November 5-6, 1999  University at Buffalo (SUNY), Department of Philosophy

All sessions were at The Center for Inquiry, 1310 Sweet Home Road, Amherst NY.

Paper titles and order of speakers are subject to change.

Friday, November 5th 1999                                                                                

8:50 A.M.    Introductory remarks: Peter Hare, Kerry Grant (Dean), Randall Dipert

Friday Morning Sessions, Chair: Peter Hare

9-10:15            Wallace Matson      University of California, Berkeley
                         "Logical Possibility, Laws of Nature, and Mind in the History of Philosophy"
                        [Draft of above Paper]
                        [Downloadable WORD doc file]
10:15-10:30     Break
10:30-11:45     John Hawthorne (Syracuse University, NY)    
                        "Chalmers on Consciousness"
11:45- 1:00      Randall R. Dipert (University at Buffalo; U.S. Military Academy,
                        West Point NY):    "Two Neglected Aspects of Peirce's Philosophy of Mind"
                                [Draft of above paper--without footnotes]
                                [Downloadable WORD doc file--with footnotes]
1-2 p.m.           Lunch

Friday Afternoon Sessions, Chair: John Kearns

2-3:15              Eric Dietrich (Binghamton University, SUNY)                         
                        "Consciousness and Dualism"
3:15-3:30         Break
3:30-4:45         Barry Smith (University at Buffalo)                
                        "The Environment of Mind"
4:45-5:30         Break

5:30-7             Dinner

7-9 p.m.          Introduction and chair: William J. Rapaport
                       David Chalmers (University of Arizona)
                       "Modal Rationalism and the Mind-Body Problem"
                       [Outline of the above paper]

Saturday, November 6th 1999                                                                            

Saturday Morning Sessions, Chair: William J. Rapaport

9-10:15 a.m.     Richard Gale (University of Pittsburgh)
                         "William James on the Misery and Glory of Consciousness"
                           [Draft of the above paper--without footnotes and last section]
                           [Downloadable WORD .doc file]
10:15-10:30      Break
10:30-11:45      Stephen Yablo (MIT)                
                         "Modal Rationalism and Logical Empiricism: Some Similarities"
                          [Draft of the above paper]
                         [Downloadable WORD .doc file]
11:45-1             Len Talmy (Director, Center for Cognitive Science, University at Buffalo)                
                         "Language Structure and Consciousness"
1-2 p.m.            Lunch
   
Saturday Afternoon Sessions, Chair: Randall R. Dipert

2-3:15                Galen Strawson (Oxford University)       
                          "Realistic-Russellian-materialism"
                                 [Draft of above paper--without footnotes]
                                 [Downloadable Word .doc file--with footnotes]
3:15-4:30            Judith A. Jones (Fordham University)
                          "A Walk on the Wild Side: Whitehead and Chalmers on Panpsychism"

Directions
Consult http://www.buffalo.edu  especially http://www.buffalo.edu/explorer/directions.  

Conception and Organization
The intent of the conference is to examine current theories of consciousness in the philosophy of mind and cognitive science, and to set these in their wider historical context. David Chalmers' The Conscious Mind (1996) has recently played an especially important role in posing the problem of consciousness, a direction he describes as "taking consciousness seriously." While monistic accounts of consciousness that are reductionist, and typically physicalistic, have been well explored, historical accounts that articulate a dualism, a more unusual monism (such as "neutral monism"), or views sometimes called "panpsychist," generally have not been. Notable in the history of the philosophy of mind are the theories of American philosophers such as Peirce, James, and Whitehead, who had formulated their own distinctive but unduly neglected responses to the problem of consciousness--along with theories of Spinoza, Leibniz, Nietzsche, Russell, and others. The conference is supported with funds from the C.S. Peirce Professorship of American Philosophy/Univ. at Buffalo, the Department of Philosophy/Univ. at Buffalo, the Center for Cognitive Science/Univ. at Buffalo and the Dean, College of Arts and Sciences, Univ. at Buffalo). Organizers of the Conference are Randall R. Dipert (Univ. at Buffalo; U.S. Military Academy, West Point), Peter Hare (Univ. at Buffalo) and William J. Rapaport (Computer Science & Engineering and Center for Cognitive Science, Univ. at Buffalo).

The conference is open to the public.  Please contact eam@acsu.buffalo.edu (Eileen McNamara) at 716-645-2444 extension 132 for registration and accommodation information: a registration form is linked below   There is no registration fee.  For other information contact the principle organizer, R. Dipert at RRDip@aol.com.  There is a separate Graduate Student Conference that is taking place Thursday, November 4th with the general them of the philosophy of mind and consciousness.  For information, contact:  eglittle@acsu.buffalo.edu (Eric G Little).   (The program for the Grad. Student Conference is listed below.)

Attendees are encouraged to gain some familiarity with Chalmers' views.  The best short article is his "Facing up to the Problem of Consciousness" available at http://ling.ucsc.edu/~chalmers/papers/facing.html, while the best long presentation remains his The Conscious Mind (Oxford University Press, 1996). An edited version of "Facing..." was published in December 1995 Scientific American as "The Puzzle of Conscious Experience" available at http://ling.ucsc.edu/~chalmers/papers/puzzle.html.   Visit his website, http://ling.ucsc.edu/~chalmers/index.html for an annotated bibliography of his own work and reactions to it, many recent papers, and an extensive bibliography of recent articles in the philosophy of mind.

The website for the conference is: http://www.adwebsitedesign.com/chalmers/chalmers.htm.

Pictures from the Optional Trip to Niagara Falls, Nov. 7, 1999.

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UB Graduate Student Conference, Thursday November 4^th

7:30 p.m.          Conference Ends
8:00 p.m.          All are invited to a dutch treat dinner reception at The Pearl Street Grill and Brewery.

Visitors since 10/23/1999: