From debbie.castle at sydney.edu.au Mon Jul 24 10:27:10 2017 From: debbie.castle at sydney.edu.au (Debbie Castle) Date: Mon, 24 Jul 2017 00:27:10 +0000 Subject: [SydPhil] FW: Seminar Hannah Landecker - Antibiotic Resistance and the Biology of History In-Reply-To: References: <7492C77B4F68064A8D4D96AF81135BEE011C37E71A@ex-mbx-pro-04> Message-ID: Dear All You are all very welcome to attend the first presentation in the Semester Two HPS Research Seminar Series. [The University of Sydney] [https://wordvine.sydney.edu.au/files/1762/16816/images/black-vertical-line.jpg] Antibiotic Resistance and the Biology of History History and Philosophy of Science / Biopolitics of Science Research Network [https://wordvine.sydney.edu.au/files/1762/16816/images/white-horizontal-line.jpg] [cid:image001.jpg at 01D30467.67772340] Speaker Hannah Landecker (bio) University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) When 5.30-7pm, 31 July 2017 Where CCANESA boardroom, Madsen Building, Eastern Avenue, University of Sydney ABSTRACT Beginning in the 1940s, mass production of antibiotics involved the industrial scale growth of microorganisms to harvest their metabolic products. Unfortunately, the use of antibiotics selects for and drives resistance at answering scale. In this talk I will discuss the history of the scientific and medical study of antibiotic resistance, focusing on the realization that individual therapies targeted at single pathogens in individual bodies are environmental events affecting bacterial evolution. In turning to biological manifestations of antibiotic use, medicine and microbiology today are staying the material outcomes of their own previous concepts and practices. Archival work with stored soil and clinical samples produces a record that could be called 'the biology of history': the physical registration of human history in bacterial life. The phenomena of antibiotic resistance challenge traditional divisions between human social history and natural history; the particular case of antibiotic resistance in war will be used to illustrate the importance of understanding both the materiality of history and the historicity of matter in theories and concepts of life today. Hannah Landecker holds a joint appointment in the life and social sciences at UCLA, where she is the Director of the Institute for Society and Genetics, and a Professor in the Department of Sociology. The Institute for Society and Genetics is an interdisciplinary unit at UCLA committed to cultivating research and pedagogy at the interface of the life and human sciences, and houses the Human Biology and Society undergraduate major. Landecker, a historian and sociologist of science, studied cell and developmental biology before going on to receive her PhD in Science and Technology Studies from MIT in 2000. She is the author of Culturing Life: How Cells Became Technologies (Harvard UP, 2007), which won the Suzanne J. Levinson Prize for best book in the history of the life sciences from the History of Science Society, as well as many articles on the history of cell biology spanning topics from the development of time-lapse microcinematography to the tale of chemically defined media in the twentieth century. Recently her research has turned toward the history and social study of metabolism and epigenetics, including the human uses of microbial metabolism to make nutrients and antibiotics. www.sydney.edu.au/science/hps -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: image001.jpg Type: image/jpeg Size: 43029 bytes Desc: image001.jpg URL: From Stephen.Matthews at acu.edu.au Mon Jul 24 14:37:12 2017 From: Stephen.Matthews at acu.edu.au (Stephen Matthews) Date: Mon, 24 Jul 2017 04:37:12 +0000 Subject: [SydPhil] Tyler Paytas ACU Philosophy Seminar Message-ID: ACU Philosophy seminar: Tyler Paytas This week - Friday July 28, 2.30pm - 4 pm Tyler will speak from ACU's Melbourne campus, 250 Victoria Parade East Melbourne (Level 4, 460.4.280 (Mel 4.28Vd)) Title: Be Not Afraid: Reclassifying Fear as Vice Abstract: Most contemporary virtue theorists hold that fear is neither virtue nor vice--it is a natural response, and what matters is one?s ability to surmount it when necessary. I challenge this common view by arguing, as the Stoics did, that fear is a vice. Although prototypical vices are traits that reflect selfish or malevolent values, some traits are vicious because they make it difficult to implement one?s values. Fear is a structural vice because it involves an intrinsically undesirable severance between one?s motivational states and one?s normative judgements. States and dispositions that undermine agency