Categoria: Curriculum Episteme
The event will be held on premises in Genoa.
EPILOG 2023/2024 — On Reference and Acquaintance
Dates: on the scheduled Mondays, from the 4th of March, 11-13h
Venue: Genova, via Balbi 30, 7º floor (Ph.D. room)
Coordinator: Massimiliano Vignolo (massimiliano.vignolo@unige.it
)
Description:
Are there some epistemic conditions that influence our capacity to form singular thoughts about things? Can you think singularly about individuals you never met, like Jack The Ripper or Julius The Inventor of the Zip? Can you think singularly about individuals of the past, like Napoleon or Aristotle? And can you think singularly about things like numbers or objects you’ve never come across? In history, different philosophers advanced different answers to these questions. Still, all of them have focused on the notion of acquaintance: they’ve tried to figure out why being acquainted with something is important (or not) when forming singular thoughts. This foundational inquiry, the close relation between acquaintance and reference, in the subject matter of our meetings.
Schedule of Meetings and Bibliography:
(you can also download the schedule here)
N.B. the seminar planned on the 22nd of April has been moved to the 29th of April!
- 4th March: John Hawthorne and David Manley (2012) The Reference Book, Oxford University Press, Ch. 2 [optional: Ch. 1]
- 18th March: John Hawthorne and David Manley (2012) The Reference Book, Oxford University Press, Ch. 3
- Wed. 10th April: Kent Bach (2010) ‘Getting a Thing into a Thought’ in R. Jeshion (ed.) New Essays on Singular Thought, Oxford University Press, pp. 39-64
- 29th April (N.B. there has been a change of date): Robin Jeshion (2002) ‘Acquiantanceless De Re Belief’ in Joseph Keim Campbell, Michael O.’Rourke and David Shier (eds.) Meaning and Truth: Investigations in Philosophical Semantics, Seven Bridges Press, pp. 53-74
- 6th May: François Recanati (2010) ‘Singular Thought: In Defence of Acquaintance’ in R. Jeshion (ed.) New Essays on Singular Thought, Oxford University Press, pp. 141-190
- 20th May: Imogen Dickie (2010) ‘We Are Acquainted with Ordinary Things’ in R. Jeshion (ed.) New Essays on Singular Thought, Oxford University Press, pp. 214-245
- 3rd June: Jessica Pepp (2019) ‘Principles of Acquaintance’ in Jonathan Knowles and Thomas Raleigh (eds.) New Essays on Acquaintance, Oxford University Press, pp. 227-240; Jessica Pepp (2019) ‘What Determines the Reference of Names? What Determines the Objects of Thought’, Erkenntnis vol. 84, no 4, pp. 741-759