23.1361, Calls: Semantics, Philosophy of Language/Italy

Sat Mar 17 14:57:30 UTC 2012

LINGUIST List: Vol-23-1361. Sat Mar 17 2012. ISSN: 1069 - 4875.

Subject: 23.1361, Calls: Semantics, Philosophy of Language/Italy

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Date: Sat, 17 Mar 2012 10:56:39
From: Alexandra Arapinis [alexandra.arapinis at malix.univ-paris1.fr]
Subject: Semantics and Philosophy in Europe 5

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Full Title: Semantics and Philosophy in Europe 5 

Date: 25-Jun-2012 - 27-Jun-2012
Location: Turin, Italy 
Contact Person: Francesco Berto
Meeting Email: francescoberto at tin.it
Web Site: http://speconference.wordpress.com/ 

Linguistic Field(s): Philosophy of Language; Semantics 

Call Deadline: 03-Apr-2012 

Meeting Description:

Semantics and Philosophy in Europe 5
June 25-27, 2012
University of Turin, Italy
Website: http://speconference.wordpress.com/

It is our pleasure to announce the 5th Semantics and Philosophy in Europe (SPE) colloquium. This year's colloquium will be devoted entirely to two topics:

(A) Plural Reference 

Invited Speakers:

Theodore Scaltsas (University of Edinburgh)
Peter Simons (University of Dublin)

Tutorial:

Salvatore Florio (Birkbeck College)
Oystein Linnebo (Birkbeck College)
Friederike Moltmann (IHPST, Paris)

(B) Nominalizations and Ontological Commitment

Invited Speakers:

Jody Azzouni (Tufts University)
Andrea Bottani (University of Bergamo)
Anthony Everett (University of Bristol)
Alberto Voltolini (University of Turin)
Thomas Ede Zimmermann (Wolfgang-Goethe Universitaet Frankfurt)

A detailed description of the two topics can be found in the call for papers.

The purpose of the Semantics and Philosophy in Europe Colloquia is to enhance the dialogue between linguists and philosophers by providing a forum for presenting research in the interface between linguistic semantics and the various areas of philosophy (philosophy of language, logic, philosophy of mind, metaphysics, philosophy of mathematics, epistemology). SPE takes place annually in different European cities. The previous meetings took place in Paris (SPE1, 2008), London (SPE2, 2009), Paris (SPE3, 2010), and Bochum (SPE4, 2011).

Financial Support for SPE5:

European Research Council Starting Grant 'Plurals, Predicates, and Paradox' (directed by O. Linnebo)

ANR-DFG Project 'Nominalizations: Philosophical and Linguistic Perspectives' (directed by F. Moltmann and B. Schnieder) 

2nd Call for Papers:

Topic (A) - Plural Reference

Plural reference has become a lively philosophical topic since some philosophers and logicians have claimed that plural terms of natural language can refer to several entities at once as their semantic values. This raises a number of open questions for philosophers and semanticists as well:

- Should linguists adopt this philosophical conception of plural reference?
- Can semantics be affected by philosophical arguments on the need to avoid the so-called paradoxes of absolute generality?
- What are the spin-offs of developing a semantics for a plural language in a plural metalanguage?
- Are there other forms of non-singular reference, e.g., list-like expressions?

Topic (B) - Nominalization and Ontological Commitment

Natural language allows a variety of ways of building referential expressions out of non-referential ones. This raises such key question at the interface between ontology and semantics as:

- Which ways of setting up a single object as the semantic value of a referential term are permissible?
- What is the ontological status of these objects?
- When is ontological commitment to such things as fictional or nonexistent objects, delivered by referential terms, to be taken at face value?
- How should the threat of paradox be addressed that goes along with some of the ways of introducing such objects?
- Is an ontologically deflationist strategy the best way to deal with such issues?
- Does the use of singular terms and quantification provide the right criteria for ontological commitment in the first place?

Submission Details:

We invite submissions of anonymous two-page abstracts including references, for a 30-minute talk, on one of two topics of the conference. Please specify title, one of the topics, name, affiliation, and email address on an extra-page.

Submission address: spe.2012 at gmx.net
Deadline for submissions: April 3, 2012
Notification of acceptance: April 30, 2012

Organizing Committee:

Oystein Linnebo (Birkbeck College)
Friederike Moltmann (IHPST, Paris)
Stephen Schiffer (NYU)
Benjamin Schnieder (University of Hamburg)
Alberto Voltolini (University of Turin)

Selection Committee:

Jody Azzouni, Francesco Berto, Andrea Bottani, Massimiliano Carrara, Anthony Everett, Thomas Hofweber, Oystein Linnebo, Friederike Moltmann, Mark Sainsbury, Benjamin Schnieder, Peter Simons, Alberto Voltolini, Ede Zimmermann

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