in this way are not only disvaluable in themselves, they also have overall bad effects. Hence, to the extent that we can diminish or eliminate our fearfulness through deliberate effort, we ought to do so. And insofar as we fail in this regard, we possess a structural deficiency that counts against our excellence as human agents. As usual this presentation will be video-conferenced to other campuses: Brisbane: 200.2.03 (BRI_xAC.22 Vd) Strathfield: 600.1.02 VC (STR_xE2.45 Vd) Ballarat: 100.1.03 (BAL_xCB1.103 Vd) Canberra: 302.2.13 (CAN_xS.G.1.10 Vd) North Sydney: Tenison Woods House, 8-20 Napier St. Level 12. Vidconference room. ALL WELCOME! Enquiries: Steve Matthews (stephen.matthews at acu.edu.au) -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From m.valaris at unsw.edu.au Tue Jul 25 12:13:29 2017 From: m.valaris at unsw.edu.au (Markos Valaris) Date: Tue, 25 Jul 2017 02:13:29 +0000 Subject: [SydPhil] Massimiliano Cappuccio at UNSW, 8 August Message-ID: You are invited to attend the following presentation, at the UNSW Philosophy seminar: Can robots be social companions? Anthropomorphism, Reciprocity, and Recognition in Human-Machine Interaction Massimiliano L. Cappuccio (PhD) Associate Professor, Cognitive Science Laboratory, director UAE University Emirate of Abu Dhabi Abstract: Social robotics research takes for granted that successful human-robot interaction requires robots sophisticated enough to match the human?s social characteristics and intelligence. More specifically, developers expect sociality to stem out of reciprocity relationship, which builds on the possibility of mutual recognition between human and machine, which in turn seems to depend on the disposition of the former to anthropomorphize the latter. The uninvestigated assumption in this inference is that the human disposition to anthropomorphize is causally dependent on and constrained by the behavioral, aesthetic, and cognitive features of the machines, which is why roboticists and developers aspire to create machines capable to do something (play the imitation game) or appear in a certain way (pass the Turing test) or reach a certain level of sophistication. I will point out that, if these assumptions were correct, then social interaction between humans and robots would have never been possible, given the unsophisticated simplicity of today?s social robots, with their well-known cognitive and aesthetic limitations. The most successful examples of social robots, especially those designed for clinical applications and as social partners, build on a rather different psychological mechanism: the robots? capability to solicit and fulfill the human expectations to encounter a social partner. Understanding these expectations requires realistic awareness of how the relationship between human and robot is not comparable to any standard social interaction between sentient beings. Rather, like art, literature, and other material forms of cultural expression, robot-creation essentially amounts to a form of self-stimulation conducted by the human through artificial extensions specifically designed to solicit pro-social expectations and immediate reactions. In this particular perspective, the activity of AI designers and robot makers allows us to interrogate the key philosophical notions of recognition and reciprocity. Venue: Red Centre room 1040 (Central Wing) Date & Time: Tuesday 8 August, 12:30-2:00. Markos Valaris Senior Lecturer in Philosophy Associate Editor, Australasian Journal of Philosophy University of New South Wales Phone: +(61) 2 9385 2760 (office) Personal webpage: markosvalaris.net -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From adam.hochman at mq.edu.au Tue Jul 25 17:08:29 2017 From: adam.hochman at mq.edu.au (Adam Hochman) Date: Tue, 25 Jul 2017 07:08:29 +0000 Subject: [SydPhil] CAVE symposium: "Replacing Race" - 17th of August at Macquarie University Message-ID: Hi all, You are warmly invited to attend the Macquarie University Research Centre for Agency, Values, and Ethics (CAVE) symposium "Replacing Race". The future of the category of race is uncertain. If there are no biological races within our species, as scientists increasingly accept, what should we do with the concept? Should we revise it, defining race as a social category? Or should we reject race as an illusion: a failed scientific category that does not accurately describe human biological diversity, and which provides fodder for racists? If we endorse the former option, we may be able to keep using the term, putting 'race' in scare quotes to indicate that it does not refer to a biological kind. If we favour the latter