The Early Modern Philosophy Calendar

This website is maintained by Stephen H. Daniel at Texas A&M University as a service to scholars working in the history of early modern philosophy. It brings together information about calls for papers, event schedules, and contacts about presentations, conferences, and seminars dealing with research in late 16th, 17th, and 18th century philosophy.

To have an event listed, send the appropriate information to Steve Daniel (sdaniel@philosophy.tamu.edu). Events posted on various mailing lists (e.g., philosop, philos, MWSeminar) are incorporated into this page. If no deadline is listed for calls for papers, that means either that the deadline has passed or that presentations were by invitation only.

December 2-4, 2009
Conference: "Skepticism in the Enlightenment from Bayle to the Encyclopédie"
University of São Judas Tadeu, São Paulo, Brazil
This is the first part of a two-part bilingual (English/French) conference on "Skepticism and Enlightenment." The second part of the conference ("Skepticism in the Enlightenment from the Encyclopédie to German Idealism") will be held at the Montréal campus of the University of Sherbrooke April 14-16, 2010.
Although there is already a list of invited speakers, some space is available for non-invited papers, in particular for Ph.D. students and post-doctoral students.
All proposals (title and abstract) must be sent before August 1, 2009 to the conference organizers: Plinio Junqueira Smith and/or Sébastien Charles.

December 4-5, 2009
2009 Bradshaw Conference on Early Modern Philosophy
Claremont Graduate University, Honnold Library, Irvine Room, 3rd floor
Claremont, California
Friday, Dec. 4
  9:15  Patricia Easton (Claremont Graduate): Opening Remarks
  9:30  Thomas M. Lennon (Western Ontario): "Seven Senses of Indifference in Early Modern Philosophy"
  11:00  Kurt Smith (Bloomsburg): "Cartesian Clarity and Distinctness: Revisiting Lennon on the Act-Object Distinction"
  1:45  Larry Nolan (California State, Long Beach): "Cartesian Trialism on Trial"
  2:45  Alan Nelson (North Carolina, Chapel Hill): "Re-packing and Sealing Pandora's Box: Substance and Attribute"
  3:45  Steven Nadler (Wisconsin, Madison): “Spinoza, Maimonides, and Prophecy”
Saturday, Dec. 5
  9:30  Tad Schmaltz (Duke): “What is Ancient in French Cartesianism?”
  10:30  Don Rutherford (California, San Diego): "Hobbes and the Different Senses of 'Laws of Nature'"
  11:30  Richard Watson (Washington U, St. Louis): “Pascal, Piety, and Les Roannez”
  1:30  José R. Maia Neto (U. Federal de Minas Gerais): "Lennon on Descartes and Skepticism"
  2:30  Margaret Atherton (Wisconsin, Milwaukee): “Locke and Berkeley on Real Knowledge”
  3:30  Lorne Falkenstein (Western Ontario): "Berkeley on Situation and Inversion"
  4:30  Patricia Easton (Claremont Graduate): Closing Remarks
Conference website
Contact: Patricia Easton

December 12 and 19, 2009
International Conference: Galileo and Spinoza
Centre de Recherche sur l'Histoire des Systèmes De Pensée Modernes (CHSPM)
Université Paris 1 - Sorbonne; 17, Rue de la Sorbonne, Paris
Room: Salle Cavaillès, Escalier C, 1er étage
Saturday, December 12
  8:45    Chantal Jaquet & Filip Buyse (Paris I Sorbonne): Introduction
  9:15    Stephen Gaukroger (Sydney): "Mechanics versus Mechanism: Galileo, Spinoza, and Newton"
  10:30  Filip Buyse (Paris I Sorbonne): "Boyle, Spinoza and Galileo: Is Spinoza a Strict Mechanical Philosopher?"
  11:30  Tamar Rudavsky (Ohio State): "Science, Demonstration and the Art of Hermeneutics in Spinoza and Galileo"
  14:30  Henri Krop (Rotterdam): "Spinoza's Library: Its Mathematical and Scientific Books"
  15:30  Pietro Redondi (Milano-Bicocca): "Spinoza critique Galilée"
  16:30  Herman De Dijn (Harvard/KU Leuven): "Natura naturans and Natura naturata in Spinoza"
  17:30  Theo Verbeek (Utrecht): Questions and Discussion
Saturday, December 19
  9:30    Chantal Jaquet & Filip Buyse (Paris I Sorbonne): Introduction
  10:00  Franco Biasutti (Padua): "Galileo and Spinoza: Historical and Theoretical Perspectives"
  11:00  Jacob Adler (Arkansas): "Joseph Solomon Delmedigo: Student of Galileo and Teacher of Spinoza"
  13:30  Epaminondas Vampoulis (Patras): "L'infini chez Spinoza et Galilée"
  14:30  Fabien Chareix (Paris IV Sorbonne): "Spinoza: L'unité individuelle et le principe du mouvement relatif"
  15:30  Rienk Vermij (Oklahoma): "From Italy to The Hague: Optics and Optical Instruments"
  16:30  Filip Buyse (Paris I Sorbonne): Discussion and Questions
Contact: Filip Buyse
Program with presentation summaries.

