Cfp: "Human Experience and Nature: Examining the Relationship between Phenomenology and Naturalism," Royal Institute of Philosophy Conference 2011, University of the West of England, August 31-September 2, 2011.

Questions about the relationship between consciousness and the natural world have been at the centre of many philosophical debates. How can we relate first- and third-person data? Is it possible to explain exhaustively consciousness in naturalistic terms? What metaphysical view can best account for human experience? These questions have been the driving force of much recent philosophical work. Within this broad field, one issue in particular has been underexplored. This issue is the relationship between phenomenology (as a philosophical method for describing lived experience) and the broadly accepted idea that philosophy should be consistent with a naturalistic worldview.

Phenomenology is a rich philosophical tradition providing a method to explore human experience and consciousness. Nonetheless, some philosophers have been sceptical about phenomenology’s contribution to philosophy and have attributed anti-naturalist and anti-scientific views to it. The aim of this conference is to ask: is this scepticism towards phenomenology justified? This conference aims to bring together prominent thinkers from phenomenology and other fields in philosophy, to discuss the relationship between phenomenology and naturalism.

Speakers:

Prof Dan Zahavi (Copenhagen)
Prof Thomas Baldwin (York)
Prof David Papineau (KCL)
Prof Dermot Moran (UCD)
Prof Matthew Ratcliffe (Durham)
Prof Michael Wheeler (Stirling)
Prof James Lenman (Sheffield)
Dr Jon Webber (Cardiff)
Prof Samir Okasha (Bristol)
Dr Eran Dorfman (Frei university Berlin)
Dr Iain Grant (UWE)
Prof Fredrik Sveneaus (Linköping)
Dr Seiriol Morgan (Bristol)
Prof Rudolf Bernet (Leuven)
Prof Alison Assiter (UWE)
Dr Darian Meacham (Leuven)

For further information, email: havi_carel@hotmail.com.

Macarthur, David. Review of Jack Ritchie's UNDERSTANDING NATURALISM. NDPR (November 2009).

Ritchie, Jack. Understanding Naturalism. Cheshire: Acumen, 2008. Naturalism is the current orthodoxy within Anglo-American philosophy, an outlook that shapes the way philosophers understand the mission and problems of philosophy. But what is naturalism? This is not an easy question to answer although the general outlines of an answer are clear. Naturalism wants to make philosophy properly responsive to the successes of modern science (rather than traditional philosophy) in providing fruitful explanations and extensive knowledge of natural phenomena. It also wants to make sense of the human condition in non-supernatural terms. Ritchie takes these two tasks to align so that making philosophical sense of ourselves and our world is best approached by looking to science, and only science, for guidance. But how is one to go beyond a general attitude of admiration for science or chanting such vague slogans as "Philosophy is continuous with science" and "There is no first philosophy"? Ritchie's clearly written, well-exampled and engaging book is an attempt to answer this question by distinguishing various kinds of naturalism within the landscape of contemporary scientific naturalism and by providing an overview of some of the most prominent naturalistic projects and programs over the past 50 years concerning knowledge, ontology, science, mind, meaning and truth. Collected volumes have covered this ground before but this is the first book that I am aware of to do so from a single point of view . . . Read the whole review here: http://ndpr.nd.edu/review.cfm?id=18045.

Cfp: "The Question of Nature: from Phusis to Biosphere," Pacific Association for the Continental Tradition, Seattle University, October 8-9, 2009.

Inaugural Annual Meeting of PACT. The aim of PACT is to create a platform for philosophical dialogue on the West Coast. The annual conference alternates between Seattle and San Francisco. PACT takes "Continental Philosophy" in its broadest sense, and everyone with an interest in continental thinking is invited to send in a submission and to participate. Abstracts of 500 words (or complete papers) addressing the question of nature can be submitted through email to Gerard Kuperus gkuperus@usfca.edu. The deadline for submissions is JULY 1, 2009. For more information, please contact: Jason Wirth wirthj@seattleu.edu or Gerard Kuperus gkuperus@usfca.edu.