May 2025 - News - Philosophy bulletin board

[REMINDER] Talk by Quassim Cassam this Wednesday (1pm - 2.30pm) in HS 3A, NIG

by Veronika Lassl

Dear all, this is to remind you that Quassim Cassim is giving a talk entitled "How To Be a Political Epistemologist" to which the WFAP warmly invites you. When? This Wednesday, 1pm - 2.30pm Where? HS 3A, NIG, Universitätsstraße 1, 1010 Vienna Abstract: One of the fastest growing areas of philosophy today is political epistemology. In my lecture, I will discuss the extent to which its leading figures operate in an epistemic bubble or echo chamber. I will draw on Kusch's conception of a sociology of philosophical knowledge to investigate the background assumptions, concerns, ideologies, and master narratives of mainstream political epistemologists. I will propose a class-based analysis of political epistemology and explore the suggestion that this field's major preoccupations are essentially the preoccupations of what Musa Al-Gharbi calls 'symbolic capitalists'. I will conclude with a plea for a more diverse and self-critical approach to political epistemology. We are looking forward to seeing you there! Best, Veronika Lassl Acting Chair - Vienna Forum for Analytic Philosophy (WFAP) wfap.philo.at

2 months, 2 weeks

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Conference "Free Will: New Perspectives from Philosophy, Biology and Neuroscience", 11-12 June 2025, & CfP

by Anne Sophie Meincke

Dear colleagues, You are cordially invited to the interdisciplinary conference "Free Will: New Perspectives from Philosophy, Biology and Neuroscience", taking place on 11th & 12th June 2025 at the Austrian Academy of Sciences (ÖAW), Vienna, Austria, and ONLINE. Organiser: Dr. Anne Sophie Meincke (anne.sophie.meincke(a)univie.ac.at), PI of the Elise Richter research project "Bio-Agency and Natural Freedom" (Austrian Science Fund, grant DOI 10.55776/V714) Description: In everyday life, we naturally assume that it is up to us how we act, and that we are therefore responsible for our actions. However, free will in this strong, ‘libertarian’ sense – involving a choice between alternatives – is increasingly being questioned by philosophers and scientists. While traditional concerns were predicated on the deterministic laws of classical physics, today sceptics also cite biology and neuroscience. We are told that our genes or our brains, not we, decide what we want and how we act. This conference gathers leading experts in philosophy, biology and neuroscience who argue the opposite. Cutting-edge research into the biological and neural basis of human and animal agency challenges deterministic assumptions, adding to doubts from quantum physics and pointing to non-reductionist views of agency and action causation. At the same time, recent advances in the philosophy of biology and metaphysics offer new conceptual resources for understanding agency and free will under indeterminism. The conference explores the resulting prospects for a scientifically grounded, ontologically robust concept of ‘libertarian’ free will, breaking new ground in interdisciplinary research on free will. Invited Speakers: Björn Brembs (University of Regensburg), John Dupré (University of Exeter), Geert Keil (Humboldt University of Berlin), Christian List (LMU Munich), Anne Sophie Meincke (University of Vienna), Alfred R. Mele (Florida State University), Kevin Mitchell (with Henry Potter; both Trinity College Dublin), Stephen Mumford (Durham University), Helen Steward (University of Leeds), Peter U. Tse (Dartmouth College). Concluding Reflections: Johannes Jaeger (University of Vienna), Josef Quitterer (University of Innsbruck) For more details please see the attached conference programme and visit https://www.oeaw.ac.at/detail/veranstaltung/der-freie-wille-im-fokus-von-ph… To attend in person, please register free of charge via https://www.oeaw.ac.at/veranstaltungen/anmeldung/free-will-new-perspectives… Or follow the event via live stream: https://www.oeaw.ac.at/veranstaltungen/live The conference will be preceded by a Young Academy Distinguished Lecture by Alfred R. Mele (Florida State University) and Anne Sophie Meincke (University of Vienna & Young Academy of the Austrian Academy of Sciences) on the question “Can Biology Help Us Defend Free Will?” on 10th June 2025 at the Austrian Academy of Sciences, see https://www.oeaw.ac.at/junge-akademie/jours-fixes/1/news-details/young-acad… We look forward to seeing you in Vienna or online. Please also note the associated Call for Papers for a Topical Collection in the journal "Synthese", entitled "Agency and Free Will in an Indeterministic Universe: New Perspectives from Philosophy, Biology and Neuroscience", see https://link.springer.com/collections/cjjciagiei . Best wishes, Dr. Anne Sophie Meincke -- Recent publications: "Continuant Processes or Processual Continuants? Towards an Analytic Process Metaphysics", in: Objects and Properties: New Essays in Metaphysics, ed. by A. Moran & C. Rossi, Oxford University Press, forthcoming "Emergent Properties", in: The Routledge Handbook of Properties, ed. by A. Fisher & A.-S. Maurin (pp.347-357), Routledge 2024 "The Metaphysics of Development and Evolution: From Thing Ontology to Process Ontology", Human Development 67, 5-6 (2023), 233-256: https://doi.org/10.1159/000534421 "The Metaphysics of Living Consciousness: Metabolism, Agency and Purposiveness", Biosemiotics 16 (2023), 281–290: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12304-023-09531-0 www.annesophiemeincke.com Elise Richter Research Fellow Institute of Philosophy University of Vienna Universitätsstraße 7 1010 Vienna, Austria

