GENERAL CONFERENCE
INFORMATION
I. Background
The purpose of this conference is to bring
together people from around the Northwest and beyond who are
interested in philosophical investigation into the nature of
reality. This will be accomplished in a conference on the weekend
of April 4 and 5, to be jointly sponsored by the Departments of
Philosophy at the University of Idaho and Washington State
University. The conference will begin on the evening of April 3
with a public forum designed to convey philosophical research
into the nature of reality as described by mathematicians,
physicists, ethicists, ecologists, literary scholars, and
religious studies scholars.
Inquiry into the nature of reality has always
been a central part of philosophy. Such inquiry usually concerns
anything that has a claim on reality, e.g., numbers, quarks,
moral values, justice, and so forth. When addressing the nature
of things, a crucial question is the question of realism: does
the type of thing in question exist independently of the minds of
human beings? Realists about the type of thing answer this
question in the affirmative whereas anti-realists answer
it in the negative. This question has given rise in philosophy to
what is called the realism/anti-realism debate.
This debate arises in the context of many different
disciplines. For example, there are those who wonder whether
numbers exist as abstract objects that are independent of human
beings or are simply aspects of our practice of organizing
experience. The science of quantum mechanics is another place
where the question has spurred debate; among other things, there
is a dispute about whether the superpositions postulated by those
working in quantum mechanics have any reality outside of the
formalism. A third context would be ethics, where arguments have
raged for millennia about the metaphysical status of moral
values: do they exist independently of human beings (e.g., as
Platonic Forms) or are they wholly dependent on us for their
reality? A fourth would be supplied by the critical theory known
as Postmodernism, an extreme form of anti-realism which
suggests that nothing exists independently of human minds. A
short list of additional disciplines that are home to this debate
include ecology, religious studies, legal theory, and cognitive
science.
Thus, a question that is central to the humanities, and
specifically philosophy, has given rise to debates about the
reality of those things that are fundamental to a wide range of
disciplines. This project will explore all sides of this debate
in many of the contexts mentioned above. It will make it possible
for researchers from different disciplines and other interested
parties to share ideas and strategies for addressing the question
of realism.
II. Conference Format
The conference will begin with a public forum on the evening
of Friday 3 April at the Moscow Community Center in Moscow, ID.
This will take the place of a keynote address. The forum will
begin with 5-10 minute presentations by a panel of experts in the
areas of religious studies, physics, mathematics,
biology/ecology, ethics, feminism, literary theory, and
philosophy. Each expert will provide a short answer to the
question: How is the realism/anti-realism debate significant to
your field? Following the presentations, there will be a
moderated discussion between members of the audience and members
of the panel. Members of the public will not have to be
well-versed in technical jargon to participate in the discussion.
The conference will begin on the morning of Saturday, April 4
and run through early afternoon on Sunday, April 5. The sessions
on Saturday will be held at Washington State University and those
on Sunday will be held at the University of Idaho. All sessions
will be open to the general public. There will be four meeting
times on Saturday and two on Sunday. At each meeting time there
will be two sessions held in parallel for a total of eight on
Saturday and four on Sunday. One of the sessions on Sunday will
be devoted to presentations on the topic of realism by
undergraduate students. Each session will consist of two
presentations followed by comments and discussion.
III. Goals
The project is designed to reach three audiences: professors
and other professionals concerned with the realism/anti-realism
debate, students, on both the graduate and undergraduate levels,
and members of the general public. One primary goal of the panel
discussion is to strengthen the connections between the academic
and non-academic communities in the Moscow/ Pullman area. Thus,
panel members will design their presentations to convey the
importance of the realism/anti-realism debate in their field to
non-academics and to others who do not work in that specific
field. In addition, the interaction of the question/ answer
period will allow academics to gain a new perspective on some
familiar issues. Another general goal of the forum and conference
is to introduce non-philosophers—academics in mathematics,
physics, etc. as well as non-academics—to the particular
methodologies utilized by philosophers. It is hoped that this
will give everyone a broader understanding of what philosophy is
and why it is important.
IV. Planning
The project is being planned by Joseph Keim Campbell,
Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Washington State University,
and Michael O’Rourke, Assistant Professor of Philosophy at
the University of Idaho. The planners conceive of the project as
offering a topic-focused philosophical conference that could
serve as an annual Spring companion for the successful and
long-running Northwest Conference on Philosophy.
V. Sponsors
The conference is sponsored by the Idaho Humanities Council,
the Departments of Philosophy at the University of Idaho and
Washington State University, and the College of Letters and
Sciences at the University of Idaho.