RAIL

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2ND COPENHAGEN CONFERENCE IN EPISTEMOLOGY:
THE EPISTEMOLOGY OF LIBERAL DEMOCRACY

THE UNIVERSITY OF COPENHAGEN

AUGUST 19-20, 2010

We tend to think of liberal democracy as providing the most ethically defensible way to set up a modern society. A separate yet highly relevant issue is whether liberal democracies also are preferable from an epistemological perspective, i.e., from the point of view of promoting true over false belief, knowledge over ignorance, and so on. The purpose of this conference-and of the research project that it is part of-is to investigate the norms, practices, and institutions that determine how belief and knowledge is acquired and transmitted in liberal democracies. Questions to be addressed include but are not limited to the following:

– Under what conditions is free speech a truth-conducive social arrangement?

– When can we trust each others’ testimony?

– What is the proper response to disagreement, including disagreements among experts?

– What is the proper role of scientific expertise in democratic decision making?

– How is the need for expertise to be balanced against the desire for adequate representation?

– What are the epistemological properties of social deliberation?

CONFIRMED SPEAKERS

Speakers include David Christensen (Brown), Jerry Gaus (Arizona), Stephan Hartmann (Tilburg), Rainer Hegselmann (Bayreuth), Vincent Hendricks (Copenhagen), Michael Lynch (UConn), Erik J. Olsson (Lund), and Duncan Pritchard (Edinburgh).

CALL FOR PAPERS

We cordially invite you to submit a 500 word abstract on any topic relevant to the conference theme. Please prepare your abstract for anonymous review. Abstracts should be submitted (as a plain text, MS Word, or PDF file) to cph.epistemology@gmail.com no later than April 1, 2010. Decisions regarding acceptance will be made within two weeks.

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Call for Proposals for RSQ 2011 Special Issue

RSQ invites proposals for the 2011 special fifth issue. The fifth issue will be a themed publication developed by a Guest Editor, with the aim of enabling the journal to help set the intellectual agenda in rhetorical studies, to encourage focused statements on timely topics in rhetorical studies by scholars working in related areas, to attract participation by top scholars, and to stimulate scholarly activity within the RSA, such as pre-conference colloquia, convention sessions, or RSA workshops.

Proposals should identify the Guest Editor, provide a descriptive rationale of no more than 500 words, a list of authors, as well as a brief discussion (150-250 words) of each individual essay. The rationale should demonstrate the timeliness of the topic, discuss how the topic falls within the scope of RSQ as described in its general submission guidelines, and where applicable, address the proposal’s relationship to other similar-themed issues or edited collections, and note the qualifications of its guest editor and contributors to speak to the field on the topic’s behalf.

The special fifth issue is allotted the same amount of space as the regular four quarterly issues, 102 pages, which will accommodate a guest editor’s introduction and 4-6 articles totaling 40,000 words.  It will be published in the fall of 2011.

Deadline for proposal submission: February 15, 2010

RSA will make available to the guest editor up to $1,000 reimbursement for expenses related to the special issue. First drafts of manuscripts for the selected proposal will be due in mid-January 2011; final versions will be due June 1.

Please submit proposals electronically to:

Debra Hawhee, RSQ Associate Editor for Special Issues, hawhee@psu.edu

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Read the CFP in French, Italian, German, or Spanish

The Eighteenth Biennial Conference of the International Society for the History of Rhetoric (ISHR) will be held in Bologna, Italy, from Monday, July 18th to Friday, July 22, 2011. The biennial Conference of ISHR brings together several hundred specialists in the history of rhetoric from around thirty countries. This will be the first meeting of the Society in Italy since 1993.

SCHOLARLY FOCUS OF THE CONFERENCE

The Society calls for papers that focus on the historical aspect of the theory and practice of rhetoric. In honor of the origin of the University of Bologna the main theme of the Conference will be “Rhetoric and Law”. Papers dedicated to this theme will explore points of contact between rhetoric and law and their mutual influence through the centuries.
Papers are also invited on every aspect of the history of rhetoric in all periods and languages and the relationship of rhetoric to poetics, literary theory and criticism, philosophy, politics, art, religion, geographic areas and other elements of the cultural context.