2 months, 2 weeks

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Distinguished Lecture "Can Biology Help Us Defend Free Will? An Emerging Debate in Philosophy", 10 June 2025, 17:00 (CEST)

by Anne Sophie Meincke

Dear colleagues, You are cordially invited to the Young Academy Distinguished Lecture "Can Biology Help Us Defend Free Will? An Emerging Debate in Philosophy", 10 June 2025, 17:00 (CEST). Venue: Austrian Academy of Sciences, Johannessaal, Dr. Ignaz Seipel Platz 2, 1010 Vienna, Austria, and online Organiser: Dr. Anne Sophie Meincke (University of Vienna & Young Academy of the Austrian Academy of Sciences) Description: Humans – members of the biological species homo sapiens – are products of evolution. Therefore, if we have free will, it is plausible to assume that our free will is also a product of evolution. But do we actually have free will? Is it – at least sometimes – up to us what we decide to do? Strikingly, philosophers have long ignored biology when it comes to answering these questions. Instead, they have quibbled about whether and how free will might fit into a supposedly deterministic universe as studied by (classical) physics. Only recently has the debate about free will begun to open up to biological considerations – so far, however, mostly with sceptical results. We are told that it is not we but our brains that decide what we want and how we act, or that our genes determine our decisions, or other biological factors beyond our control. In this Young Academy Distinguished Lecture, Alfred R. Mele, Professor of Philosophy at Florida State University, and Anne Sophie Meincke, member of the Young Academy and philosopher at the University of Vienna, will take an overdue fresh look at the relationship between free will and biology: Can biology help us understand and perhaps even defend free will? If so, how? If not, why not? To make progress here, it is necessary to critically analyse the arguments put forward against free will in the name of biology. Do these sceptical arguments really show what they claim to show? If not, then there is room to explore what constructive role biology could play in an attempt to defend free will against scepticism. Perhaps the common conception of a biological organism as some kind of deterministic machine is not accurate after all? How should we understand organisms instead? What biological function could free will serve? Taking evolution seriously also suggests considering the possibility that free will may not be a privilege of human organisms. First Lecture: Alfred R. Mele: "Free Will and Neurobiology" Second Lecture: Anne Sophie Meincke: "Free Will Is Real and Biology Helps Us Understand Why" Join us for an inspiring and controversial discussion, which will be moderated by Alice Auersperg, cognitive biologist at the Messerli Research Institute, Vienna, and member of the Young Academy. The Young Academy Distinguished Lecture Series brings cutting-edge scientific topics to the public, presented by distinguished experts and members of the Young Academy. The present two lectures kick off the interdisciplinary conference "Free Will: New Perspectives from Philosophy, Biology and Neuroscience", organised by Anne Sophie Meincke and taking place at the Austrian Academy of Sciences on 11 and 12 June 2025, see https://www.oeaw.ac.at/detail/veranstaltung/der-freie-wille-im-fokus-von-ph…. More information is to be found in the attached programme and at https://www.oeaw.ac.at/detail/veranstaltung/willensfreiheit-und-biologie. To attend in person, please register free of charge at https://www.oeaw.ac.at/veranstaltungen/anmeldung/young-academy-distinguishe…. On-site childcare is available upon request. Please indicate your interest when registering (by 2nd June). Or follow the event via live stream at https://www.oeaw.ac.at/veranstaltungen/live. We are looking forward to seeing you. Best wishes, Dr Anne Sophie Meincke -- Recent publications: "Continuant Processes or Processual Continuants? Towards an Analytic Process Metaphysics", in: Objects and Properties: New Essays in Metaphysics, ed. by A. Moran & C. Rossi, Oxford University Press, forthcoming "Emergent Properties", in: The Routledge Handbook of Properties, ed. by A. Fisher & A.-S. Maurin (pp.347-357), Routledge 2024 "The Metaphysics of Development and Evolution: From Thing Ontology to Process Ontology", Human Development 67, 5-6 (2023), 233-256: https://doi.org/10.1159/000534421 "The Metaphysics of Living Consciousness: Metabolism, Agency and Purposiveness", Biosemiotics 16 (2023), 281–290: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12304-023-09531-0 www.annesophiemeincke.com Elise Richter Research Fellow Institute of Philosophy University of Vienna Universitätsstraße 7 1010 Vienna, Austria