December 14-17, 2009
Conference: The Human Nature Tradition in Anglo-Scottish Philosophy: Its History and Future Prospects
Commemorating the publication of the first Hebrew editions of Hobbes' Leviathan (2009) and Hume's Treatise on Human Nature (2010)
Shalem Center, Jerusalem, Israel
One of the most striking features of Anglo-Scottish thought from Hobbes to Mill and beyond is its concern with the study of “human nature.” Philosophers in this tradition not only engaged in the empirical study of human psychology and anthropology, but often saw this discipline as foundational with respect to other disciplines--not only morals, political theory and aesthetics, but mathematics, logic, natural science, and religion as well.

Historical and philosophical papers will address questions such as: What is the scope and content of this “human nature tradition” in philosophy? Why does this tradition emerge when and where it does? What is its relation to natural science? To the Bible and religion? To classical and medieval thought? What is its relation to philosophical currents on the Continent or in America? Why and how does this tradition begin to wane when it does? Finally, the conveners will be interested in papers that bring this tradition into dialogue with current trends in philosophy and science: Has Anglo-Scottish human nature philosophy now been rendered obsolete by cognitive science, as many seem to believe? Or does this tradition still have something significant to contribute to philosophy or natural science?

Speakers include: Thomas Ahnert (Edinburgh), Roger Ariew (South Florida), Stephen Darwall (Yale), Aaron Garrett (Boston U), Daniel Garber (Princeton), Michael Gill (Arizona), Knud Haakonssen (Sussex), James Harris (St Andrews), Michael Heyd (Hebrew U), Daniel Jacobson (Bowling Green), Joseph Mali (Tel Aviv), Susan Manning (Edinburgh), Fania Oz-Salzberger (Haifa), Robert Pasnau (Colorado), Nicholas Phillipson (Edinburgh), Jesse Prinz (CUNY Graduate Center), Paul Rahe (Hillsdale Coll), Geoffrey Sayre-McCord (North Carolina, Chapel Hill), Gordon Schochet (Rutgers), Silvia Sebastiani (Istituto Ital. delle Scienze Umane, Florence)

The proceedings will be interdisciplinary in character. The conference organizers welcome participants from the fields of philosophy, political theory, history, cognitive science, and allied disciplines. A limited travel budget will be available to assist graduate students wishing to participate. Graduate students applying for travel assistance should submit a cv, letter of recommendation, and a letter explaining why they wish to participate no later than June 30.
Contacts: Mordechai Feingold and Yoram Hazony.
Website

