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Philosophy Values and Reasons Research Seminar 2021/2022: Programme

Here is the programme for the Department of Philosophy’s Values and Reason Research Seminar Series, for the academic year 2021/22 (up until January 2022). Further dates to be added in due course.

Wednesday 6th October 2021: Alan Wilson (University of Bristol)

Wednesday 3rd November 2021: Kathy Puddifoot (University of Durham)

Wednesday 1st December 2021: Chris Clarke (University of Cambridge, Erasmus University Rotterdam)

Wednesday 12th January 2022: Mona Simion (University of Glasgow)

Further dates to be added in due course.

All seminars 2pm-4pm. Due to pandemic, they take place on MS Teams. If you would like to attend, please contact Mark Pinder.

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Philosophy Values and Reasons Research Seminar 2020/2021: Programme

Here is the programme for the Department of Philosophy’s Values and Reason Research Seminar Series, for the academic year 2020/21.

Thursday 7th October 2020: Regina Rini (York University)

Wednesday 4th November 2020: Nikhil Krishnan (University of Cambridge)

Wednesday 2nd December 2020: Sam Wilkinson (University of Exeter) [Watch]

Wednesday 13th January 2021: Dan Zahavi (Universities of Copenhagen and Oxford) [Watch]

Wednesday 3rd February 2021: Elisabeth Schellekens Dammann (Uppsala University)

Wednesday 3rd March 2021: Adriana Clavel-Vázquez (University of Oxford) [Watch]

Wednesday 7th April 2021: Christopher Jay (University of York)

Wednesday 5th May 2021: Louise Hanson (University of Oxford) [Watch]

Wednesday 2nd June 2021: Joey Pollock (University of Oslo)

All seminars 2pm-4pm. Due to pandemic, they take place on MS Teams. If you would like to attend, please contact Mark Pinder.

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Dr Ema Sullivan-Bissett (University of Birmingham) at the Philosophy Research Seminar

In May, Dr Ema Sullivan-Bissett from the University of Birmingham joined us over Skype to investigate whether, and how, immersion in a virtual reality environment can affect implicit gender or racial biases.

Recent studies presume an associationist understanding of the nature of bias. However, recently philosophers have made a case for understanding implicit biases not (or not exclusively), in terms of associations, but rather as propositionally structured (Levy 2015, Mandelbaum 2016, Sullivan-Bissett 2019). However, no propositionalist has considered the work from virtual reality studies and how to integrate it into their theories. In this paper Dr Sullivan-Bissett examined the empirical work on virtual reality and implicit bias against this non-associationist background, in particular, looking at the belief and imagination models of implicit bias. She argued that the results therein are best accommodated by a model of bias that understands them as unconscious imaginings, and that as such, work on virtual reality supports the view that implicit biases are constituted by unconscious imaginings.

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Dr Solveig Aasen (University of Oslo) at the Philosophy Research Seminar

In February’s Philosophy research seminar – the final one before the world went into lockdown – Dr Solveig Aasen flew over from Oslo to tell us about Mediated Perception of Representing and Non-Representing Objects.

Dr Aasen asked how we can make sense of a distinction between perception of representations such as pictures and speech, and perception of objects and properties themselves. One idea would be to focus on a difference in perceptual structure: When perceiving representing objects like pictures and speech, one becomes aware of one thing (e.g. a person, a meaning) in, by or in virtue of perceiving something else (e.g. a surface or a sound). However, such mediation also occurs for various cases of perception of objects and properties themselves. Dr Aasen critically assessed various ways to demarcate sensory mediation from representational mediation.

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Derek Matravers Shortlisted for Research Excellence Award!

Professor Derek Matravers has been shortlisted for a 2019 OU Research Excellence Award, under the category of Outstanding Research Project.

The project in question is the AHRC-funded Heritage in War, led by Derek and Helen Frowe (Stockholm). The project explores the moral value of cultural heritage and how we ought to incorporate this value into our accounts of the ethics of war, and deal with damage to heritage in the aftermath of conflict. Whilst some work has been done on these topics by people working in cognate areas, few philosophers have directly engaged with these sorts of questions.

Please keep your fingers crossed for Derek on Wednesday 23rd October, when the winners are announced.

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Cultural Heritage and Ethics of War – Registration Closing Soon!

Final call for registrations for Cultural Heritage and Ethics of War Conference:
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/cultural-heritage-and-ethics-of-war-tickets-56871706806

Registrations close Monday 2nd September 2019

The conference will take place at Homerton College, Cambridge, 18–19 September 2019.

Keynote Speakers:

  • Constantine Sandis (Hertfordshire)
  • Ruth Chang (Oxford)
  • Victor Tadros (Warwick)

The AHRC-funded Heritage in War Project, led by Helen Frowe and Derek Matravers, explores the moral value of cultural heritage and how we ought to incorporate this value into our accounts of the ethics of war, and deal with damage to heritage in the aftermath of conflict. Whilst some work has been done on these topics by people working in cognate areas, few philosophers have directly engaged with these sorts of questions. The aim of this conference is to begin to develop a robust account of the status of heritage in war by exploring philosophical work on such matters as incommensurability and incomparability, the nature and status of cultural heritage, risk imposition, and the reconstruction and replacement of damaged or destroyed heritage.

Provisional Agenda:

Wednesday 18th September

09.30 – 10.45: Ruth Chang (Oxford)
– Keynote: How Does Cultural Heritage Matter?

10.45 – 11.05: Coffee

11.05 – 12.05: Lisa Giombini (Roma Tre University)
– Objects and Symbols. How Should We Respect Architectural Property?

12.15 – 13.15: Erin L. Thompson (CUNY)
– Return to the Scene of the Crime: Legal, Political, and Ethical Analysis of Determinations of Safe Return

13.15 – 14.15: Lunch

14.15 – 15.15: David Garrard (Oxford Brookes)
– How to Feel About the Fall of Carthage: Cultural Devastation in Retrospect

15.15 – 15.45: Coffee

15.45 – 17.00: Victor Tadros (Warwick)
– Keynote: Cultural Destruction and Reconstruction

17.00 – 18.00: Drinks reception

Thursday 19th September

09.30 – 10.30: Rasa Davidaviciute (St. Andrews)
– Cultural Heritage, Genocide and Agency

10.30 – 10.50: Coffee

10.50 – 11.50: Samuel Bruce and Lucie Fusade (Oxford)
– When Should Post-Conflict Damage to Historic Buildings be Preserved?

12.00 – 13.15: Constantine Sandis (Hertfordshire)
– Keynote: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bombed

13.15 – 14.00: Lunch

CONFERENCE END

Organised as part of the AHRC Heritage in War Project.

For more information about the project and other related events, please see:
https://www.heritageinwar.com/about

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