2 months, 2 weeks

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Diversifying Syllabi Workshop 21.5.2025 9-11:30 - with Veli Mitova

by Sophie Juliane Veigl

Dear all, Diversifying syllabi is a growing demand in academic philosophy. As a department, I am sure many have individual experiences and expertise in including the voices of women, gender-non-conforming, BiPOCs, and dis/abled philosophers in their teaching. This workshop aims at "collectivizing" these experiences and to provide knowledge & tools for those who aim at diversifying their syllabi for upcoming teaching. When: 21.5.2025 9-11:30 Where: HS3A The workshop will be run by Veli Mitova, Professor in Philosophy and Director of the African Centre for Epistemology and Philosophy of Science, University of Johannesburg. The workshop will build on sharing experiences, ressources and "how to"s but also sets aside enough time for participants to work on their syllabi: 09:00 - 09:45 Veli Mitova: Decolonising Philosophy: Lessons from South Africa 09:45 - 11:00 Workshopping - Time to work on individual Syllabi (e.g., for WS25) 11:00 - 11:30 Closing Reflections, Feedback, Input If you are interested in attending, please sign up via email: sophie.juliane.veigl(a)univie.ac.at Everyone is welcome! Best, Sophie (Veigl) -- Dr. Sophie Juliane Veigl, BSc., BA., MSc., MA. Institut für Philosophie, Universität Wien African Centre for Epistemology and Philosophy of Science, University of Johannesburg E-Mail: sophie.juliane.veigl(a)univie.ac.at my pronouns are she/her

2 months, 2 weeks

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Ausschreibung: Universitätsassistent*in Praedoc, im Forschungsbereich Antike Philosophie (3932) -I- Job advertisement: University Assistant Praedoc, in the research area of Ancient Philosophy (3932)