option, we probably shouldn't keep using the term 'race' as a descriptor, because race doesn't exist. Those who argue that race does not exist, or that we should eliminate the category on normative grounds, face a dilemma. Racial classification has been used to justify some of the most heinous crimes of modernity, but it has also been embraced by groups that have been treated as inferior "races" as a way to assert and defend themselves collectively. A race-like category seems necessary for purposes of social justice. This symposium will explore issues surrounding "replacing race". Should the category be replaced, and if so, with what, and how? All are welcome, but please register for the symposium with Adam Hochman (adam.hochman at mq.edu.au) for catering purposes by the end of this month - Monday the 31st of July. Date: Thursday the 17th of August, 2017 Time: 9-3pm Location: Macquarie University, North Ryde, Sydney MGSM Executive Conference Centre Unilever Amphitheatre 101 https://www.executivecentres.mgsm.edu.au/macquarie-park/location Preliminary Program: 9:00-9:15 Arrival tea and coffee (provided) 9:15-9:20 Welcome 9:20-10:10 Alana Lentin (WSU) - "Relationality and the Doing of Race" 10:10-10:40 Morning tea (provided) 10:40-11:30 Adam Hochman (MQ) - "Racialisation: A Defence of the Concept" 11:30-12:20 Albert Atkin (MQ) - "Pragmatic Pluralism about Race, and Social Justice Conservationism" 12:20-1:20 Lunch (provided) 1:20-2:35 Keynote: Lionel McPherson (Tufts) - "Socioancestral, not Racial, Identities" 2:35-2:40 Closing remarks 2:40 - 3:00 Afternoon tea (provided) Just send a quick email by Monday the 31st of July to adam.hochman at mq.edu.au to register. --- Adam Hochman Lecturer in Philosophy & Macquarie University Research Fellow Department of Philosophy | W6A, Room 733 Macquarie University, NSW 2109, Australia Staff Profile | http://www.mq.edu.au/about_us/faculties_and_departments/faculty_of_arts/department_of_philosophy/staff/adam_hochman/ Academia.edu Page | https://mq.academia.edu/AdamHochman Philpapers Page | http://philpapers.org/profile/48626 Personal Website | adamhochman.com [Macquarie University] -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: image001.png Type: image/png Size: 4605 bytes Desc: image001.png URL: From debbie.castle at sydney.edu.au Wed Jul 26 10:06:06 2017 From: debbie.castle at sydney.edu.au (Debbie Castle) Date: Wed, 26 Jul 2017 00:06:06 +0000 Subject: [SydPhil] HPS Research Seminar Hannah Landecker - Antibiotic Resistance and the Biology of History Message-ID: Antibiotic Resistance and the Biology of History History and Philosophy of Science / Biopolitics of Science Research Network Speaker Hannah Landecker (bio) University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) When 5.30-7pm, 31 July 2017 Where CCANESA boardroom, Madsen Building, Eastern Avenue, University of Sydney ABSTRACT Beginning in the 1940s, mass production of antibiotics involved the industrial scale growth of microorganisms to harvest their metabolic products. Unfortunately, the use of antibiotics selects for and drives resistance at answering scale. In this talk I will discuss the history of the scientific and medical study of antibiotic resistance, focusing on the realization that individual therapies targeted at single pathogens in individual bodies are environmental events affecting bacterial evolution. In turning to biological manifestations of antibiotic use, medicine and microbiology today are staying the material outcomes of their own previous concepts and practices. Archival work with stored soil and clinical samples produces a record that could be called 'the biology of history': the physical registration of human history in bacterial life. The phenomena of antibiotic resistance challenge traditional divisions between human social history and natural history; the particular case of antibiotic resistance in war will be used to illustrate the importance of understanding both the materiality of history and the historicity of matter in theories and concepts of life today. Hannah Landecker holds a joint appointment in the life and social sciences at UCLA, where she is the Director of the Institute for Society and Genetics, and a Professor in the Department of Sociology. The Institute for Society and Genetics is an interdisciplinary unit at UCLA committed to cultivating research and pedagogy at the interface of the life and human sciences, and houses the Human Biology and Society undergraduate major. Landecker, a historian and sociologist of science, studied cell and developmental biology before going on to receive her PhD in Science and Technology Studies