Society for Philosophy
and Psychology

Lila R. Gleitman (Psychology, Linguistics, and Institute for Research in Cognitive Science, University of Pennsylvania)
     SPP 2008 Presidential Address: Fearful Symmetry: 'Similar' and Similar Concepts

Jerry Fodor (Philosophy and Center for Cognitive Science, Rutgers University)
      Did the Dodo Lose Its Ecological Niche? Or Was It the Other Way Around?

Zenon Pylyshyn (Psychology and Center for Cognitive Science, Rutgers University)
      Tracking the Missing Link: Steps Towards Bridging the Mind-World Gap

Paul Rozin (Psychology, University of Pennsylvania)
      Modern Academic Psychology: Fads and Holes

To Be Announced

SPP 2008 Stanton Prize Winner Address

SPP 2008 William James Prize Winner Address

Neuroethics: What can neuroscience do, and what should neuroscience do?

Martha Farah (Center for Cognitive Neuroscience, University of Pennsylvania)
           Chair, Persons and Things

Anjan Chatterjee (Center for Cognitive Neuroscience, University of Pennsylvania)
          Cosmetic Neurology

Kenneth R. Foster (Bioengineering, University of Pennsylvania)
           Brain-Computer Interfaces

Kenneth Norman (Psychology, Princeton University)
           Brain Reading

Erik Parens (The Hastings Center)
           Ethics and Neuroethics

Addiction & Responsibility

Jeffrey Poland (History, Philosophy, & Social Science, Rhode Island School of Design)
           Chair, Multiple Perspectives on Addiction and Responsibility

George Ainslie (Psychiatry, Coatesville Veterans Affairs Medical Center)
           'Free Will' as Recursive Self-Prediction: Does a Deterministic Mechanism Reduce Responsibility?

Louis Charland (Philosophy and Psychiatry, University of Western Ontario)
           Decisional Capacity as a Framework for Understanding Responsibility in Addiction

Nancy Petry (Psychiatry, University of Connecticut School of Medicine)
           Contingency Management: What Does This Intervention Tell Us About Responsibility in Addictions Treatment

Owen Flanagan (Philosophy and Neurobiology, Duke University)
           Discussant

George Graham (Philosophy, Wake Forest University)
           Discussant

Bayesian Rationality: Philosophical and Psychological Investigations

Fei Xu (Psychology, University of British Columbia)

David Danks (Philosophy, Carnegie Mellon University)

Christopher Meacham (Philosophy, University of Massachusetts)

Mike Oaksford (Psychology, Birkbeck College London)

Michael Strevens (Philosophy, New York University)

Check back for titles of talks and further information about this symposium.

Papers may be submitted for oral presentation during contributed sessions or for poster presentation. Submitted papers are refereed and selected on the basis of quality and relevance to philosophy, psychology and other sciences of the mind. Papers must not exceed a length of 3,500 words and should be accompanied by an abstract (of less than 300 words). Submitted papers that are not accepted for colloquia will automatically be considered for presentation as posters (unless the author stipulates otherwise). Papers must be written in a format appropriate for blind review and employ gender-neutral language. Individual authors may submit only one paper, though authors may be co-authors on other submitted papers.This year's submission deadline is February 11^th, 2008.

All submissions will be made using an online submission form. The form and instructions for submitting a paper can be found at the conference webpage http://www.ircs.upenn.edu/spp/

Please address any questions to:

Program Chair:

Sharon Lee Armstrong (Psychology, La Salle University) armstrong@lasalle.edu

or Program Co-Chairs:

Louise Antony (Philosophy, University of Massachusetts) lantony@philos.umass.edu
Susan Schneider (Philosophy, University of Pennsylvania) sls@sas.upenn.edu
Fei Xu (Psychology, University of British Columbia) fei@psych.ubc.ca

The SPP is among the premier organizations of its kind in the world. SPP was founded in 1974 to provide a forum for exchanging ideas on the very latest empirical and philosophical approaches to the mind. The name of the Society signals the traditional liaison between philosophy and psychology, but our interests extend well beyond these fields. Our membership also includes scholars from linguistics, neuroscience, evolutionary biology, cognitive anthropology, artificial intelligence, psychopathology, and cognitive ethology. Some of the most important and well-known research themes in the cognitive sciences were discussed in their nascent stages at the Society's annual meeting. These meetings are lively and collegial, and present an unrivalled opportunity for intellectually stimulating conversations that cross traditional academic boundaries. The Society takes special pride in creating a supportive atmosphere for researchers in the early stages of their careers, including graduate students. Many of them have gone on to become prominent contributors to their fields and to the present life of the Society.

In addition to invited lectures and symposia and contributed papers and posters, the Society has recently added workshops on empirical topics of interest to our members.

History

At the 1996 annual Business Meeting, SPP membership moved to create an award for graduate student papers accepted for oral presentation in contributed sessions at subsequent annual meetings. The SPP funds up to two awards yearly, with no more than one award per discipline. Awards are $250 paid out of SPP funds, and a certificate. The yearly panel of judges includes the Program Co-Chairs and the President, as well as any other willing SPP officers, executive committee members, or regular members requested by this group. Having a paper accepted for oral presentation in a contributed session alone is not sufficient for receiving an award. At the 1997 meeting, membership moved to rename the award The William James Prize, in light of James' contributions to both philosophy and psychology. Information on past winners is available on the SPP website.

Rules for Submission

1. To be eligible for the William James Prize, one must be pursuing a doctoral degree in philosophy, psychology, or other relevant disciplines, and must not have received the Ph.D. by the submission deadline for contributed papers. This year's submission deadline is February 11^th, 2008.

2. The William James Prize committee will determine the prize-winners (if any) only after the program decisions have been made.

3. Prize-winners will be acknowledged by a special insert in the conference program, and will receive their check and certificate at the annual Presidential Address and Banquet.

4. The author(s) of the winning paper(s) will have the option to publish a version of their paper, revised in light of the conference discussion, in the journal Philosophical Psychology.

5. Please indicate your interest in being considered for the 2008 William James Prize in a cover letter accompanying your submission, if you send your paper by mail. If you submit it electronically, you have to check the appropriate box.

6. Your submission should follow the guidelines outlined in the general call for papers.

Please bring the SPP William James award to the attention of your graduate students.

Wednesday, June 25^th, 2-6 and Thursday, June 26^th, 9-12

Philosophers often support their arguments by claiming that relevant premises, principles, or thought experiments are intuitive or commonsensical. In the last few years there has been a surge of work in 'experimental philosophy' that uses experimental methods to test (a) whether these claims about ordinary intuitions are accurate, (b) whether (and which) intuitions provide evidential support for philosophical theories, and (c) what psychological processes generate intuitions and beliefs about philosophical issues. In this workshop, we will discuss the aims and methods of experimental philosophy, criticisms of its aims and methods, and the methods that have been used and that could be used in experimental philosophy. At this point, participants include Jonathan Baron, Joshua Knobe, Edouard Machery, Bertram Malle, Ron Mallon, John Mikhail, Thomas Nadelhoffer, Eddy Nahmias, Shaun Nichols, Eric Schwitzgebel, Ernie Sosa, and Jonathan Weinberg.

Please address any questions about the pre-conference workshop to:

Eddy Nahmias (Dept. of Philosophy, Georgia State University) enahmias@gsu.edu

Printer friendly PDF version of this Call for Papers