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Call for Papers, Poster Sessions and Panel Discussions

"Evolution, the Environment, and Responsible Knowledge"
International Multi- and Interdisciplinary Conference
Department of Philosophy, University of Central Florida
Orlando, FL (USA)
26-28 January 2009

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In the brief time humans have inhabited the earth, we have
wrought great changes in the biosphere and in our
consciousness. A responsible approach to knowledge would
help us clarify and disseminate the best information to
formulate an appropriate response to biological, social, and
ethical challenges we are facing now and will face in the
future.

The topics of this conference are complexly interconnected
and interrelated across a variety of disciplinary
dimensions, and we welcome contributions transcending
academic boundaries, developing disciplinary insights in
creative and unexplored ways, and those that express
perspectives in diverse or underutilized media, including
visual imagery, song, dance, storytelling, and
technologically novel creations. Presentations focused on
any dimensions of the conference topic are welcome. We seek
to be inclusive and diverse in appeal and participation,
welcoming submissions of abstracts, artworks, poster
sessions, and panel discussion plans from persons of various
backgrounds and interests. For example, evolution may be
understood as a time dimension; environment as spatial;
knowledge as the dimension of consciousness, and some
combination of these dimensions leading to a fourth, the
dimension of the facilitation of responsible action.

This conference is the third in a series of conferences on
the ability to acquire, evaluate, synthesize, and use
information in responsible ways and is designed to appeal to
and include a broad range of interests and topics,
discussions and disagreements, and forms of presentation on
these interrelated but independent issues. Our goal is to
bring together scholars (students, faculty members, and
administrators from both higher and secondary education),
business leaders, artists, poets, musicians, health care
professionals, researchers, engineers, environmentalists,
activists, government employees, and all others who have
interests in any or all of the topics of the conference.

Examples of possible contributions to the conference
include, but are certainly not limited to:

- Librarians, information specialists, and educators from
primary, secondary, and higher education who facilitate the
acquisition and dissemination of various forms of knowledge
and would like to share ideas about improving effectiveness
in conveying meaningful information to a larger society

- Natural scientists who are in touch with crucial knowledge
concerning the well-being of the planet and its inhabitants
and who seek or are developing better ways of disseminating
that knowledge

- Social scientists and historians who have a grasp of
changes that have occurred, are occurring, or might occur in
human social organization

- Philosophers and those working in the humanities and other
fields who have an interest in fundamental issues of
reality, truth, morality, the virtues of honesty and
courage, ways of living in beauty, or similar deep concerns
as they pertain to the conference theme

- Psychologists and others who would discuss processes
underlying self-deception, denial, disconnection, and other
states that inhibit our abilities to make good decisions and
take appropriate actions

- Physicians and other health care professionals who provide
insights into evolutionary trends of medical importance,
such as the development of antibiotic resistant disease
organisms, or with creative ideas concerning the integration
and presentation of knowledge about individual and social
choices that promote or diminish health and well-being

- Physicists, engineers, leaders of business and industry,
and others who can address issues of infrastructure
sustainability, alternative technologies and methodologies
for meeting present and future human needs

- Legal scholars, economists, ethicists, and religious
leaders who can address ways of making our social
institutions do the jobs they were designed to do, to
restore us to a world in which values leading to the good of
humanity and the world are of primary concern

- Agriculturists, gardeners, and biologists who will present
ideas regarding the way in which finite resources will be
able to sustain an ever-growing human population

- Artists, musicians, poets, and creative individuals of all
types whose works may help humanity to integrate what we
already know or think we know or open up new possibilities
for thinking and acting

Deadlines for receipt of proposals/abstracts:
Proposals/abstracts are accepted between September 30th and
November 3rd, 2008. Those received by October 15th will be
reviewed by an expedited process, so please send your
proposal/abstract as soon as possible. Proposals and
abstracts for poster sessions, performances, academic
papers, panel discussions, and any other forms of conference
submissions are accepted by e-mail only.
Send to: [log in to unmask]

Registration Fees:
(UCF Students and Faculty are free of charge)

Non-UCF Professionals and Full-Time Faculty Members:
Early registration:  $250 (by November 15)
On-time registration:  $300 (by December 5)
In-person/on-site registration:  $350 (by January 28, 2009)

Non-UCF Students, Part Time Faculty, and Others:
Early registration:  $150 (by November 15)
On-time registration:  $200 (by December 5)
Late registration:  $250 (by January 28, 2009)

There are no refunds after January 15, 2009. A 25%
administrative fee will be charged for all registration
cancellations.

Information on Hotel Accommodations is available at:
http://www.if.ucf.edu

Driving Directions to UCF are available at:
http://www.if.ucf.edu


Contact:

Nancy A. Stanlick, Ph.D.
Department of Philosophy
University of Central Florida
Orlando, FL  32816-1352
USA
Phone: +1-407-823-2273
Email: [log in to unmask]