from MIT in 2000. She is the author of Culturing Life: How Cells Became Technologies (Harvard UP, 2007), which won the Suzanne J. Levinson Prize for best book in the history of the life sciences from the History of Science Society, as well as many articles on the history of cell biology spanning topics from the development of time-lapse microcinematography to the tale of chemically defined media in the twentieth century. Recently her research has turned toward the history and social study of metabolism and epigenetics, including the human uses of microbial metabolism to make nutrients and antibiotics. Debbie Castle Executive Officer Unit for History and Philosophy of Science Room 389 Carslaw Building F07 University of Sydney NSW 2006 T: 9351 4226 W: www.sydney.edu.au/science/hps OFFICE HOURS ARE MONDAY, TUESDAY AND WEDNESDAY 9AM TO 430PM -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From hipolito.ines at gmail.com Thu Jul 27 10:19:06 2017 From: hipolito.ines at gmail.com (=?UTF-8?Q?In=C3=AAs_Hipolito?=) Date: Thu, 27 Jul 2017 10:19:06 +1000 Subject: [SydPhil] Fwd: Call for Papers The Mind-Technology Problem - Investigating Minds, Selves and 21st Century Artifacts In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Dear colleagues, could you please share this Call for Papers on *The Mind-Technology Problem - Investigating Minds, Selves and 21st Century Artifacts*? Many thanks, Ines Hipolito *Call for Papers* *The Mind-Technology Problem - Investigating Minds, Selves and 21st Century Artifacts* We invite chapter contributions for the volume ?The Mind-Technology Problem ? Investigating Minds, Selves and 21st Century Artifacts? forthcoming in the book series *Studies in Brain and Mind *(Springer). This book explores the relation between philosophy of mind and emerging technologies. Technologies that only recently seemed to be science fiction are becoming part of everyday life. Our life is increasingly saturated with 'smart' artifacts. The ubiquitous and mobile Internet amounts to a radically new epistemic and cognitive environment which we already inhabit. This smart environment is saturated with artificial intelligence systems that not only guide us to information on the Internet, but are transforming the way we inhabit the non-virtual realm: the home, the urban environment and beyond. In the process, these technologies may be viewed as a form of rapidly evolving cognitive enhancement (Schneider, 2016, Heersmink, 2015). They may also be radically changing the human cognitive profile (Schneider and Mandik, 2016, Clowes, 2015; Clark, 2007) including the possibility of mind uploading (Corabi and Schneider, 2012). Some see these trends as deeply worrying, undermining a raft of our cognitive and social capacities (Carr, 2010; Turkle, 2011). Others see the relationship as a more of a continuum with the long history of artifactually led, cognitive evolution of human beings (Malafouris, 2013; Clark, 2003). These technologies appear to have important implications for the human mind, sense of identity and even perhaps what we think human beings are. Other technological tendencies may stretch our ideas further toward super-intelligence, (within the skin) cognitive enhancements, and more distantly perhaps, machine consciousness. Yet while ideas of artificial general intelligence, cognitive enhancements and a smart environment are widely commented on, a serious analysis of their philosophical implications is only now getting started. In this edited volume, we seek the best philosophical analysis of what current and near future 21st technology means for the metaphysics of mind. Some of the questions still open include: Should the adoption or incorporation of current technologies, such as smart phones or wearable gadgets be viewed as enhancements or diminishments of the human mind? Or is such a framework too restricted? Might they transform the sorts of self-knowledge available to us, or what self-knowledge is? Might the use of such gadgetry force us to rethink the boundary between human beings and technology, or indeed enduring philosophical questions such as personal identity or what the self is? According to various theories of personal identity, are radical cognitive enhancements even compatible with personal survival? In thinking about minds, there is a common tendency to define the ontological status of the mind in terms of whatever is the latest technology. The computational model of mind has certainly been one of the most influential and is currently undergoing important challenges and challenging reinventions (Schneider and Mandik, 2016). Is the notion that the mind or