MAWM 2013

On September 14-15, 2013 the University of Notre Dame will host the second Midwest Annual Workshop in Metaphysics (MAWM). We invite and encourage all interested parties to attend! 

Speakers will be Ben Caplan, Matti Eklund, Daniel Korman, Jennifer McKitrick, Gillian Russell, and Jessica Wilson.

MAWMs are targeted workshops for Midwestern faculty and graduate students working in metaphysics.  Each MAWM features 5-7 invited speakers, the majority of whom come from Midwestern institutions.  They provide a venue for sharing new research and building community among metaphysicians in the region. 

For more information and to register for the workshop, visit the website:

http://mawms.org/Workshops/2013/

Fundamentality and ungroundedness

I haven't been following the grounding literature, so this may be old hat, in which case I will be grateful for references.

The following seems pretty plausible:

1. p is fundamental if and only if p is ungrounded.

But I think (1) may be false. I will put the argument in tensed fashion, but it could also be done a bit more awkwardly in a four-dimensional setting.

Let's suppose that <I ought to respect other persons> is a fundamental moral truth. Call this truth R. But now I validly promise to respect other persons. Then R comes to be grounded in <I ought to keep my promises and I promised to respect other persons>. If (1) is true, then R continues to be true but ceases to be fundamental. That doesn't sound right. It seems to me that if R is ever a fundamental moral truth, then it is always a fundamental moral truth. After I have promised to respect other persons, R gained a ground but lost nothing of its fundamentality.

Maybe I can motivate my intuition a little more. It seems that R has a relevantly different status from the status had by S, the proposition <I ought to come to your house for dinner every night>, after I promise you to come to your house for dinner every night. Each of R and S is grounded by a proposition about promises, but intuitively the fundamentality-and-grounding statuses of R and S are different. A sign (but only a sign--we want to avoid the conditional fallacy) of the difference is that R would still be true were the proposition about promises false. Another sign of the difference is that <I ought to respect you> is overdeterminingly grounded in <I ought to respect all persons> and <I promised to respect all persons and I ought to keep my promises>, while it is false that <I ought to come for dinner tomorrow night> is overdeterminingly grounded in <I ought to come for dinner every night> and <I promised to come for dinner every night and I ought to keep my promises>. The latter is not a case of overdetermination.

The above example is controversial, and I can't think of any noncontroversial ones. But it seems plausible that we should be open to phenomena like the above. Such prima facie possibilities suggest to me that ungroundedness is a negative property, while fundamentality is something positive. Normally, fundamental truths are also ungrounded. But they don't lose their fundamentality if in some world they happen to be grounded as well.

A somewhat tempting way to keep the above intuition while maintaining the idea that fundamentality is to drop the irreflexivity of grounding and say that:

2. p is fundamental if and only if p grounds p.

Then we could say that R is overdeterminingly grounded by a proposition about promises as well as by R itself, while S is only grounded by a proposition about promises and not by S. And in ordinary language we do sometimes use expressions like "p because p" to express some kind of fundamentality of p. I am not that happy with this solution, but can't think of another one that keeps the idea that fundamentality is defined in terms of grounding. Of course, one could take fundamentality to be fundamental.

Thought Special Issue: Time and Modality

Thought is having a special issue on the metaphysics of time and modality.  Deadline is the end of May.  Call for papers follows:

Metaphysicians of modality argue over whether ontology extends beyond the actual just as metaphysicians of time argue over whether ontology extends beyond the present; and we might also ask whether it is a stable position to hold that reality includes the non-present but not the non-actual. There are modal analogues of McTaggart's infamous argument for the unreality of time, and we can ask whether the modal and temporal arguments stand or fall together. We might wonder whether trans-world identity should be treated differently from identity across time, and whether if existence is contingent it must also be temporary, etc.

For this special issue of Thought we invite papers that make a contribution to either the metaphysics of time or of modality, or that illuminate the connections between them. Papers should correspond to the standard Thought guidelines and be no longer than 4500 words, including footnotes. Papers are to be submitted before 31st May 2013. When submitting please ensure you select article type as “The Metaphysics of Time and Modality Special Issue” to ensure your paper is reviewed via the special issue route.