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Read the CFP in French

International symposium organized by the CRAL (Centre de recherches sur les arts et le langage), CNRS/EHESS, as part of a French-Mexican research project. It will be held in Paris, at the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, September 7th – 9th, 2010.

Persuasion has long been opposed to argumentation. From this standpoint, conviction would pertain only to argumentation because it is based on reason, whereas persuasion would rest on techniques of manipulation aimed at producing an effect on the audience. Perelman, for instance, even though he put emphasis on the importance of the audience, nevertheless defended a universally valid conception of rationality whose goal is to convince a universal audience, whereas persuasion is oriented toward a particular audience. Yet this opposition has been qualified by what is called, since Hamblin’s seminal work, the “pragmatic turn” of argumentation, as argumentation always occurs in a given context, limiting its scope to the context in which it occurs.

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LRR10: LOGIC, REASONING AND RATIONALITY

http://www.lrr10.ugent.be/

September 20-22, 2010

Centre for Logic and Philosophy of Science, Ghent University, Belgium

The idea that there is a strong connection between logic, reasoning, and rationality, which was very popular among the philosophers of the Wiener Kreis, has long been out of  fashion. Findings from history and philosophy of science and from cognitive psychology have revealed that the traditional logician’s tool, Classical Logic, is not fit for explicating human reasoning either in the sciences or in everyday life. Times have changed, however. Today, a multiplicity of formal frameworks (ranging from non-classical  logics over probability theory to Bayesian networks) is available in addition to Classical Logic. Also, historians and philosophers of science as well as psychologists have described a rich variety of patterns in both scientific and common sense reasoning.

The aim of LRR10 is to stimulate the use of formal frameworks to explicate concrete  examples of human reasoning and, conversely, to challenge scholars in formal studies by presenting them with interesting new examples of actual reasoning. Therefore, we welcome papers in all areas related to non-classical logics and non-classical formal frameworks. We also welcome case studies from history and philosophy of science, as well as from psychology, that enhance our apprehension of concrete reasoning patterns that occur in the sciences and in everyday life. Finally, we welcome contributions that deal with the philosophical implications of the present-day insights for our understanding of rationality.

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Cogency announces a special issue devoted to papers on Wittgenstein’s role in the development of informal logic and argumentation theory. Contributions will illustrate how Wittgenstein’s ideas have been applied (or misapplied) have aided (or have impeded) research in these inquiries.

Possible topics could include:

•    The implication of Wittgenstein’s views for argumentation theory
•    Wittgenstein’s views on formal logic
•    Wittgenstein’s influence on the development of informal logic
•    Wittgenstein and Rhetoric
•    Wittgenstein and Dialectic
•    Wittgenstein and uses of reason
•    The logic of deep disagreements

All papers will be blind refereed.

Guest Editor: Dr. Ralph H. Johnson. Submit papers to him at johnsoa@uwindsor.ca Subject line: Cogency—Special Issue on Wittgenstein

Format specifications: Papers should be in Word (or compatible program) in Times New Roman 12 pt font, single-spaced, 8000 words at most. Consult MLA Style manual for how to handle quotations and references.

Closing Date for submissions: March 1, 2010.
Publication Date: August, 2010

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Centre for the Study of Argumentation and Reasoning
Faculty of Psychology
Diego Portales University
Santiago
Chile

CALL FOR PAPERS

INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE
LOGIC, ARGUMENTATION AND CRITICAL THINKING II

October 7-9, 2010

Keynote speakers:

Eveline Feteris, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Chris Reed, University of Dundee, Scotland
Luis Vega, UNED, Spain

The organizing committee invites proposals for papers on logic, informal logic, argumentation theory, rhetoric, and critical thinking.

ABSTRACTS of 200-250 words prepared for blind refereeing must be submitted electronically no later than June 30, 2010 to Cristián Santibánez: cristian.santibanez@udp.cl

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