Our student Jon Phelan was examined for his PhD yesterday, and passed with no corrections. The PhD was called ‘Reading Between the Lines: An Account of Cognitive Gain from Literary Fiction’.
Big congrats Jon!
Liz Irvine’s talk, “Semantics in the Light of Interaction”
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.
The Global Philosophy Club
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
Jonathan Mitchell’s talk on Phenomenal Consciousness
We are pleased to restart our monthly seminar series with a talk by Dr. Jonathan Mitchell (University of Warwick), who will be talking about ‘Affective Representation in Phenomenal Consciousness’.
ABSTRACT: Many philosophers have sought to understand the representational dimension of different types of affective states along the model of sense-perceptual experiences, even claiming that the relevant affective experiences are perceptual experiences. In this paper, I argue that many affective experiences involve a kind of personal level representation called affective representation, which is significantly disanalogous with the representational character of paradigmatic perceptual experiences. My positive thesis is that affective representation is a non-transparent, non-sensory form of evaluative representation. In affective intentional experiences a felt valenced attitude (an ‘affective response’) represents the intentional object of the experience as minimally good or bad, and one experiences that evaluative standing as motivating – having ‘the power’ to motivate – the felt valenced attitude it does. I also show that by appreciating the distinctive character of affective representation, so framed, we can make better sense of some of the distinctive features of affective experiences, such as their valence, motivating power, and connection to value.
The talk will be held on Wednesday 6th of December (2-4pm) at the Open University’s Campus at Walton Hall, in Room 006, Gardiner Building 1. All welcome.
Nathan Fox successfully attains his doctorate
Philosophy Matters 1: Raamy Majeed
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
Derek Matravers named 2017 Wollheim Lecturer
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.
Robert Good’s ‘A New Dictionary of Art’
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’s Heritage in War Project
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
Jon Pike at the Oxford Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics
Congrats to our Jon Pike who will be a Visiting Scholar at the Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics at Oxford in 2018.
More information about the activities of the centre can be found here: http://www.practicalethics.ox.ac.uk/home