Dec. 27-30, 2009
American Philosophical Association, Eastern Division Meeting (and sessions sponsored by various societies)
New York Marriott Marquis Hotel
New York, NY
Monday, Dec. 28
  9:00-11:00  International Berkeley Society: 300th Anniversary of A New Theory of Vision, chair: Stephen Daniel (Texas A&M)
    Kenneth Winkler (Yale): "The First Person in Vision"
    Martha Bolton (Rutgers): "Is the Doctrine of a Visual Language Integral to Berkeley's Theory of Vision?"
  9:00-12:00  Kant's Philosophy of Mathematics; chair: Reed Winegar (Pennsylvania)
    Emily Carson (McGill)
    Lisa Shabel (Ohio State)
      Commentator: Waldemar Rohloff (Missouri–St. Louis)
  11:15-1:15  Leibniz Society, chair: Martha Bolton (Rutgers)
    Brandon Look (Kentucky): "Leibniz on Simple Substances: Speaking in Metaphysical Rigor of Mind and World"
      Commentator: John Whipple (Illinois-Chicago)
  2:00-5:00  Symposium on Spinoza's Letter on Infinity, chair: Don Garrett (NYU)
    Oded Schechter (U of Chicago Soc. of Fellows): "Existence and Temporality in Spinoza's Letter on Infinity"
    Doug Jesseph (South Florida): [TBA]
    Commentator: Alan Nelson (North Carolina-Chapel Hill)
  5:15-7:15  Hume Society: "Skepticism with Regard to the Senses," chair: Yumiko Inuaki (Massachusetts-Boston)
    David Owen (Arizona): "What is Skeptical about I.4.2?"
    Donald Ainslie (Toronto): "Hume's Phenomenology of Sensory Experience"
  7:30-10:30  Society for the History of Political Philosophy: "Rousseau and Modern Political Thought," chair: Ronna Burger (Tulane)
    Matthew Oberrieder (Mercer): “The Roots of Modern Political thought in Machiavelli’s Prince”
    Denise Schaeffer (Holy Cross): “Rousseau on Judgment”
    Richard Velkley (Tulane): "Rousseau’s Legislator”
    Evanthia Speliotis (Bellarmine): “Rousseau’s Reveries and Socrates”
    Michael Davis (Sarah Lawrence): “The Essence of Babel: Rousseau on the Origin of Languages”
Tuesday, Dec. 29
  9:00-11:00  Early Modern Philosophy Symposium, chair: Christia Mercer (Columbia)
    Seth Bordner (North Carolina): "If We Stop Thinking about Berkeley’s Problem of Continuity, Will It Still Exist?”
      Commentators: Kenneth Winkler (Yale) and Sukjae Lee (Ohio State)
  1:30-4:30  Kant Colloquium, chair: Angelica Nuzzo (Brooklyn Coll-CUNY)
    1:30-2:30  Axel Mueller (Northwestern): “Does Kant’s Mental Content Externalism Require Mind-Independent Particulars?”
      Commentator: Quassim Cassam (Warwick–UK)
    2:30-3:30  Katherine Dimitriou (North Carolina–Chapel Hill): “Minding the Gap: The Validity of Kant’s Derivation of the First Formula”
      Commentator: Pablo Muchnik (Siena College)
    3:30-4:30  Joshua Mills-Knutsen (Kentucky): “Kant’s Critique of Judgment and Its Political Potential: Introducing Rousseau into Arendt’s Analysis of Kant”
      Commentator: Marcy Latta (Pennsylvania)
Wednesday, Dec. 30
  9:00-11:00  Early Modern Philosophy Colloquium, chair: Brian Chance (Pennsylvania)
    9:00-10:00  Nathaniel Bowditch (American U-Cairo): "‘Principles’ and Pathology in Hume’s Natural History of Religion”
      Commentator: Richard Dees (Rochester)
    10:00-11:00  Meghant Sudan (Stony Brook–State University of New York): “Hobbes’ Method of Thinking against the Cartesian Thinking Thing”
      Commentator: Thomas Lennon (Western Ontario)
  9:00-11:00  Society for the Study of Women Philosophers: Author Meets Critics: John Conley's Adoration and Annihilation: The Convent Philosophy of Port Royal
    Critics: Catherine Villaneuva Gardner (Massachusetts-Dartmouth) and Mary Ellen Waithe (Loyola U, Maryland)
      Author: John Conley (Loyola U, Maryland)
  11:15-1:15  Author Meets Critics: Tad Schmaltz's Descartes on Causation, chair: Kara Richardson (Syracuse)
    Critics: Daniel Garber (Princeton) and Steven Nadler (Wisconsin-Madison)
      Author: Tad Schmaltz (Duke)
  11:15-1:15  North American Herman Cohen Society: "Kant's Responses to Newton on Space and Causality" (papers available at http://criticalidealism.blogspot.com.)
    Abraham Stone (California–Santa Cruz): “Kant’s Qualified Defense of Newton’s Thesis that Space is a Direct Emanation of the First Cause”
    Lydia Patton (Virginia Polytechnic Inst.): “Why Kant Needs the Principles: From Newton’s Fluxion Quantity to Kant’s Geometrical Magnitude”
    Robert DiSalle (Western Ontario): “Kant and Newton” Website.

February 15-17, 2010
Conference: European Society for Early Modern Philosophy: "Mind in Nature"
Humboldt-University of Berlin
Unter den Linden 6: Senatssaal & Room 2097

When early modern thinkers began to oppose the metaphysical framework of Aristotelian hylomorphism and maintained that natural things are to be explained in purely mechanistical terms, explaining mind became problematic: How do mind and its various activities (e.g., perception, imagination, memory, thinking) relate to "natural processes"? Are they identical or radically different? In which categories are they to be described? And how can an explanation of mind be integrated into a complete account of nature? In this conference such problems are discussed in its historical context and related to contemporary debates of the philosophy of mind by leading scholars from all over Europe and the U.S.

Invited Plenary Speakers: Michael Della Rocca (Yale), Dennis Des Chene (St Louis), Susan James (London), Jonathan Lowe (Durham), Dennis Moreau (Nantes), Udo Thiel (Graz), Catherine Wilson (New York)
    Scientific Organizers: Dominik Perler (Berlin), Johannes Haag (Munich, Berlin)
    Scientific Colloquia organized by: Lena Halldenius (Malmö), Michael Hampe (Zurich), James Hill (Prague), Andreas Hüttemann (Münster), Cees Leijenhorst (Nijmegen), Sophie Roux (Grenoble)
To register (no later than Feb. 10, 2010), contact conference organizers at info.esemp@hu-berlin.de. Registration costs: 50 € (standard), 30 € (ESEMP members), and 10 € (students).
Conference website.

February 27-28, 2010
Southwest Seminar in Early Modern Philosophy
University of New Mexico
Albuquerque, NM
Invited Speaker: Steven Nadler (Wisconsin, Madison): "Spinoza, Maimonides, and Prophesy"
The Southwest Seminar was formed to foster interaction among scholars who work on various topics in the history of early modern philosophy (a period ranging, roughly, from Montaigne to Kant). Papers on any subject are welcome; reading times should be approximately 45 minutes. The deadline for submitting abstracts (of approximately 750 words, prepared for blind review, in .doc or .rtf format) is November 1, 2009. Email submissions should be sent to Mary Domski. If you do not receive confirmation of receipt of your abstract within a week, please resubmit or contact Mary Domski. The program will be announced by the end of December.
Website.