self as a program, which often guides public and philosophical discussions, metaphysically well founded? Whether or not our minds are actually computational, our ability to interface with machines, from virtual reality technologies such as Oculus Rift to our smart-phones and wearable gadgetry, are undergoing a profound shift and are rapidly reshaping the metaphors and concepts philosophers use to think about minds and the conclusion they draw (Metzinger, 2009; Chalmers, 2007). As a follow up of our ?Minds, Selves and 21st Century Technology? meeting in Lisbon (http://mindandcognition.weebly.com/mind-selves-and- technology.html), we seek high quality submissions that investigate the philosophical implications of the engagement between 21st century technology, metaphysics and the philosophy of mind. We are especially interested in submissions that do not indulge in extensive futuristic speculation but focus on current or near-ready technologies which are already changing the shape of the human (and machine) cognitive landscape and our philosophical understanding of mind. Research question include the following: *Extended Mind, Extended Cognition, Distributed self*: ? How should we think of distributed and extended memory in the context of 21st century technology? ? Can artifacts make possible new forms of extended self-knowledge? What are the consequences of artifacts?for instance, the ubiquitous smart-phone?for notions such as the minimal self, the narrative self, or the distributed self? ? What is the role of cognitive artifacts in the cognitive enhancement debate? *Metaphysics of the mind*: ? Does the current state of the art of machine consciousness, brain enhancement or smart ambient technology warrant predictions and extrapolations on questions like personal identity, privacy, super intelligence, etc. many want to make? ? Does current work in this realm tell us anything about phenomenal consciousness? The organization of mind? The possibility of artificial minds? ? Do hierarchical predictive processing systems support the theoretical literature on the metaphysics of mind (mind, big data, minds online, deep minds)? *Radical Brain Enhancement and Uploading: * ? Would an uploaded mind be me? Is mind uploading a myth? ? Does radical brain enhancement challenge our sense of self, personal identity and / or humanity? *Confirmed authors * Susan Schneider (University of Connecticut) Gualtiero Piccinini (University of Missouri ? St. Louis) Mark Bickhard (Lehigh University) Paul Smart (University of Southampton) Richard Heersmink (Macquarie University) Ron Chrisley (University of Sussex) Georg Theiner (Vilanova University) Keith Frankish (University of Crete) Gerald Vision (Temple University) Papers should not exceed *8,000 *words. We especially encourage researchers who are women and/or from underrepresented minorities or social classes to submit. For further questions please contact the editors: Klaus G?rtner (klga at gmx.de), In?s Hip?lito (hipolito.ines at gmail.com), or Robert W. Clowes ( robert.clowes at gmail.com). Please send your contributions to *hipolito.ines at gmail.com *. Deadline: *31st of January, 2018 * *References * Carr, N. (2010). *The Shallows: How the internet is changing the way we think, read and remember*. London: Atlantic Books. Chalmers, D. (2007). Forward to Supersizing the Mind *Supersizing the Mind: Embodiment, Action and Cognitive Extension*. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Clark, A. (2003). *Natural Born Cyborgs: Minds, Technologies and the Future of Human Intelligence. *New York: Oxford University Press. Clark, A. (2007). Re-inventing ourselves: The plasticity of embodiment, sensing, and mind. *Journal of Medicine and Philosophy, 32*(3), 263-282. Clowes, R. W. (2015). Thinking in the cloud: The Cognitive Incorporation of Cloud-Based Technology. *Philosophy and Technology, 28, Issue 2,*(2), 261-296. Corabi, J., & Schneider, S. (2012). Metaphysics of Uploading. *Journal of Consciousness Studies, 19 (7)*:26. Heersmink, R. (2015). Extended mind and cognitive enhancement: moral aspects of cognitive artifacts. *Phenomenology and the Cognitive Sciences*, 1-16. Malafouris, L. (2013). *How Things Shape the Mind*: MIT Press. Metzinger, T. (2009). *The Ego Tunnel: The Science of the Mind and the Myth of the Self*: Basic Books. Schneider, S. (Ed.). (2016). *Science fiction and philosophy: from time travel to superintelligence*. John Wiley & Sons. Schneider, S., & Mandik, P. (2016). *How philosophy of mind can shape the future. Philosophy of Mind in the Twentieth and Twenty-First Centuries*. London: Routledge. Turkle, S. (2011). *Alone Together: