CFP: Semantics and Philosophy in Europe 6

First Call for Papers

Semantics and Philosophy in Europe 6

It is our pleasure to announce the 6^th Semantics and Philosophy in Europe Colloquium (SPE6), which this year will take place in St Petersburg during the White Nights.

Place: Bobrinsky Palace, Smolny College, St Petersburg

Time: June 10-14, 2013

INVITED SPEAKERS

GNENERAL SESSION:

Barbara Partee (University of Massachusetts, Amherst / Moscow University)

Kjell Johann Saebo (University of Oslo)

SPECIAL SESSIONS:

[1] The Interface between Linguistic Semantics and Philosophy of Mind

Berit Brogaard (University of Missouri, Saint Louis)

Frances Egan (Rutgers University)

Scott Soames (University of Southern California)

Tutorial:

Robert Matthews (Rutgers University)

Friederike Moltmann (CNRS, Paris)

[2] The Status of Semantics in the History of Generative Grammar

John Collins (University of East Anglia)

Wolfram Hinzen (Durham/Barcelona)

Robert May / Adam Sennett (UC Davis)

Howard Lasnik (University of Maryland)

[3] Empirical Methods in the Investigation of Semantics

Erica Cosentino (Calabria/Bochum)

Tatiana Chernigovskaya (St Petersburg)

Natalia Slioussar (Utrecht/ St Petersburg)

Markus Werning (Bochum)

Abstract Submission Details:

Please send an anonymous two-page long abstract to: slioussar@gmail.com

On a separate page please specify whether the submission is for the general session or one of the special sessions and mention title and your name, affiliation, and e-mail address

Abstract Submission Deadline: March 22, 2013

Notification of Acceptance: April 5, 2013

Organizing Committee of SPE6:

Berit Brogaard, Tatiana Chernigovskaya, Wolfram Hinzen, Robert Matthews, Robert May, Friederike Moltmann, Markus Werning, Ede Zimmermann

Conference website: TBA

Synesthesia Survey

If you are a synesthete, please complete this synesthesia survey for our lab. Thank you.

'Seem' and Seemings

A rough draft of my paper "A semantic account of 'seem' and seemings" is available here. Feel free to email me your comments.

Special Issue of Philosophical Studies on High-Level Properties in Perception

My special issue of Philosophical Studies on high-level properties in perception will be out in the next issue of the journal. It includes contributions by Jennifer Matey, Heather Logue, Ophelia DeRoy, Nico Silins, Bill Fish, Tim Bayne & Ryan Perkins (co-authored contribution), and Roy Sorensen.

Formal Epistemology Course Next Semester

Some of you have requested the course description for the formal epistemology course I am teaching next semester. So I am posting it here.

Formal Epistemology
This course is an upper-level graduate course in formal epistemology that will serve as a broad foundation for anyone who is hoping to get into a good Ph.D. program in philosophy. In the course we will cover Bayesian probability theory and degrees of belief, de se belief, the nature of a priori knowledge, the nature of justification and the knowability paradox. The main book we will read is David Chalmers' Constructing the World. We will also cover several articles in the different areas dealt with in the class. Each week there will be writing assignments devoted to the concepts covered in the course. Students will also be required to write a term paper within the area of formal epistemology. The course encourages, but does not require, prior knowledge of two-dimensional semantics. Undergraduate students can take the course with prior permission from the instructor.

News Posts on the Brain and Superhuman Abilities

We have posted a couple of new posts to our blog on superhuman ability over at Psychology Today

Change Blindness

See if you can identify the change in this picture. This one is a bit harder.

New Psychology Today blog

I am contributing to a Psychology Today blog, The Superhuman Mind, which may be of interest to you. The first post is up.

Change Blindness

    See if you identify the part of the image that changes.

College Drop-Out Becomes Accidental Genius

Our paper on a savant with acquired synesthesia is now out.

More Bad News for Women in Academia

The New York Times, Sept. 24, 2012, has a blurb reporting on a finding in science about this, entitled: Bias Persists for Women of Science, a Study Finds *HT: Claus Emmeche)

CFP: Piece of Mind Graduate Conference

New Research Center in Edinburgh

The Department of Philosophy in Edinburgh just announced the launch of a new research center called Eidyn: The Edinburgh Centre for Epistemology, Mind and Normativity. This center will specialize in the areas of epistemology, metaethics, philosophy of mind and cognitive science. It will also be home to empirical and philosophical research projects in these areas, including their recendely funded research project "Extended Knowledge". The center will further sponsor grad students, postdocs, and visiting fellows.

New Synesthesia Blog

Our synesthesia lab has started a new blog on synesthesia. It will feature stories and news from our lab and hopefully from other synesthesia researchers around the world. Kristian Marlow has just posted the first post. Feel free to check it out!

New Synesthesia Lab Site

Check out our new synesthesia lab site, which Kristian Marlow created. Feel free to click the "like" button on the site :-)

Synesthesia Joke

A grapheme-color synesthete asked a non-synesthete: "What color is your 'P'?". The other person puzzled said "Yellow?" (Thanks to Lidell Simpson and Carol Steen)

Encyclopedia Entry on Color Synesthesia

I just posted a draft of my encyclopedia entry on color synesthesia. The link is here. Feel free to send comments.

Man becomes genius after head injury

Nightline did a feature on our case study, JP, who has acquired synesthesia and savant syndrome

Poetry Slam

This was one of the syn team's contributions to the poetry slam night at Tucson, 2012

The rave of all conferences (Tucson 2012)

Sitting in the audience, sweating, ice water
in our hands, sweating
boiled blood for later use. The rave
is here. The rave of all conferences
Cactuses and scorpions. The rave
The war
of the world views. The massacre
of consciousness
DCs
all over the place,
the rave,
cactuses pricking your mind
pricking, pricking, PRICKING
the rave
The massacre of consciousness, the rave
WHAT DOES IT FEEL LIKE? WHAT IS IT LIKE?
Deepak Chopra and molecules
David Chalmers and mindfulness
David Copperfield and magic
Dane Cook and mockery
Don Corleone and the mafia
DCs. DCs all over the place. DCs, DCs, DCssss. The rave
Mindfulness, magic, molecules, happy molecules,
Small drops of magic
Mindfulness, molecules, mockery, mafia
Misanthropy
Misanthropy
Misanthropy
Deepak pricking Jesse
unconscious and unattentive
Jesse pricking Bob Kentridge
unconscious and attentive
Attention. Attention. Attention. ATTENTION
GET OUT
of the hospitality suite. Get out
Jesse Prinz! Attention. Attention. The rave.
Rave, magic, mafia:
Out. Out. Out. OUT!
Of the hospitality suite! Out!
The woman, the security guard, the rave
The woman, angry, foaming, red, pricking, like a cactus.
Pricking.
At the Tucson conference, women are more dangerous than shotguns
Pricking. Becoming cactuses. Shutting us out.
There are no worries. Only zombies worry. No worries
The zombies made her an offer she couldn't refuse
We drink
the zombies
We drink
zombie blood
We drink, we speak, we prick, we party
after consciousness.
Zombies party
after the rave
the rave, the cactuses, the shotguns, the zombies, the pricking, the mafia, the molecules
happy molecules, the rave
the rave of all conferences

Evolution in Biology, the Human Sciences and the Humanities, St. Louis April 26-28

I am really looking forward to this conference here in St. Louis, particularly Patricia Churchland's talk on Saturday April 28.