March 5-6, 2010
Southern Study Group Conference, North American Kant Society
Texas A&M University
College Station, TX
Featured speakers:
  Otfried Hoeffe (Eberhard Karls Universitaet Tuebingen)
  Rudolf Makkreel (Emory)
  Richard Velkley (Tulane)
  John Zammito (Rice)
Call for Papers: The selection committee welcomes papers in all areas of Kantian scholarship. Reading time should be limited to 30 minutes, and submissions are not to exceed 25 pages. Completed papers must be prepared for blind review, with contact information sent in a separate file. Graduate students should indicate their status in the body of their papers. Submission deadline: December 1, 2009.
Send submissions (as email attachments or by surface mail) and inquiries to the conference organizer, Kristi Sweet, Department of Philosophy, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843-4237.
Website.

March 6-7, 2010
Scottish Seminar in Early Modern Philosophy
University of Aberdeen
Aberdeen, Scotland
Keynote speakers: Catherine Wilson (Aberdeen), Pauline Phemister (Edinburgh)
The SSEMP is a yearly event that brings together established scholars, young researchers, and advanced graduate students working within the field of Early Modern Philosophy. The aim is to foster scholarly exchange among the different generations of academics working in the field of Early Modern Philosophy in the UK and to strengthen international collaboration. Scholars abroad are strongly encouraged to submit abstracts.
We welcome abstracts on any topic in early modern philosophy (broadly defined, ranging from late Renaissance philosophy to the Enlightenment). We particularly encourage proposals which consider early modern philosophy in relation to other related disciplines, such as theology, intellectual history and/or the history of science.
Abstracts (approx. 500 words) should be sent to Mogens Lærke no later than January 5, 2010. Final papers should be approximately 45 minutes in reading length.

March 12-14, 2010
Conference on Practical Ethics and the Scottish Philosophical Tradition
Center for the Study of Scottish Philosophy, Princeton Theological Seminary, Erdman Conference Center
Princeton, NJ
Friday, March 12
  1:00-2:30, Session One
    Fred Ablondi (Hendrix Coll): "Beattie on Human Nature"
    Thomas D. Kennedy (Berry Coll): "Fordyce on Practical Ethics"
  2:45-3:45, Plenary Lecture: Colin Heydt (South Florida): "Debating Duties to Others in Eighteenth Century Britain"
  4:00-5:30, Session Two
    Petra Van Brabandt (Antwerp): "Female Chastity, a Nunnish Virtue?"
    Alison McIntyre (Wellesley Coll): "Hume's Reflections on Pride"
Saturday, March 13
  9:00-10:30, Session Three
    James Foster (Princeton): "Reid and Augustine"
    Christian Maurer (Blaise Pascal): "Archibald Campbell on Self-Cultivation and Self Denial"
  10:45-11:45, Plenary Lecture: Fania Oz-Salzberger (Haifa & Princeton U Center for Human Values): "Ethics in Politics: Hume versus Ferguson"
  1:15-2:45, Session Four
    Gordon Graham (Princeton Seminary): "Reid on Judgment and the Irrelevance of Realism"
    Remy Debes (Memphis): "A Compass to the 'Real': The Sentiment of Approval"
Sunday, March 14
  9:15-10:45, Session Five
    Jacqueline Taylor (San Francisco): "The Practical Implications of Humean Humanity"
    Max Grober (Austin Coll): "A Steady Contempt of Life: Suicide Narratives in Hume and Others"
  11:00-12:00, Panel Discussion
Revised versions of presented papers will be considered for publication in a special issue of the Journal of Scottish Philosophy (Guest Editor: Colin Heydt, University of South Florida).
Contact: Center for the Study of Scottish Philosophy
Website

March 21-26, 2010
Conference: Thomas Reid From His Time To Ours
University of Aberdeen (March 21-23), University of Glasgow (March 24-26)
In March 2010 a week-long event in recognition of Thomas Reid will be held at the two universities where he taught: the University of Aberdeen and the University of Glasgow. The conference will be devoted to all aspects of Reid’s work and its context. Plenary speakers include James Harris (St Andrews), Laurent Jaffro (Paris I Sorbonne), Paul Wood (Victoria, BC), and Gideon Yaffe (Southern California).

Papers are invited on any aspect of Reid’s thought in terms of its historical or contemporary relevance, its relationship with his contemporaries in the Scottish Enlightenment, and any aspect of his influence on philosophical thinking in throughout the world. Proposals (of not more than 500 words) for 20-minute papers should be submitted to Jon Cameron. Deadline for submissions is October 31, 2009. Arrangements are being made for the conference proceedings to be published.

For details about the schedule and registration, housing, and meal costs, consult the conference website.
Contacts: Cairns Craig in Aberdeen and Alexander Broadie in Glasgow.

April 6-9, 2010
International Berkeley Conference: 300th Anniversary of the publication of The Treatise concerning the Principles of Human Knowledge
University of Neuchâtel, Switzerland
Berkeley's Treatise Concerning the Principles of Human Knowledge (1710) deals with a broad spectrum of philosophical issues in metaphysics, philosophical theology, epistemology, theory of perception, philosophy of mind, philosophy of science, etc. Speakers at the conference will discuss aspects of Berkeley's philosophy that highlight a distinct connection of their chosen topic with the Principles.