Why We Expect More From Technology and Less from Each Other*. New York: Basic Books. -- In?s Hip?lito School of Humanities and Social Inquiry Faculty of Law, Humanities, and the Arts, 19.2064 University of Wollongong, NSW 2522 Australia Phone. (+61) 04 100 176 20 *Call for Papers: The Mind-Technology Problem - Investigating Minds, Selves and 21st Century Artifacts * Mind and Cognition Group , (IFIL)Nova University of Lisbon Gestalt Structure and Phenomenology , (University of Edinburgh, John Templeton Foundation funded project) Hilbert's 24th Problem, (FCT funded project) Anatomy of Language: can we understand language games from cortical networks? , Kairos 18-1. Predictive Engagement and Motor Intentionality, Esercizi Filosofici 11, 2 www.ineshipolito.org -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From calendar-notification at google.com Thu Jul 27 12:59:51 2017 From: calendar-notification at google.com (Google Calendar) Date: Thu, 27 Jul 2017 02:59:51 +0000 Subject: [SydPhil] Notification: Hanti Lin @ Wed 2 Aug 2017 13:00 - 14:30 (Seminars) Message-ID: <001a1140f3e21c72ae055543c265@google.com> This is a notification for: Title: Hanti Lin The Problem of Induction, Hume's Dilemma, and the Normative Turn Hanti Lin (UC Davis) The problem of induction is the general problem of justifying at least some kind of induction and, hopefully, justifying many of those that have been used in science. But is it possible to justify at least some? Hume's dilemma tries to answer in the negative. A simple version goes like this: "To justify a certain kind of induction, the (empirical) thesis that it will lead to a true conclusion has to be argued for, either demonstratively or inductively; the demonstrative route is impossible, while the inductive route is circular." In reply to this dilemma, I want to defend a general escape route that Reichenbach has briefly pointed out. The idea is that, to justify a certain kind of induction, we can argue for a non-empirical, normative thesis instead, a norm that guides some inductive practices. Call this the normative turn, which has been implemented consciously or unconsciously by some formal epistemologists, such as Bayesians, learning theorists, and Reichenbach himself. Unfortunately, they tend to set aside Hume's dilemma quickly and rush to develop their particular implementations of the normative turn. What I want to do for them is to slow down, consider possible ways Hume's dilemma might be thought to strike back, and address those worries by reference to the general features of the normative turn, without commitment to any particular implementation. Here is the lesson to be drawn: The problem of induction is difficult; Hume's dilemma represents a difficulty involved; the normative turn escapes Hume's dilemma and helps us identify the more important difficulties to be addressed. When: Wed 2 Aug 2017 13:00 ? 14:30 Eastern Time - Melbourne, Sydney Where: Muniment Room, Sydney Uni Calendar: Seminars Who: * Sam Shpall- creator Event details: https://www.google.com/calendar/event?action=VIEW&eid=MTQ5Nzc0NjE5Njk4NyAybWU3YzdmcjNvbXBsNHJodmtwbWxhNTM2OEBn Invitation from Google Calendar: https://www.google.com/calendar/ You are receiving this email at the account sydphil at arts.usyd.edu.au because you are subscribed for notifications on calendar Seminars. To stop receiving these emails, please log in to https://www.google.com/calendar/ and change your notification settings for this calendar. Forwarding this invitation could allow any recipient to modify your RSVP response. Learn more at https://support.google.com/calendar/answer/37135#forwarding -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From s.lumsden at unsw.edu.au Fri Jul 28 09:11:48 2017 From: s.lumsden at unsw.edu.au (Simon Lumsden) Date: Thu, 27 Jul 2017 23:11:48 +0000 Subject: [SydPhil] Inner West Council Philosophy Talks: Anik Waldow (University of Sydney), "Empathy and the Ability to Understand Difference", Leichhardt Library, August 3, 6:30-8:00pm References: <8DDC2F6D-4FD1-48C1-A2E9-51C3F5E4DCF3@unsw.edu.au> Message-ID: <42903895-3922-435F-9C7A-132C8D8DFFE6@unsw.edu.au> Details of the next ?Inner West Council Philosophy Talk" Title: "Empathy and the Ability to Understand Difference" Speaker: Associate Professor Anik Waldow (University of Sydney) Abstract: Empathy connects us with other persons: by feeling with them we can understand what goes on within their minds. This talk will investigate how empathy can be understood to possess an additional function. By looking at a short essay written by David Hume, I argue that empathy is indispensable if we want to comprehend