Metaphysics of Science conference: 2-5 July 2009
The Metaphysics of Science conference will be held at the University of Melbourne 2-5 July 2009. The conference is a joint initiative sponsored on a collective basis by the Philosophy programs of La Trobe, Melbourne and Monash Universities. The Centre for Time of the University of Sydney will co-sponsor a symposium which will be held at the conference. The conference is scheduled to lead into the annual conference of the Australasian Association of Philosophy, which will be held at the University of Melbourne from 5-10 July. Participants may also be interested in the workshop, 'Neglected Problems of Time', which will be held at Monash on 29 June.
General information
The conference will be held in the Old Arts Building, at the heart of the University of Melbourne campus. It is located at G14 on the campus map. A reception will be held on the evening of 2 July. The conference dinner will be held on the evening of 4 July. Both the reception and the dinner will be held at Ormond College. Ormond is a short walk past the sports oval to the north of the campus. Here is a map that shows the location of Ormond. Further information about Melbourne, including tourist information and maps is available from the City of Melbourne website here.
Information for conference participants
For important further information about the conference as well as suggestions about places to eat and drink on and around Lygon Street, please click here. For those arriving by air, here is some information about transport into the city.
Overview of topics
For a general overview of the relevant issues, please see the the paper on 'The Metaphysics of Science' by Brian Ellis.
Conference programme
The programme for the conference is now available. Please click here. Note that this is an Excel spreadsheet. There are four pages. Here is the programme in Google docs version.
Abstracts
Abstracts for the papers to be presented at the conference are available here.
On-line publication by PhilSci Archive
We have arranged for papers presented at the conference to be published on-line at the PhilSci Archives at the University of Pittsburgh. To upload your paper onto the PhilSci website, click here.
Opening session
The conference will open with a plenary session commencing at 2:30 on 2 July. The opening session will focus on dispositions, which will be one of the leading themes of the conference. There will be three speakers in this opening session, Brian Ellis, David Armstrong and Alexander Bird, who will present their opposing views on the topic.
Centre for Time Symposium: "The Metaphysics of Science: Ontology v. Genealogy"
The Centre for Time of the University of Sydney will host a symposium entitled "The Metaphysics of Science: Ontology v. Genealogy". Speakers in this symposium will be Huw Price, Mathias Frisch and Carl Hoefer.
International invited speakers
We are pleased to be able to announce that we have invited the following international speakers to the conference:
- Helen Beebee (Birmingham)
- Alexander Bird (Bristol)
- Simon Blackburn (Cambridge)
- Jeremy Butterfield (Cambridge)
- Mathias Frisch (Maryland)
- Carl Hoefer (Barcelona)
- James Ladyman (Bristol)
- Barry Loewer (Rutgers)
- Stephen Mumford (Nottingham)
- Stathis Psillos (Athens)
Call for papers: deadline 30 January 2009
Please note that the deadline for papers has passed. We are no longer able to accept any further submissions.
Accommodation
Accommodation will be at Ormond College. We will book accommodation (i.e. single room with shared bathroom) at Ormond as part of the registration process (see below). Accommodation will be for the nights of Thursday 2 - Saturday 4 July. If you wish to stay additional nights, please inform us of this with your registration.
Registration
Limited space remains for some who may wish to attend the conference without giving a paper. Because of space restrictions, advance registration is required. Payment is required at the time of registration. All amounts are in Australian dollars. GST is in addition to the stated fee.
- The full registration fee is A$600. The full fee covers conference registration, conference dinner on Saturday night at Ormond College and three nights bed and breakfast accommodation at Ormond College. (For accommodation for additional nights, the cost is a further A$80 per night.)
- A concession rate of A$575 is available for students and unwaged.
- Without accommodation, the fee for the conference and conference dinner is A$350 with a concession rate of A$325.
We are able to accept payment by credit card or by check in Australian dollars. Registration forms are available here in RTF or PDF format.
Conference organization
Organizational Committee: David Armstrong, John Bigelow, Andrew Brennan, Brian Ellis, Graham Oppy, Toby Handfield, Huw Price, Graham Priest, Howard Sankey.
For further information, please contact the conference organizer, Howard Sankey.