A number of speakers have already been invited. Others are welcome to submit papers. We especially wish to encourage applications from doctoral students or from persons who have recently defended a doctoral dissertation. Their papers should be submitted to the organiser, Richard Glauser, by September 15, 2009. A panel of three experts will select the five best papers, and their authors will have three nights of their hotel costs covered. Announcement of the selected papers will occur in December 2009.

The conference is sponsored by the International Berkeley Society and the Swiss FNRS.
Contact: Richard Glauser

April 10-11, 2010
Newton and Empiricism Conference
Center for Philosophy of Science, University of Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Call for papers: Isaac Newton and John Locke are sometimes portrayed as dual fathers of the British Enlightenment, with Newton providing the exemplar of human knowledge and Locke providing the philosophical infrastructure required for understanding the merit and reach of that exemplar. Yet their union was neither simple nor unchallenged. Newton's empiricism developed while defending and revising his Principia against philosophical critique, and Locke's hospitability to Newtonian gravity and realization of Newton's achievement developed through successive drafts of the Essay and other texts. Moreover, similar complexity exists in the work of Newton's and Locke's intellectual heirs. This conference will focus on the compatibility and incompatibility, tensions, and developing relations between Newton, Locke, and their successors in Newtonianism and Empiricism.
Invited speaker: Lisa Downing (Ohio State). Possible conference participants should note that Catherine Wilson (University of Aberdeen) will deliver an Annual Lecture Series Talk at the Center for Philosophy of Science on the afternoon of April 9, 2010. Conference participants are encouraged to attend.
Partial travel stipends will be available for young scholars, who are highly encouraged to submit abstracts. The deadline for submitting abstracts (of approximately 750 words) is December 1, 2009. Email submissions are highly encouraged and can be sent to Zvi Biener. If you do not receive confirmation of receipt of your abstract within a week, please resubmit or contact one of the other organizers, James E. McGuire or Eric Schliesser.
Conference website.

April 14-16, 2010
Conference: "Skepticism in the Enlightenment from the Encyclopédie to German Idealism"
University of Sherbrooke, Montréal campus
Montréal, Québec, Canada
This is the second part of a two-part bilingual (English/French) conference on "Skepticism and Enlightenment." The first part of the conference ("Skepticism in the Enlightenment from Bayle to the Encyclopédie") will have been held December 2-4, 2009 at the University of São Judas Tadeu, São Paulo, Brazil.
Although there is already a list of invited speakers, some space is available for non-invited papers, in particular for Ph.D. students and post-doctoral students.
All proposals (title and abstract) must be sent before August 1, 2009 to the conference organizers: Plinio Junqueira Smith and/or Sébastien Charles.

May 1-2, 2010
Midwest Seminar in Early Modern Philosophy
Macalester College
St. Paul, Minnesota
The Midwest Seminar in the History of Early Modern Philosophy is an informal group that normally meets once a semester to discuss new work and work-in-progress in the study of 17th and 18th century philosophy. Call for Papers: Send abstracts of not more than 750 words in any areas of early modern philosophy to Geoffrey Gorham by February 15, 2010. Papers should be about 45 minutes presentation time. Program will be announced in early March.
Co-Organizers: Geoffrey Gorham (Macalester College) and Edward Slowik (Winona State).
Website.

May 22-26, 2010
11th International Kant Congress
Palazzo dei Congressi
Pisa, Italy
The general topic of the congress is "Kant and Philosophy in a Cosmopolitan Sense". This topic refers to the "cosmopolitan concept" (Weltbegriff, conceptus cosmicus) of philosophy. According to Kant, philosophy in a cosmopolitan sense concerns that which necessarily interests everyone. Philosophy in this sense is the "science of the relation of every cognition to the essential ends of human reason." This cosmopolitan sense of philosophy provides the opportunity for reflection on the meaning and function of philosophy in its relation to every form of knowledge and to every aspect of human life.
The congress will consider all aspects of Kant's philosophy. However, contributions on Kant's concept of philosophy will be especially welcomed. Sessions are planned on the following topics:

(1) Kant and the philosophical tradition, (2) Theory of cognition and logic, (3) Science, mathematics, and philosophy of nature, (4) Ontology and metaphysics, (5) Ethics, (6) Law and justice, (7) Politics and history, (8) Anthropology and psychology, (9) Religion and theology, (10) Aesthetics, (11) Kant's concept of philosophy, (12) Kant's heritage, (13) Kant and the Leibnizian tradition, (14) Kant and Schopenhauer (in collaboration with the Schopenhauer-Gesellschaft). Everyone interested is encouraged to participate.

Papers can be written in German, English, French, and Italian. Papers must be submitted electronically through the congress website, accompanied by an abstract of no more than 10 lines. The maximum length of papers is 10 pages (font: Times New Roman 12, line spacing: 1.5). Papers must specify which session they are intended for. Papers must not contain any information enabling referees to identify the author (for instance, references to one's own works, indicated as such). Only papers written correctly in any of the four congress languages will be considered for selection. The deadline for submissions is 15 September 2009. Authors will be notified by 31 December 2009 as to whether their paper has been accepted. Plenary session papers and parallel session papers will be published in the congress proceedings.
To submit a proposal, go to the proposal submission page.
Congress website.
Contact: Claudio La Rocca.