cultural difference. It enables us to imaginatively enter into the situational settings of others and thereby makes it possible for us to broaden our minds, so that we gain more knowledge about the world and the reasons underlying the existence of cultural and moral practices that are very different from our own. Thursday 3 August, 2017 6:30pm - 8pm Leichhardt Library (Piazza Level - Italian Forum, 23 Norton St, Leichhardt) Free event - All welcome - Light refreshments provided Bookings online or call 9367 9266 Full details as well as registration for the event are available from this link: http://www.innerwest.nsw.gov.au/EventViewTrainingDetails.aspx?Bck=Y&EventID=81358&DisplayType=C&m= Upcoming talks: Sept 5, Albert Atkin (Macquarie), "What do Children Know about Race and Racism?" October 12, Jessica Whyte (Western Sydney University), ?Human Rights and Neoliberalism" Simon Lumsden (Inner West Council philosophy talks program coordinator) Simon Lumsden | Philosophy Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences University of New South Wales | Sydney | NSW 2052 | Australia work + 61 2 9385 2369 s.lumsden at unsw.edu.au https://hal.arts.unsw.edu.au/about-us/people/simon-lumsden/ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From calendar-notification at google.com Fri Jul 28 14:59:53 2017 From: calendar-notification at google.com (Google Calendar) Date: Fri, 28 Jul 2017 04:59:53 +0000 Subject: [SydPhil] Notification: Elay Shech @ Thu 3 Aug 2017 15:00 - 16:30 (Current Projects) Message-ID: <94eb2c14fd6c3ef0ff0555598d61@google.com> This is a notification for: Title: Elay Shech Infinitesimal idealization, Easy Road Realism, and Fractional Quantum Statistics It has been recently debated whether there exists a so-called easy road to nominalism. In this talk, I attempt to fill a lacuna in the debate by making a connection with the literature on infinite and infinitesimal idealization in science through an example from mathematical physics that has been largely ignored by philosophers. Specifically, by appealing to John Norton?s distinction between idealization and approximation, I argue that the phenomena of fractional quantum statistics bears negatively on Mary Leng?s proposed path to easy road nominalism, thereby partially defending Mark Colyvan?s claim that there is no easy road to nominalism. When: Thu 3 Aug 2017 15:00 ? 16:30 Eastern Time - Melbourne, Sydney Calendar: Current Projects Who: * Kristie Miller- creator Event details: https://www.google.com/calendar/event?action=VIEW&eid=XzZzb2o2ZTIzNjRyajJiYTY4OHNqNmI5azY0cmoyYmExNnQwa2NiOWw4OTIzMGU5aDhrcjNpZGhoNjAgZmV2MWxkcjRsa2h2MDM2b2U0aW4yanR0ZGdAZw Invitation from Google Calendar: https://www.google.com/calendar/ You are receiving this email at the account sydphil at arts.usyd.edu.au because you are subscribed for notifications on calendar Current Projects. To stop receiving these emails, please log in to https://www.google.com/calendar/ and change your notification settings for this calendar. Forwarding this invitation could allow any recipient to modify your RSVP response. Learn more at https://support.google.com/calendar/answer/37135#forwarding -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From info at brainwaves.com.au Sat Jul 29 13:01:00 2017 From: info at brainwaves.com.au (Tibor) Date: Sat, 29 Jul 2017 13:01:00 +1000 Subject: [SydPhil] Sydney Science Festival/National Science Week. Message-ID: <001101d30816$e9d21b80$bd765280$@brainwaves.com.au> As part of the Sydney Science Festival/National Science Week, Tibor Molnar (University of Sydney) will be delivering a Sydney Ideas lecture entitled "Scientists and Philosophers. need to talk!" The talk will be at 6:00pm on Thursday, 17th August, on the Camperdown campus of Sydney University. [At this stage it will be in the General Lecture Theatre in the Quadrangle, though with 200+ registrations and rising, it may yet need to be moved to a larger venue. Registrants will be advised of any move by email.] More information, and registration, here: http://sydney.edu.au/sydney_ideas/lectures/2017/sydney_science_festival_2017 _tibor_molnar.shtml Tibor G Molnar Honorary Associate, Department of Philosophy University of Sydney @: Tibor.Molnar at sydney edu au (Emails are forwarded from this address, so if you'd like a reply, please include your email address in the body of your message.) SMS: 041 041 2963 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From philosophy at westernsydney.edu.au Sat Jul 29 17:31:28 2017 From: philosophy at westernsydney.edu.au (PhilosophyatWesternSydney) Date: Sat, 29 Jul 2017 07:31:28 +0000 Subject: [SydPhil] Confucianism Today: