2014 Bellingham Summer Philosophy Conference

The Bellingham Summer Philosophy Conference is an annual, workshop-style conference featuring several days of formal philosophy sessions, informal discussions, and various non-philosophical activities, all in and around scenic Bellingham, Washington, in the beautiful Pacific Northwest.

The BSPC is a general philosophy conference, with no particular philosophical theme. BSPC 2014 will feature nine formal philosophy sessions, taking place over three days, and various informal philosophical and recreational activities, taking place over a span of about five days. Each of the formal philosophy sessions will be devoted to a single paper. The nine papers will all be "pre-reads," which will have been made available to conference participants in advance. Each philosophy session will consist of presentations by two commentators, followed by a discussion of the relevant paper.

In addition to numerous exciting philosophy papers, previous BSPCs have featured barbecues, enjoyable meals and late-night revelry, and various other activities including ultimate frisbee, soccer, basketball, tennis, hiking, kayaking and scenic fun runs.

BSPC participants are encouraged to bring their families and friends, to arrive early and stay late, and to take advantage of the many recreational activities in the region, including kayaking, hiking, whale-watching, swimming, biking, river-rafting, boating, island-hopping, and visits to Vancouver, Seattle, and Victoria. 

Bellingham, Washington is located on Puget Sound, 55 miles from Vancouver and 85 miles from Seattle. It is a pleasant town of about 85,000, with lots of nice scenery, restaurants, bookstores, and coffee shops. In the immediate vicinity there are beaches, mountains, rivers, lakes, numerous local and state parks, all manner of hiking and biking trails, ferries to Victoria and the San Juan Islands, and opportunities for sailing and whale watching.

Please note that BSPC 2014 is not open to the general public. Attendance is limited to those on the conference program (and also to members of the conference program committee, the assistant conference organizers, and members of the WWU philosophy department). This is partly due to funding and logistical constraints, and partly due to the fact that the BSPC is a workshop-style conference that involves in-depth discussions of works-in-progress. (Please see the Call for Papers page of this website for information about how to get on the conference program.)

For more information contact Ned Markosian (conference organizer) at Ned.Ned'sLastName@wwu.edu (but please replace 'Ned'sLastName' with Ned's last name).