by Philosophie

Guten Tag! wir möchten Sie über folgende aktuelle Jobausschreibung am Institut für Philosophie der Universität Wien informieren: Universitätsassistent*in Praedoc, im Forschungsbereich Antike Philosophie (3932) Link zur Ausschreibung: https://jobs.univie.ac.at/job-invite/3932/ Wir laden alle Interessierten herzlich dazu ein, sich für diese Position zu bewerben. Bitte leiten Sie diese Information auch an potenziell interessierte Personen in Ihrem Umfeld weiter. Vielen Dank im Voraus für Ihre Unterstützung! Mit freundlichen Grüßen Katherina Krobath -- Dear Sir or Madam, We would like to inform you about the following current job opening at the Department of Philosophy at the University of Vienna: University Assistant Praedoc, in the research area of Ancient Philosophy (3932) Link to the job posting: <https://jobs.univie.ac.at/job-invite/3932/> https://jobs.univie.ac.at/job-invite/3932/ We warmly invite all interested individuals to apply for this position. We would also greatly appreciate it if you could share this information with potentially interested individuals in your network. Thank you in advance for your support! Kind regards, Katherina Krobath ---- Institutskoordination Dipl.-Ing. Katherina Geneviève Krobath, BEd Andreas Wintersperger, MA <mailto:philosophie@univie.ac.at> philosophie(a)univie.ac.at +43(1)4277 46401 Institut für Philosophie Universitätsstraße 7, Raum A316 1010 Wien <https://philosophie.univie.ac.at/> https://philosophie.univie.ac.at/

2 months, 2 weeks

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Mini workshop on AI and computing 20.05. 17:00 - 19:15, NIG 3D

by Raphael Gustavo Aybar Valdivia

The Philosophy of Science Group at the Department of Philosophy cordially invites you to this mini workshop. (Please note that the order of the presentations has changed.) Best, Tarja Knuuttila * * *Mini workshop on AI and computing — 20.05.2025* Lecture Room 3D (Room D0316, 3rd floor) Universitätsstraße 7, 1010 Vienna Organized by: Univ.-Prof. Tarja Knuuttila 17:00 -18:00 Dr. Nick Wiggershaus (University of Lille) * * *Computational Artifacts and the Problem of Creation* As computer science integrates principles from logic, engineering, and physics, the ontological status of its core entities, such as computer programs, remains contested. Programs are often characterized as hybrids that have a “dual nature.” In attempts to untangle such hybrids, philosophers of computing have applied the concept of ‘technical artifact’ (combining teleological function and physical structure) to computing. While productive, it overlooks a notorious problem from the philosophy of art: the /Problem of Creation/, which asks how abstract objects like musical works or novels can be brought into existence through concrete human activity. I argue that, like repeatable artworks, computational artifacts have different representational modes (e.g., symbolic, mathematical, diagrammatic) and implementational media (e.g., ink on paper, chalk on a whiteboard, electrical signals, punched cards, etc.). Just as a novel or a musical work is not identical to any one performance or copy, a computer program persists across implementations. This invites a philosophical conundrum: How can programmers /create /abstract objects that are not located in space or time? By appropriating solutions to the Problem of Creation, we gain alternative ways to characterize the ontological status of programs and other computing objects. I conclude by exploring whether we can understand computational artifacts as /abstract /technical artifacts. 18:15-19:15 Dr. Laura Savolainen (University of Helsinki) *Emperor’s New Crowds: “Untrustworthy” Workers and “Ground Truth”* Ground-truth datasets are supposed to nail down facts about the “world” represented by data, so that machine learning models trained on them will behave reliably in that same world. Yet when annotation is outsourced to platform workers whom engineers do not know, and often mistrust, how is such reliability achieved or even imagined? Based on 27 interviews with machine learning researchers and practitioners, this paper investigates how ground-truth datasets are stabilised when 1) annotators are positioned as unreliable non-experts, 2) recognised domain experts are prohibitively expensive, and 3) the platform architecture itself suppresses deliberation, feedback, and learning. Given these constraints, I illustrate ground-truthing as a canny, iterative practice shaped by task design choices, aggregation methods, disciplinary conventions, and the affective politics of trusting data supplied by unknown workers. Rather than reflecting the world, the resulting datasets operationalize narrowly bounded problem formulations that satisfy performance goals ‘well enough’ for downstream modelling. By analysing the epistemic hierarchies, organizational constraints and judgment calls embedded in these pipelines, the discussion offers a concrete case for re-evaluating realist assumptions about data, evidence, and representation in contemporary AI research. Moreover, the analysis opens normative space for re-imagining data pipelines around more transparent authority structures and richer human feedback for more reliable processes and outputs.