June 7-11, 2010
Templeton Summer Seminar on Evil and Early Modern Philosophy of Religion and Theology
Skidmore College
Sarasota Springs, NY
The 5 day seminar, conducted by Robert Sleigh (U Mass) and Sean Greenberg (UC-Irvine), with additional faculty support by Larry Jorgensen (Skidmore) and Samuel Newlands (Notre Dame), will explore the ways in which the nature and reality of evil were treated in the distinctive intellectual culture of the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries.
   As the application information website indicates, the seminar offers generous funding for up to 12 graduate students interested in the problem of evil in early modern philosophy and/or theology. In particular, those who have not yet advanced to candidacy with interests in early modern philosophy and/or theology are encouraged to apply no later than Jan. 15, 2010.
Seminar website.

June 24-26, 2010 (dates still to be determined)
International Colloquium: "Lectures et interprétations des Essais de Théodicée de G. W. Leibniz"
University of Paris, Sorbonne
En 1710 paraissaient les Essais de Théodicée, seul ouvrage philosophique d'importance publié par Leibniz de son vivant. Ce texte rédigé en français, qui prenait prétexte de la controverse suscitée par les écrits de Bayle sur la question de la conformité de la foi avec la raison, était l'occasion pour l'auteur du "système" de l'harmonie préétablie de montrer la fécondité de son hypothèse, dans le cadre d'un exposé métaphysique et théologique plus complet. Le traitement de la question du mal, la conciliation de son existence avec la justice divine engageaient en effet toute la doctrine du libre et du nécessaire, des mondes possibles, mais encore la théorie de l'âme, de la volonté et les principes d'une morale.
   300 ans après leur publication et en dépit de leur notoriété, il est surprenant de constater que les Essais restent un texte relativement peu étudié par les commentateurs. La diversité des thèmes et des domaines abordés (métaphysique, théologie rationnelle et révélée, philosophie naturelle, morale, réflexions sur l'histoire des langues, sur le vivant), la pluralité des formes d'argumentation utilisées (avec le recours à des arguments non strictement démonstratifs) en font un ouvrage complexe, sans doute déroutant, mais riche.
   L'objet des travaux de ce colloque sera d'interroger le statut de ce texte, longtemps considéré comme un exposé "populaire" ou exotérique et non strictement systématique de la "philosophie" de Leibniz, en explorant ces différents champs et en examinant les différents types de discours qu'il met en œuvre.
   Six thèmes principaux d'étude ont été retenus (liste non exhaustive):
      1. La conformité de la foi avec la raison : la question de la vérité et de son unité, celle de l'univocité des notions et des principes, notamment dans le contexte des polémiques entre Bayle, Jaquelot, Le Clerc.
      2. L'origine (ultime) et la cause (prochaine) du mal, thème central du livre, la question du concours tant physique que moral de Dieu au péché.
      3. La doctrine de la liberté, la question des futurs contingents, de la prescience et de la prédestination. Les deux sortes de nécessité, la contingence, la distinction entre nécessaire et déterminé.
      4. La doctrine des mondes possibles, le statut du possible, le principe du meilleur.
      5. La question " épistémologique " du statut des différents types d'argumentation déployés dans les Essais, suivant la perspective adoptée (défensive, réfutative, démonstrative, "dialectique").
      6. L'hypothèse de l'harmonie préétablie, l'union de l'âme et du corps, la préformation des animaux et la préexistence des âmes, et plus généralement les enjeux métaphysiques des questions de philosophie naturelle (la téléologie).
      7. Les histoires : histoire profane, histoire sacrée, les réflexions linguistiques, les hypothèses sur l'histoire de la terre, le rôle et l'usage des fictions (le mythe final de Sextus).
Participants include: Jean-Pascal Anfray (Université d'Aix-Marseille I), Frédéric de Buzon (Université de Strasbourg), André Charrak (Université Paris I), François Duchesneau (Université de Montréal - Canada), Michel Fichant (Université Paris IV), Daniel Garber (Princeton, US), Martine de Gaudemar (Université Paris X), Mark A. Kulstad (Rice, US), Antonio Lamarra (Rome - Italie), Wenchao Li (Berlin-Brandenburgische Akademie der Wissenschaften - Allemagne), Gianfranco Mormino (Université de Milan - Italie), Juan A. Nicolás (Université de Grenade - Espagne), Enrico Pasini (Université de Turin - Italie), Pauline Phemister (Edinburgh - Grande-Bretagne), Francesco Piro (Université de Salerne - Italie), Paul Rateau (Université Paris I), Anne-Lise Rey (Université Lille I), Claire Rösler (IUFM de Grenoble), Hartmut Rudolf (Berlin-Brandenburgische Akademie der Wissenschaften - Allemagne), Donald Rutherford (U California, San Diego, US)
Conference organizer: Paul Rateau

