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
reason and rationality. This will be accomplished in the second annual Inland Northwest
Philosophy Conference on the weekend of April 23-25, 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 23 with a public forum designed to convey
the interdisciplinary import of philosophical research into the nature of reason and
rationality as described by economists, mathematicians, computer scientists, philosophers,
literary theorists, and psychologists. On the evening of Saturday, April 24, a keynote
address will be delivered by Michael Bratman, Howard H. and Jessie T. Watkins University
Professor of Philosophy at Stanford University.
The 1st Annual Inland Northwest Philosophy Conference was held April 3-5,
1998. The topic of that meeting was Realism and Anti-Realism. More information
about that edition of the INPC, including the program and general conference information,
can be obtained by clicking here.
In Book One of the Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle writes that the "proper
function" of human beings "consists in an activity of the soul in conformity
with a rational principle." That is, human beings are rational creatures, which is to
say that we are able to use the faculty of reason to regulate our lives. Taking the
humanities to be devoted to the study of the human experience, acceptance of the
Aristotelian view implies that the humanities must regard both the faculty of reason and
the principles of rationality as fundamentally important.
While this inference may convince the Aristotelians among us of the importance of
reason and rationality to the humanities, even they must regard it as too quick to be of
much use here. After all, what are we to make of the "faculty of reason" and the
"principles of rationality"? We can begin by noting that calling reason a
"faculty" is misleading, since it suggests that reason is a monolithic cognitive
capacity. In fact, there are many different processes that can be seen as types of
reasoning. Among these we find theoretical processes, which concern the development
and defense of conceptual frameworks and explanatory hypotheses, and practical
processes, which concern decision-making, planning, and interpersonal coordination. For
each of the many processes that fit under the rubric of "reasoning", there are
standards that determine whether the process operates well or poorly in particular
instances. Roughly speaking, these are the principles of rationality, and rational
activity can be understood as activity that conforms to these standards.
This sketch makes it clearer how a conference on reason and rationality is related to
the humanities and why it is important. Those working within the humanities construct
theories of the human experience that are designed to explain events involving persons and
their cultures, and these theories are often used to justify courses of action. As such,
the humanities depend for their very character on reason and rationality. Conversely, our
understanding of types of reasoning and rational principles is dependent to a great extent
on discoveries made by novelists, philosophers, historians, and others in the humanities
who have worked toward an understanding of humanity. The dependencies between reason,
rationality, and the humanities are manifold and deep, a fact that establishes both the
claim of reason and rationality on the humanities and its importance.
II. Conference Format
The project has three activities: a public forum, an interdisciplinary conference, and
a keynote address. The forum will take place on the evening of Friday 23 April in Moscow,
ID. The forum will begin with 5-10 minute presentations by a panel of experts in the areas
of business and economics, literary theory, feminism, philosophy, computer science, and
psychology. Each expert will provide a short answer to the question: How would you draw
the line between rationality and irrationality? Panel members will be encouraged to
fashion their presentations so that they do not presuppose familiarity with technical
jargon and terminology and are accessible to members of a non-academic audience. Following
the presentations, there will be a moderated discussion involving the audience and members
of the panel. A moderator will field questions from the audience and direct them to the
relevant panel members. 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 afternoon of Friday, April 23 and will run
through early afternoon on Sunday, April 25. The sessions on Friday will be held at the
North Campus Center on the campus of the University of Idaho. Saturday sessions will be
held at Todd Hall on the campus of Washington State University and those on Sunday will be
held at the Student Union Building on the campus of the University of Idaho. All sessions
will be open to the general public. There will be two meeting times on Friday, four on
Saturday and two on Sunday. At each time, there will be several parallel sessions on
different aspects of the topic of reason and rationality. Each session will consist of two
presentations followed by comments and discussion. The final session of the
conference will be a workshop on the topic of "Mutual Aid" run by Brian Skyrms,
Professor of Philosophy at the University of California, Irvine.
On the evening of the 24th, Michael Bratman, Howard H. & Jessie T.
Watkins University Professor of Philosophy at Stanford University, will deliver the
keynote address. This address will be free and open to the public. Professor Bratman has
published groundbreaking work on the topic of rationality, especially as it relates to
human action. Although the topic of his address has yet to be determined, it will be
designed to reach the educated lay audience, and as such it will be suitable for students
and members of the community, as well as those professional academics in attendance at the
conference.
III. Goals
The project is designed to reach three audiences: professors and other professionals
concerned with issues that relate to reason and rationality, 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 research on reason and rationality 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 business and economics, psychology, 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 the second
edition of an annual, topic focused conference that brings together those from the
humanities and beyond who are interested in philosophical issues.
V. Sponsors
This program is supported in part by a grant from the Idaho Humanities
Council, a State-Based Program of the National Endowment for the Humanities. Additional
support has been received from the Departments of Philosophy at the University of Idaho
and Washington State University, the College of Letters and Sciences at the University of
Idaho, the College of Arts and Sciences at Washington State University, and the Research
Offices at the University of Idaho and Washington State University.