Roundtable with Prof Yu Dan In-Reply-To: <9820EBB478AAE24C8BF5E9089A72DDCCEB5E47D4@HIRT.AD.UWS.EDU.AU> References: <9820EBB478AAE24C8BF5E9089A72DDCCEB5E47D4@HIRT.AD.UWS.EDU.AU> Message-ID: Confucian ethics and Confucian values have experienced a revival in China in recent years. This philosophical system dates back over two thousand years. Its original essence is however contested in academic circles. A panel of Australian experts and a well-known Beijing-based scholar will discuss how Confucianism should be understood today, and whether it has any relevance to life in modern Australia. The panel will comprise: Yu Dan, Professor, Vice Dean of Art and Communication School, Beijing Normal University; Dean of Beijing Institute of Culture Innovation and Communication Shirley Chan, Associate Professor, Chinese Studies, Macquarie University; President, Chinese Studies Association of Australia Sean Moores, Lecturer in Chinese and East Asian Thought, Asian Studies Program, University of Sydney Dimitris Vardoulakis, Associate Professor, Deputy Chair of Philosophy, Western Sydney University Moderator: Jocelyn Chey, Professor, Director of Australia-China Institute for Arts and Culture, Western Sydney University DATE Thursday, 3 August, 2017 TIME 6pm-8pm VENUE Theatrette, Powerhouse Museum, 500 Harris Street, Ultimo, NSW Attendance is free but registration is required due to limited seating capacity. Please RSVP HERE (opens in new window)[Opens in a new window]. [Alumni Facebook]Connect with us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/philosophyuws For further information, please visit: www.westernsydney.edu.au/philosophy -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: image001.png Type: image/png Size: 1047 bytes Desc: image001.png URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: image002.jpg Type: image/jpeg Size: 813 bytes Desc: image002.jpg URL: From arts.cave at mq.edu.au Sun Jul 30 23:55:37 2017 From: arts.cave at mq.edu.au (Centre for Agency, Values, and Ethics) Date: Sun, 30 Jul 2017 13:55:37 +0000 Subject: [SydPhil] FoA workshop: Nature and World in the history of German Philosophy, 11 August, Macquarie Message-ID: Hi all, A bonus workshop for you! CAVE member Michael Olson, supported by the Faculty of Arts at Macquarie University, is organising a workshop in German Philosophy. All welcome, so if you are interested in participating, please email Mike: michael.olson at mq.edu.au Workshop: Nature and World in the History of German Philosophy Date: Friday 11 August 2017 Time: 09:00 - 17:00 Venue: Board Room, Lvl 5, Australian Hearing Hub, Macquarie University Classical German philosophy chiseled out a set of vocabulary that continues to inform our senses of disciplinary boundaries of modern academic research. In addition to coining terms like ?aesthetics,? ?psychology,? and ?teleology,? it is first in the textbooks of German school philosophy that we find the debates in seventeenth-century philosophy philosophy of mind schematised according to a taxonomic distinction between idealists, materialists, and dualists. Even those who are not familiar with the nuances of the history of eighteenth-century German philosophy, in short, are likely to work within the constraints of some of the concepts it has left behind. In this workshop, we will investigate more closely how two concepts in particular were articulated in this period: ?nature? and ?world.? We will consider both how these concepts were distinguished in the eighteenth century and the legacy of that distinction in the modern world, as well as considering how conceptions of ?nature? and ?world? changed in the history of German philosophy. Program: 09:00 Raoni Padui (St John's College) and Michael Olson (Macquarie), "Nature and World in Eighteenth-Century German Philosophy" 10:00 Morning Coffee 10:15 Jennifer Mensch (Western Sydney), "Blood and Soil: From Volk to Weltanschauung in Herder" 11:15 Paul Redding (Sydney), "Nature, World, and the Whereabouts of Ends: Aristotle, Kant, and Hegel" 12:15 Lunch 13:15 Simon Lumsden (UNSW), "Sustainable Development is a Dead-End: Hegel, the Logic of the Understanding, and Ecological Crisis" 14:15 Jean-Philippe Deranty (Macquarie), "Feuerbach on Nature and World" 15:15 Afternoon Coffee 15:30 Dennis Schmidt (Western Sydney), "Thank Goodness for the Atmosphere: On the Starry Sky and the Moral Law" All welcome! Kelly Macquarie University Research Centre for Agency, Values and Ethics (CAVE) Department of Philosophy Macquarie University Sydney, NSW 2109, Australia CAVE website: mq.edu.au/cave www.facebook.com/MQCAVE -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: