Dr. Liz Irvine (University of Cardiff) will start our 2018 seminar series with her talk, “Semantics in the Light of Interaction”

Abstract: In this talk I’ll argue that new psycholinguistic research on communicative interaction  makes it possible to challenge a leading theory in the semantics vs. pragmatics debate (minimalism). This is surprising: semantic theories are not usually particularly empirically sensitive, but I’ll argue more generally that if they’re not empirically sensitive (in a particular sense), then it is not clear that they can fulfill a core part of their job description.

The talk will be held on Wednesday January 9th (2-4pm) at the Open University’s Campus at Walton Hall, in Room 006, Gardiner Building 1. All welcome.

Join the new Global Philosophy Club, a collaboration between the OU and BBC Radio 4. The club is where you will find BBC content on philosophy, discuss ideas with others, and keep abreast of upcoming global debates.

For more info, click here

Big congrats to our PhD student Nathan Fox who had his viva yesterday (by Professors Jessica Brown and Sophie Grace Chappell), and had his thesis, “The Intuition of Knowing”, pass with no corrections

This is the first of an occasional series in which OU academics talk about their research, particularly that which bears on topics studied on OU courses.

In the first, we have our newest recruit, Raamy Majeed, talking about his research in the Philosophy of Mind.

The interview can be found on our YouTube channel here

Professor Derek Matravers has been named the 2017 Wollheim Lecturer by the American Society for Aesthetics. Derek will give his lectures at their 75th Annual Meeting in New Orleans, LA., November 15-18, 2017.

Richard Wollheim (pictured above) was a British philosopher specialising in Philosophy of Mind and Aesthetics. He served as the president for the British Society of Aesthetics from 1992 until his death in 2003.

More info about the lectures can be found here.

Conceptual Artist Robert’s Good’s new piece, “A New Dictionary of Art” is out now. The Foreword to this is by our very own Derek Matravers.

More info can be found here.

Derek Matravers has been awarded AHRC funding for a project protecting cultural heritage in war:

The UK government has expressed its intention to ratify the 1954 Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict; it is the only major military power not to have done so. The Convention (which has become part of the Law of War, hence rendering ratification largely symbolic) obliges countries to ‘refraining from any use of the property and its immediate surroundings or of the appliances in use for its protection for purposes which are likely to expose it to destruction or damage in the event of armed conflict; and by refraining from any act of hostility, directed against such property.’ This obligation can be put aside if the property is being used by the other side for military purposes, or for acts of ‘military necessity’.

This raises significant problems for current thinking about the conduct of war, which is couched almost exclusively in terms of human goods and harms. This now has to be re-thought, so as to include consideration of goods and harms to cultural property.

We aim to answer three questions:

1. Under what circumstances may we intentionally or foreseeably damage sites of cultural property in war?

2. What, if anything, ought we to do to protect cultural property in conflict zones and at what cost?

3. What is the appropriate response to damaged sites of cultural property?

The project will result an academic monograph; a collection of papers; a ‘Framework Document’ outlining policy on Cultural Property Protection (CPP) and providing ‘Codes of Conduct’ for the military; and a MOOC for use by members of the military, NGOs, and other interested parties.

In addition to academic partners, the project team includes members of the British, US, and Norwegian Armed Forces; an international lawyer with extensive experience of working on UN Conventions; politicians (Baroness Andrews, who was instrumental in pushing for the UK ratification of the Convention); the British Museum ‘Iraq Scheme’; and the International Committee of the Blue Shield (the only organisation created and mandated under international law to protect cultural heritage in war zones).

More information about the project can be found here

The department is well-represented at the Aesthetic Emotions Conference with both Carolyn Price and Derek Matravers giving papers. The conference is at Senate House on the 22nd and 23rd September.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau was one of the most fascinating figures in the history of philosophy. He was a champion of reason, who was also its great critic; he wrote operas, yet wrote against art; he wrote about child-rearing, and yet consigned his own children to an orphanage.

You can find out more about him in a short piece Derek Matravers has written to kick off a new series on philosophy for the online TLS. You can find it here.

The new issue of Emotion Researcher is out. Carolyn Price is one of the two editors of this notable international publication. This edition contains, amongst other things, a short article by Derek Matravers.

The issue can be found here: http://emotionresearcher.com/