2 months, 3 weeks

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[Logik Café]: Workshop "From Permanence to Open-endedness”, University of Vienna, May 19-20, 2025

by Georg Schiemer

Dear all, We would like to invite you to the following workshop next week: Workshop “From Permanence to Open-endedness” Place: May 19-20, 2025, Department of Philosophy, Lecture Room 3A (Room D0312, 3rd floor) Universitätsstraße 7, 1010 Vienna Organized by: Richard Lawrence (FWF Project: "Frege Among the Formalists"), Iulian D. Toader ( <>FWF Project: "The Principle of Permanence of Forms"), and Georg Schiemer (ERC Consolidator Grant, FORMALISM, 101044114, “The Formal Turn - The Emergence of Formalism in Twentieth-Century Thought”) Day 1 Monday | May 19, 2025 Chair: Georg Schiemer (University of Vienna) 10:00 (s.t.) – 10:15 Opening 10:15 – 11:15 Gabriel Sandu (University of Helsinki) “Natural logic and the completeness ideal” 11:15 – 11:30 Tea/Coffee 11:30 – 12:30 Jennifer Whyte (Duke University, IVC Fellow) “Formal and Practical in William Kingdon Clifford” 12:30 – 14:30 Lunch Chair: Richard Lawrence (University of Vienna) 14:30 – 15:30 Iulian Toader (University of Vienna) “Conservatism and the unprovability of outer consistency” 15:30 – 15:45 Tea/Coffee 15:45 – 16:45 Brett Topey (University of Salzburg) “If the omega rule is a solution, what was the problem?” 16:45 – 17:00 Tea/Coffee Logik Café talk in room 3B, NIG 17:00 – 18:00 Constantin Brincus (University of Bucharest, IVC Fellow) “Categoricity by Inferential Conservativity” 19:00 Conference Dinner Day 2 Tuesday | May 20, 2025 Chair: Iulian D. Toader (University of Vienna) 9:30 – 10:30 Danielle Macbeth (Haverford College) “Thinking about Numbers: From Objects to Inquiry” 10:30 – 10:45 Tea/Coffee 10:45 – 11:45 Georg Schiemer (University of Vienna) “How to eliminate ideal elements” 11:45 – 12:00 Tea/Coffee 12:00 – 13:00 Richard Lawrence (University of Vienna) “Domain extension: Hankel and the power of formal mathematics” Registration: Participation is free and open to everyone. Please register by sending an email to: florian.kolowrat(a)univie.ac.at <mailto:florian.kolowrat@univie.ac.at> For further information visit: https://formalism.phl.univie.ac.at/ Best wishes, Esther Heinrich Georg Schiemer

2 months, 3 weeks

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Trans*Formations: Upcoming Workshop and Talk with Prof. Emma Heaney (NYU)

