Second Announcement (not a call for papers):
R E A S O N S O F O N E ' S O W N
An International Conference, Utrecht University
25-28 April 2001
Some of the main speakers: Lynne Rudder Baker, Michael Bratman,
Jonathan Dancy, Axel Honneth, Cynthia Macdonald, Michael Smith,
Jay
Wallace
The conference takes its cue from the fact that the decrease in power
of moral authorities to be noticed in contemporary Western societies
appears to result in a degree of individualism and ideosyncracy in
practical reasoning. The leading question will be:
What does it mean to say of a particular reason that it is a
*person's own* reason for action?
A given reason is *your own* in the sense that *you* think it
*justifies* a potential course of action, even though I may well
disagree, and in the sense that it *motivates you* to act, even
though it may not motivate me. This kind of reason makes for a number
of philosophical problems:
1. How to account for the fact that reasons seem to motivate and/or
cause an action in virtue of justifying that action by the lights of
the agent?
2. How to account for the cognitive overtones in moral and
motivational language given the apparent agent-relativity of reasons?
3. How to retain the agent-relativity of some reasons for action
given that they require articulation through a
language shared by a community?
4. How to account for the practical rationality required for
cooperation between persons in view of the apparent
idiosyncracy of persons motivating reasons?
There are many more problems connected with the idea of a reason of
one's own. As the above examples show, these problems are not confined
to one area of philosophical research only. They range from problems
in ethics, social philosophy and political philosophy to questions in
action theory, philosophy of mind and even metaphysics. One goal of
the conference is to highlight the interconnection between these
diverse areas through concentration on this one problem that connects
them.
Papers will be read by: Lynne Rudder Baker (U. Massachusetts at
Amherst), Ton van den Beld (Utrecht), Jan Bransen (Utrecht), Michael
Bratman (CSLI, Stanford), Bert van den Brink (Tilburg), Stefaan
Cuypers (Leuven), Jonathan Dancy (Reading), Axel Honneth
(Frankfurt/M), Cynthia Macdonald (Christchurch, NZ), Graham Macdonald
(Christchurch, NZ), Anthonie Meijers (Eindhoven/Delft), Bert
Musschenga (VU, Amsterdam), Beate Roessler (UvA, Amsterdam) Marya
Schechtman (University of Illinois, Chicago), Maureen Sie (Rotterdam),
Marc Slors (Nijmegen), Michael Smith (ANU, Canberra), Jay Wallace (UC
Berkeley), and Theo van Willigenburg (Rotterdam).
A conference sponsored by:
ZENO, the Leiden-Utrecht Research Institute of Philosophy
the Lustrumbureau of Utrecht University
the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO)
Registration:
Standard Registration Fee: 200 euro
Student Registration Fee: 100 euro
To register contact: [log in to unmask]
For more information visit our website:
http://www.phil.uu.nl/onderzoek/praktisch/RfAconf.html
=============================
Jan Bransen
Department of Philosophy
Utrecht University
P.O. Box 80.126
3508 TC Utrecht
The Netherlands
Phone: + 31 30 2532090
Fax: + 31 30 2532816
Email: [log in to unmask]
=============================
Jan Bransen
Department of Philosophy
Utrecht University
P.O. Box 80.126
3508 TC Utrecht
The Netherlands
Phone: + 31 30 2532090
Fax: + 31 30 2532816
Email: [log in to unmask]
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