) Health”
• 11:15 a.m.-12:15 p.m. Ronald Endicott, associate professor of philosophy and religion and director of cognitive science at North Carolina State University; “On Simplifying the Metaphysical Landscape: Reducing Realization to Supervenience”