by Flora Löffelmann

Dear all, I am excited to invite you to the next installments of the Trans*Formations series at the Department of Philosophy! This series of talks and workshops, supported by the Vienna Doctoral School of Philosophy, provides insights into recent developments in trans theorizing. This time, we will be joined by Prof. Emma Heaney, who is a Clinical Assistant Professor and Faculty Advisor for Experimental Writing at New York University (US). She will give both a workshop (25 participants, booking required) and a public talk that everyone is welcome to! Please find all the info below and in the flyers attached to this mail, and disseminate to all who might be interested! Trans*Formations Workshop: On the Cisness of the Bourgeoisie: A Workshop with Professor Emma Heaney 25.6.2025, 18:00 - 19:30, HS 3A (NIG, 3rd Floor) This workshop will consider recently published and forthcoming work by American scholar of Trans Studies and Comparative Literature: Emma Heaney. Participants will read the introduction to Heaney's recently published edited collection,_ Feminism Against Cisness_ [1], an interview [2] with feminist theorist Sophie Lewis (_Full Surrogacy Now_, _Abolish the Family_, _Enemy Feminisms_), and a forthcoming interview that addresses questions of historical and linguistic translation in decentering Anglophone texts (and histories of Western Europe and the United States) in queer and trans theory. The historical focus on this workshop is tracing the itinerary of transness and cisness in medicalization of sex and sexuality from the mid-19th century to the mid-20th century. Theoretical questions focus on the definition of sex, the status of the feminine in regard to sex distinctions in the foliations of the twentieth century, and the imposition of cisness as an ideology that obfuscates the understanding of sex on both the experiential and the political level. To join the workshop, please sign up via e-mail to flora.loeffelmann(a)univie.ac.at. You will then be sent the workshop material! Participants are expected to read the material before the workshop so a productive discussion can be ensured. Thanks to the support of queer@hochschulen [3], there is a also a limited number of travel stipends available for university students from other Austrian universities. Please indicate in your sign-up mail if you would like to apply for one! The workshop will be in English with ÖGS translation. Trans*Formations Talk: Provincializing Cisness 26.6.2025, 19:30 - 21:00, HS 3A (NIG, 3rd Floor) Most examinations of sex and gender in the academy take bourgeois national histories of North America and Western Europe as their frame of reference. In the histories of Germany, the UK, France, and the United States, doctors and state bureaucracies incorporated sexual and gendered social practices into a taxonomy of identities (or even species, as Foucault puts it,) beginning in the mid-nineteenth century. However, in many sex-gender systems, including those of the proletarian neighborhoods of these nations' metropoles, the assumptions that formed expert orderings did not apply. This lecture surveys the non-cis vernacular categories that ordered these sex-gender systems. The relation between race/class and cisness means that there is no absolute geography to this story. Drawing on source material from Indigenous Americas to the South Asian subcontinent and from the working-class neighborhoods of Kansas City to the courts of Nigerian nobility, the talk will be attuned to a range of sex-gender systems that do not accord with the categories produced by the Euro- American bourgeois in order to, as the title suggests, reveal the provincial status of cisness. The talk will be in English with ÖGS translation. I want to thank the VDP [4], the Culture & Equality Unit [5] of the University of Vienna, queer@hochschulen [3], and ACCESTECH / TU Wien [6] for their financial support. Bio: Emma Heaney is a scholar and teacher of feminist theory, comparative literature, and trans studies. Her first book, _The New Woman: Literary Modernism, Queer Theory, and the Trans Feminine Allegory _(Northwestern 2017) is a study of the prominence of the medicalized figure of trans femininity in works of twentieth-century literature and philosophy. Her edited collection _Feminism Against Cisness _(Duke 2024) gathers essays that demonstrate the nature and potential of feminist thought unobscured by the counterrevolutionary mystification of assigned sex. _This Watery Place: Four Essays on Gestation --- _a political and phenomenological report from the gestational sensorium against cisness, capital, and genocide --- is forthcoming from Pluto Press in November 2025. Her current book project is a sequel edited collection that draws on the work of scholars from many disciplines and areas of geographical and historical focus to reveal the provincial nature of the ideology of cisness. Forthcoming essays theorize the emergence of the trans-gay distinction in the twentieth century via literary representations. She is a Clinical Assistant Professor in the XE program at New York University, where she serves as faculty advisor for the Advanced Certificate in Experimental Writing. With all the best wishes and hoping to see many of you at the events, Flora Löffelmann, MA MA Pronouns: they/them (for more info see: https://www.mypronouns.org/what-and-why/) Happy about a gender neutral "hello"! Department of Philosophy at University of Vienna Links: ------ [1] https://www.dukeupress.edu/feminism-against-cisness [2] https://pinko.online/web/on-the-cisness-of-the-bourgeoisie [3] https://queer-at-hochschulen.org/ [4] https://vd-philosophy.univie.ac.at/ [5] https://personalwesen.univie.ac.at/en/culture-equality/ [6] https://www.experiencing-access.eu/de/news/