June 24-27, 2010
International Society for the History of Philosophy of Science (HOPOS) Congress
Central European University
Budapest, Hungary
The conference is open to scholarly work on the history of philosophy of science from any disciplinary perspective. Submissions of abstracts of papers of approximately 25-30 minutes' reading length, and of symposia of three to four thematically related papers will be considered for the program. Submissions should be sent (with "HOPOS 2010 Submission" in subject line) as an email attachment directly to James Lennox, the "Kant and Before" Program Sub-Committee chair, either as a Word document or PDF file. Deadline for submissions is December 15, 2009. Notification of paper acceptances for the program will be provided by March 1, 2010.
Proposals for papers should include:

Proposals for symposia should include: Conference website (including information on abstracts, accommodations, and visitor information). HOPOS Conference website.

July 6-10, 2010
Hume Society Conference
University of Antwerp
Antwerp, Belgium
The Hume Society is pleased to announce its thirty-seventh annual conference. Invited speakers: Herman De Dijn (Catholic U, Louvain), Jesse Prinz (CUNY Graduate Center), Elizabeth Radcliffe (William and Mary), Christine Swanton (Auckland). We are looking for papers in all areas of Hume studies. The following are the special themes of this conference:

  Hume and Phenomenology
  Hume and Feminist Philosophy
  Hume on Religion: Passion and Belief

Papers should be no more than thirty minutes reading length with self-references deleted for blind reviewing; the author's name should appear only on a front cover sheet. Papers may be submitted in French, Spanish, German, or English, but must include an English-language or French-language abstract. Authors are requested to submit cover sheets, abstracts, and papers in one file in either MS Word or rich text format (RTF). Cover sheets should include the author’s contact information. Papers are to be submitted as an email attachments addressed to submissions@humesociety.org.

The Hume Society has set aside up to $2000 for the support of graduate students reading papers at the annual Hume Society meetings, to be given to qualifying students whose papers have been accepted through the normal blind-review process.
Submissions must be sent by November 1, 2009. Authors will be notified that their submissions have been received. If you submit a paper and do not receive an acknowledgement by November 15, 2009, please email secretary@humesociety.org.
Conference website.
Contacts: Jacqueline Taylor and Willem Lemmens.

August 2-6, 2010
12th International Conference of the International Society for the Study of European Ideas
Çankaya University
Ankara, Turkey
Two Separate One-Day Workshops:

Workshop #1: "The Interactions between Philosophy and Physics in the 17th Century"

    The 17th century marks a great shift in the history both of physics and of philosophy. In cosmology, this century saw the transition from the Aristotelian-Ptolemaic cosmology of the "closed world" to the "infinite universe" of material extension in Galileo and others, to re-use Alexandre Koyré's famous phrase. In philosophy, the dualistic philosophy of Descartes challenged, and progressively replaced, the ancient hylomorphism of Aristotle and of the Scholastics. Finally, in physics itself, mechanism was born in conjunction to the two aforementioned changes, and it remained intrinsically related to the new dualistic philosophy of the time.
    Such names as Galileo, Descartes, Newton and Boyle are but landmarks in a history that counts many lesser-known figures, as well as many opponents. Not only will this workshop be interested in exploring such lesser-known figures, in addition to the great achievements of the main theoreticians of mechanical physics; it will also focus on the main philosophers of the 17th century, such as Hobbes, Leibniz, or Spinoza, in order to see how the new physics of the time imported its problems into their thoughts, and how it was answered by them. Among these stand in a prominent position such questions as the individuation of bodies, the relationship between mind and body, the status of the singular among the infinite whole, the force at play in extension, and the status of experiments vis-à-vis pure theory in the method of investigation.
    The focus of this workshop will thus be twofold: to see how philosophy accompanied and, to a great extent, caused the birth of the mechanical physics of the 17th century on the one hand, and to see how this physics reversely influenced philosophical debates on the other hand.
Call for Papers: speakers will have 20 to 30 minutes to present their papers (exact time to be confirmed, depending of the number of papers accepted). One-page abstracts must be sent before October 31, 2009 to Syliane Malinowski-Charles (Bishop's University, Sherbrooke, Quebec)

Workshop #2: "Skepticism between Science, Literature and Philosophy"

    The analysis of the revival of skepticism in early modern times (notably by Richard Popkin) has shown the importance of the skeptic figure in better understanding early modern philosophy. In particular, it has shown the real function of Cartesianism, which was the most prodigious war machine against skeptical philosophy. But the diffusion of skepticism at that time was broader than philosophy alone; it also touched literature and science, creating new problems and hypotheses. In fact, skepticism was one of the major problems and matters of interest of the République des lettres.
    Given this situation, the way in which literature presented the skeptic figure still needs exploring. It is well-known, for instance, that Molière made comical use of the skeptic's suspension of judgment. What other representations can we find of this figure in early modern literature? And how was skepticism addressed by a science that pretended to reach universal truth? A specific focus on major figures of skepticism in early modern times such as Montaigne, Gassendi, Huet, La Mothe le Vayer, or Bayle, could help us answer these two questions and understand the nature and function of skepticism in regard to literature and science.
    For example, by insisting on the relativity of customs and habits, skeptics have forced writers to take into account other cultures and even write in favor of them. And by evoking the difficulty of finding truth, even for modern scientists, they have encouraged scholars to adopt a probabilistic conception of science, which has some relation to later empiricism. In this perspective, skepticism is crucial to our comprehension of early modern times, and it is important to deal with aspects other than only the philosophical ones in order to better evaluate its impact on the period.

