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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] ------- End of forwarded message ------- Scottish Postgraduate Philosophy Association http://www.st-and.ac.uk/~www_sppa/ Scot-pg-phil mailing-list information and archives: http://www.mailbase.ac.uk/lists-p-t/scot-pg-phil/ Mail to list: [log in to unmask] Mail to caretaker: [log in to unmask] %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%