2 months, 3 weeks

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Bonitz Lecture 2025

by Philosophie

Liebe Kolleginnen und Kollegen, am Donnerstag den 15.5.2025 um 17.00 Uhr findet die Bonitz Lecture dieses Jahres im HS21 des Hauptgebäudes der Universität Wien. Vortragender ist Professor Lindsay Judson (Oxford). Im Anhang finden Sie das Plakat und das Handout seines Vortrags. Am Freitag den 16.5.2025 um 10.00 haltet Prof. Judson ein Seminar zu Platons Euthyphron an der Bibliothek des Instituts für Klassische Philologie. Alle sind herzlich willkommen! Dear colleagues, this is to remind you of the Bonitz Lecture that will take place on Thursday the 15.5.2025 at 17.00 o'clock in Room 21 of the University's main building. The speaker this year is Professor Lindsay Judson (Oxford). I attach the poster and the handout of the event. On Friday the 16.5.2025 at 10.00 Professor Judson will hold a seminar on Plato's Euthyphro in the library of the Department of Classics in the University's main building. You are all very welcome! George Karamanolis ____ -- Univ.-Prof. Dr. George Karamanolis Institut für Philosophie Vizedekan für Lehre, Fakultät für Philosophie und Bildungswissenschaft Zimmer: D0308 1010 Wien, Universitätsstraße 7 (NIG) T: +43-1-4277-46476 eFax: +43-1-4277-846476 https://antikephilosophie.univie.ac.at

2 months, 3 weeks

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Wittgen=Steine Talk, Friday, 3pm: Charles Travis

by Martin Kusch

Dear All, The "Wittgen=Steine" group organizes a talk this week Friday: May 16th, 2025, 15.00-16.30h, HS 3D Charles Travis (U of Porto): "After the Fall (Russell's Puzzle)" Abstract: In 1929, the _Tractatus_ collapsed before Wittgenstein's eyes. By December 1931 he had come to see it as dogmatic, and worse yet, shot through with the idea that there was an (uncompleted) research agenda in full swing, and it was only a matter of time until details were filled in. By 1931 he had ceased to believe any of this. As I now read the _Investigations_, the first 79 paragraphs are devoted to diagnosing what went so thoroughly wrong with the _Tractatus_, and outlining, not what a fix for _it_ would be, but how the problems raised should in fact be handled. Russell, especially of 1918, is a convenient foil for Wittgenstein in carrying out these aims. First, Russell placed a _very_ strong demand on truly singular thought. (Though not such an unnatural one considering the history of philosophy, or philosophical logic, from 1893 on). Second, to satisfy this demand (not unreasonably given what the demand was), Russell relied on a very minimalist conception of an item susceptible to being the object of a singular thought. It paralleled, in obvious ways, the demand on being an object of _sensory_ awareness placed by familiar sense-datum theory. And in both cases the demand was strong enough to condemn the would-be solution to a problem to failure. In that beginning section of the _Investigations_, there are three prominent ideas. One is that of a language game, another, related, of family resemblance (a rope of many strands with no one running all the way through), and a certain conception of the world-involvingness of representing centring on something like a notion of _supposition_ (and, incidentally, spelled out both by Leibniz and by Putnam, the latter in terms of the idea he called _cluster concept_. On reflection it is not surprising that things would take this turn for Wittgenstein. But in the present talk I will try to make the key ingredients more transparent. (I expect in advance that my success, if any, will certainly be far less than total.) All welcome! Best wishes from the organizers, Esther Ramharter Anja Weiberg Martin Kusch --------------------------------------- Prof. Martin Kusch Univ. of Vienna, Dpt. of Philosophy https://philosophie.univie.ac.at/institut/

2 months, 3 weeks

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2025

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