Call for Papers: speakers will have 20 to 30 minutes to present their papers (exact time to be confirmed, depending of the number of papers accepted). One-page abstracts must be sent before January 1, 2010 to Sébastien Charles (Université de Sherbrooke, Quebec).

September 16-18, 2010
Conference: "Leibniz's Theodicy: Context and Content"
University of Notre Dame
Notre Dame, Indiana

Call for Papers: conference commemorating the 300th anniversary of the publication of Leibniz’s Theodicy, the only book-length treatise published by Leibniz in his lifetime. The conference will explore the contents of the philosophical content of Leibniz's work on the problem of evil, its fit within the Leibnizian corpus, its relation to broader issues in the early Enlightenment, and its subsequent reception and impact.
   The conference will be held in association with the North American Leibniz Society and will follow two earlier European Theodicy conferences. It will feature prominent keynote addresses, a full slate of invited speakers and commentators, and a special graduate student session. Papers on any of these philosophical, theological, and historical topics will be considered, though they must not be under publication consideration at the time of the conference. Expenses (including travel) will be paid in full for the papers selected for presentation. Those wishing to propose entries for consideration should submit a short abstract (350 word limit) of the paper no later than March 1, 2010. Accepted papers must be completed and submitted to the organizers no later than August 15, 2010 for pre-conference web posting. Submissions and inquiries should be sent electronically to cprelig.1@nd.edu.
   Those wishing to participate in the conference as commentators or session chairs should notify the conference directors, Samuel Newlands and Michael Rea at cprelig.1@nd.edu. Such requests should be accompanied by an attached C.V.
Conference website.

This conference is part of a four-year project, "The Problem of Evil in Modern and Contemporary Thought," coordinated by Notre Dame's Center for Philosophy of Religion, with generous support from the John Templeton Foundation. Through a wide-ranging series of research initiatives, including fellowships, conferences, seminars, workshops, publications, translations, contests, and public events, we hope to stimulate and promote new work on the problem of evil that will be relevant to both the scholarly community and to a larger public audience. For information on these various activities, go to the project's website.

October 8-11, 2010
Conference: 300 Jahre Essais de Théodicée: Rezeption und Transformation
Berlin and Potsdam
Focus: the reception and transformation of Leibniz's Theodicy by, for example, Lessing, Herder, Jean Paul, Blumenberg, Ritter-Schule
Contact: Wenchao Li.

June 4-7, 2012
International Berkeley Conference: Berkeley on Moral and Social Philosophy/La philosophie morale et sociale de Berkeley
Université de Sherbrooke - Campus Longueuil
Longueuil, Québec (near Montréal)
George Berkeley (1685-1753) contributed to a wide range of academic disciplines; from philosophy to mathematics and empirical psychology; from theology to political economy and monetary policy. To celebrate the 300th anniversary of Berkeley's Passive Obedience (1712), we are now inviting distinguished scholars to discuss aspects of Berkeley's moral and social philosophy. The bilingual English/French conference, sponsored by the International Berkeley Society, will take place at the University of Sherbrooke, Longueuil, Canada. Anyone interested in participating in the conference should send an abstract before June 1, 2011 to Bertil Belfrage (for Anglophone contributors) or Sébastien Charles (for Francophone contributors).
Organizers: Bertil Belfrage, Sébastien Charles, and David Raynor.

George Berkeley (1685-1753) s'est investi dans un large spectre d'activités académiques, allant de la philosophie aux mathématiques et à la psychologie empirique, de la théologie à l'économie politique et à la politique monétaire. Afin de célébrer le 300ème anniversaire de la publication de l'Obéissance passive (1712), nous invitons dès à présent des spécialistes de Berkeley à s'intéresser à sa philosophie morale ou sociale dans le cadre d'un colloque bilingue (français-anglais) bénéficiant du soutien de l'International Berkeley Society qui se tiendra au campus Longueuil de l'Université de Sherbrooke. Tout chercheur souhaitant participer au colloque peut faire parvenir un résumé à Bertil Belfrage (intervenants anglophones) ou Sébastien Charles (intervenants francophones) avant 1 juin 2011.
Organisateurs: Bertil Belfrage, Sébastien Charles, and David Raynor.

September 2-5, 2013 (tentative date)
International Berkeley Conference: The 300th Anniversary of the Publication of Three Dialogues between Hylas and Philonous
Collegium Maius, Jagiellonian University
Kraków, Poland
Scholars from around the world will be meeting to discuss Berkeley's Three Dialogues. Sponsored by the International Berkeley Society. For information, please contact one of the organizers, Milowit Kuninski (Jagiellonian University, Poland) or Bertil Belfrage (Lund University, Sweden).