Robbins Library Notes

Good morning, readers!

Two administrative things to report today:

1. I will be away from 1 May 2009 – 5 May 2009, and will not be posting during this time.
2. More importantly, I will move my posting schedule from daily to weekly posts.  I’m simply not getting enough feedback or requests, and I am not finding enough quality material about which to write such that I am justified in keeping up posts on a daily basis.  Thus, starting next week, I will post only on Fridays, and perhaps other days, if something special warrants my doing so.  If feedback and demand pick up, I will consider going back to daily posts.

Good morning, readers!

Here is the list of some upcoming colloquia and a conference:

• Catherine Wilson (The Graduate Center, CUNY) will be presenting “Epicureanism and Early Modern Philosophy” as part of the Harvard Workshop in Early Modern Philosophy on 1 May 2009

• John Campbell (UC Berkeley) will deliver the 2009 Whitehead Lectures on 7 & 8 May 2009. The first talk will be “Causation in the Mind 1:  Interventions on the Mind” and will be held in Emerson 105; the second will be “Causation in the Mind 2:  Control Variables,” and will be held in Emerson 210

• The 2009 New England Conference in Early Modern Philosophy will be held on 29-31 May 2009.  A program for the conference is now available.

Good morning, readers!  Welcome back after the weekend!

I’m thinking about what direction to take this blog into next.  What would you like me to post about?  I know people are reading this blog, but no one is commenting.  Do you have things that you’d like me to write about?  Let me know!

Good morning, readers!

There are two lectures coming up here at Harvard that you may be interested in attending:

• Brains, Computers, and Minds with Professor Daniel Dennett.  April 21, 22, & 23, 4-6pm in Yenching Auditorium, Harvard University, 2 Divinity Ave, Cambridge, MA
• Mozart’s Skull: Looking for Genius (in all the Wrong Places), by Professor Peter Kivy, Board of Governors Professor of Philosophy, Rutgers University.  Harvard Review of Philosophy 5th Annual Guest Lecture.  April 24, 2 pm, Emerson 210, Harvard University.

Good morning, readers!

Tomorrow, 18 April 2009, will be the date for the 17th Annual Harvard-MIT Graduate Philosophy Conference.  Here are the details, if you are interested in attending:

Dear All,

The organizers of the 17th Annual Harvard-MIT Graduate Philosophy Conference cordially invite you to join us at the conference, being held Saturday, April 18, 2009 in Emerson Hall at Harvard.

The papers to be presented are as follows:

“Are Conciliatory Views of Disagreement Self-Defeating?”
Jonathan Matheson
University of Rochester

“Generics, Semantic Blindness and Mosquitoes”
Rachel Sterken
University of St. Andrew/Oslo

“Double Vision and the Case for Separatism”
Boyd Millar
University of Toronto

“The New-New Problem of Induction”
Jacob Stegenga
University of California, San Diego

This year’s Keynote Address, “The Essential Contextual,” will be given by Professor Robert Stalnaker of MIT.

Further information concerning the conference, including the abstracts of the papers to be presented and the schedule, can be found at the following website:

http://web.mit.edu/gradphilconf/index.html

Breakfast, lunch, and snacks will be provided. We hope to see you all there!

Good morning, readers!

For those in the Boston area, and who are interested in Stanley Cavell’s work — there is going to be a Roundtable Discussion at Tufts on Friday, 24 April 2009, from 3-5 pm, titled, “Stanley Cavell and the Philosophy of the Ordinary.”  The talk will be held at The Center for the Humanities at Tufts (CHAT) at Tufts, 48 Professors Row. UPDATE: The talk will now be held in Eaton 201, Tufts University.

The presenters will be Alice Crary (The New School), Juliet Floyd (Boston University), and Jean-Philippe Narboux (University of Bordeaux), with Stanley Cavell to respond.

Good morning, readers!

An op-ed piece by David Brooks appeared in the New York Times two days ago: “The End of Philosophy.”  After reading it, I must sadly say that this article is an excellent example of how to not write about philosophy and philosophical topics.  The title alone is misleading, as many critics have noted, and the rest of the piece goes downhill from there.

Via Bookforum.com: there is a response to Brooks in the Washington Monthly. There are also some very pointed criticisms on the Leiter Reports as well, from Leiter and others, that are worth reading.

On an administrative note: I will be out of the office tomorrow morning, and won’t be posting.  See you Monday!

Good morning, readers!  Happy Friday to you!

For those interested in early modern philosophy, the program for the 8th Annual New England Conference in Early Modern Philosophy is now available.

The conference will be held here at Harvard from 29-31 May 2009.  More information about the Conference can be found here.

Also, next week is spring break for Harvard, and I will be away on vacation.  So, no posts next week.  See you when I return on Monday 30 March!

Good morning, readers, and happy Friday to you!

We will be closed on Monday in observance of President’s Day (technically, “George Washington’s Birthday.”)

Since yesterday was the bicentennial of Abraham Lincoln’s birth,  I will leave you with two of my favorite writings of his, The Gettysburg Address and his Second Inaugural Address.

See you Tuesday!

Good morning, readers!

I received this announcement yesterday — those interested in cognitive science, philosophy of mind, epistemology and consciousness may find it of interest:

Here is the blurb from the e-mail:

This February we have three great talks coming up: Christof Koch will revisit his stance on consciousness and attention, tying it in with Tononi’s theory, Steve Grossberg will tackle the Mind-Body Problem, and Ted Gibson will discuss his work on language comprehension…. See http://www.neuphi.com. For updates, contact organizers@neuphi.com.