Metaphysical Virtues

Hi Folks,

Thanks for the kind invite to join up. I thought I'd extend an invitation for any interested parties to attend Metaphysical Virtues, a conference being held this March 15th-17th at Western Michigan University. For those interested, more information can be found here: Metaphysical Virtues.

Cheers,

Sam

Seminar: Metaphysics and Mind (Washington University in St Louis, June-July 2013)

METAPHYSICS AND MIND

NEH Summer Seminar
10 June-12 July 2013
Washington University in St Louis

A five-week National Endowment for the Humanities Seminar on metaphysical issues in the philosophy of mind led by John Heil, 10 June - 12 July 2013. Visiting faculty will include E. J. Lowe, Graham Oddie, and Alyssa Ney.

Sixteen participants will be chosen from among eligible applicants interested in metaphysical issues that arise in the philosophy of mind. Early sessions of the seminar will be devoted to discussion of fundamental metaphysical themes including the nature of properties, causality, laws of nature, powers, and qualities. Later sessions will be devoted to discussion of metaphysical themes of special interest to participants.

Seminar stipend: $3,900.

For more information, please visit the seminar website:

        http://artsci.wustl.edu/~neh13/

Job: Associate or Full Professor AOS: Metaphysics (St. Louis)

Saint Louis University, a Catholic Jesuit institution, dedicated to student learning, research, health care, and service, is seeking applicants for a senior appointment in Philosophy at the level of full or associate professor.  The position begins fall semester 2012.  Ph.D. required.  Teaching: two courses per semester, undergraduate and graduate; significant record of research and publication required.  Committee work; thesis and dissertation direction expected.  AOS: metaphysics.  AOC: open.  Qualified candidates must have knowledge of and be willing to contribute to Jesuit ideals and goals of education.  Salary dependent upon qualification and experience.  A complete dossier will contain a CV, letters of reference, and samples of publication.  Interested candidates must apply online at http://jobs.slu.edu.  Please direct all inquiries to: Theodore R. Vitali, C.P., Chair, Department of Philosophy, Saint Louis University, 3800 Lindell Boulevard, Suite 130, St. Louis, MO 63108.  Deadline: applications that are complete by Dec. 15, 2012 will be assured of the most careful consideration.  Saint Louis University is an affirmative action, equal opportunity employer, and encourages nominations of and applications from women and minorities. 

Job: Postdoc AOS: Metaphysics of Science (IHPST, Paris)

A postdoctoral position will be available at IHPST (Institut d'Histoire et de Philosophie des Sciences et des Techniques, Paris) within the French ANR funded project  “Metaphysics of Science”, for one year (September/October 2013 - August/September 2014), renewable for a second year (September/October 2014 - August/September 2015).
The successful candidate must pursue research, and already have some expertise, in at least one of the three domains in the focus of the project: 1) Levels of reality, 2) Individual objects in physics and biology, and 3) Dispositions in psychology and physics.

The post-doc will be expected to present his/her research at conferences and seminars, and to publish in peer-reviewed journals.

He or she will work at IHPST in Paris and will provide organizational support for the activities of the teams. Residence in Paris is strictly mandatory.

Major tasks will be to:
1) run the Metaphysics of Science seminar on a regular basis,
2) help organize the workshops of the research project,
3) create and maintain a website on the metaphysics of experimental sciences, which will provide tools of cooperation within the team and help disseminate the results of our research,
4) constitute a database on metaphysics of science.

Applicants must have a doctorate in philosophy. Knowledge of French is not required, but fluency in English is.

Salary will be approximately 2000 € net (2500 € gross) per month.

Application material:
-A cover letter addressed to Max Kistler, Metascience coordinator
-A CV with a list of publications
-A writing sample (e.g., a publication or a dissertation chapter)
-Three letters of recommendation
-A statement of research agenda that fits into one of the areas of the project (2-3 pages)

Applications should be submitted electronically, in a single PDF file, to:
Max Kistler: mkistler@univ-paris1.fr

Deadline for submission of application: 15 February 2013.
Candidates will be informed of the decision by 31 March 2013.

For further information, please contact Max Kistler.