Upcoming conferences
New Horizons in Political Philosophy 2009
Annual Australian Postgraduate Conference
26-27 November 2009
University of Sydney
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Recent Philosophy Conferences
Persons by Convention
December 16-18, 2008
The Refectory, Main Quad, The University of Sydney.
Some things in the world are perfectly real, but not perhaps instances of natural kinds. Corporations, nations, swimming pools are all rightly so called because of sets of conventional practices in which they are involved. Could persons fall into this category? In the last decade or so a number of theorists have argued so. This conference focuses on the state of this debate–both exploring new ways to make sense of the idea, and new stumbling blocks to its progress.
Contact:
Michael Slezak
Russellian Society
School of Philosophical and Historical Inquiry
Main Quad, A14
University of Sydney, NSW 2006
Violence and the Post-Colonial Welfare State in France and Australia
October 18, 2007
Department of Philosophy and Department of Sociology
The University of Sydney, NSW, Australia, 2006
The guiding hypothesis of this workshop is that there are fruitful and
currently underdeveloped connections to be made between two groups of
scholars: those whose work relates to the violence occurring in
indigenous communities in Australia and those with expertise on
violence as it manifests in immigrant communities in France. We
anticipate that the comparative approach to the topic will provide an
innovative and stimulating avenue to explore highly significant (and
politically charged) issues of contemporary violence and
responsibility in the post-colonial welfare state.
Contact:
Russellian Society
School of Philosophical and Historical Inquiry
Main Quad, A14
University of Sydney, NSW 2006
Conference website
Norms and Analysis - From Personal Identity to the Rationality of Desire
Department of Philosophy, University of Sydney
26-28 June 2007
There is a picture of the world which is disenchanted – a world that contains only the ingredients of the natural sciences, with no mention of norms; no reasons to govern desires or obligations. But some of the objects in this world – one case is persons – seem to have among their persistence conditions norms and reasons. Is there a way to reconcile these pictures? Can we reconstruct reasons in an austere world? This conference explores these themes.
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Spinoza, politico-theology and the notion of authority, July 2006
On the 18th of July 2006 The Department of Philosphy hosted Spinoza, politico-theology and the notion of authority at St Paul’s College, University of Sydney speakers included Moira Gatens (University of Sydney), Stephen Gaukroger (University of Sydney), Jonathan Israel (Institute of Advanced Study, Princeton), Susan James (Birkbeck College, University of London), Genevieve Lloyd (Sydney), Theo Verbeek (University of Utrecht).
Papers for the Conference (click on name to download paper):
Click here for more information about the Program of History