CFP: Inland Northwest Philosophy Conference 201

Reasoning Well in the Anthropocene: Philosophical Insights on Climate Change

Inland Northwest Philosophy Conference

April 14-16, 2016

We are living in the Anthropocene. Human activity is now the dominant influence on the Earth’s ecological and climatic systems. We are only now beginning to understand the extent and character of that influence. Climate change is among the greatest challenges facing humanity as a whole, and at the close of the century, we will be judged by how we deal with it. Given the stakes, it is reasonable to ask how to best reason about the challenge – morally, politically, and scientifically. This is the theme of the 19th Inland Northwest Philosophy Conference (INPC).

The INPC is a conference that draws upon the work of philosophers (and scholars outside of philosophy) from around the world to deal with issues surrounding a central theme. The 19th INPC will be jointly hosted by the University of Idaho and Washington State University, and will be held in the scenic Moscow-Pullman area (14-16 Apr 2016). This year’s theme is global climate change.

Keynote Speakers

Bill McKibben (Middlebury College, 350.org)

Stephen Gardiner (University of Washington)

Andrew Light (George Mason University & U.S. Department of State)

We invite the submission of abstracts for a 30-minute presentation at the INPC from any area of philosophy (e.g., ethics, political philosophy, philosophy of science, philosophy of religion, etc.). Submissions should be related to the theme of climate change and topics might include (but are not limited to):

·            New systems of justice concerning global issues for current and future generations;

·            The role of moral value on economic theory related to climate change;

·            Ethical obligations of the current generation to future generations;

·            The role of philosophy in the climate change debate;

·            The role of values in climate models and integrated climate/economic models;

·            Pragmatism and climate modeling, e.g., the use of parameterization in climate models;

·            The reliability of inferences drawn from climate simulations;

·            Religious views on our responsibility to the environment/ climate change;

·            Managing severe uncertainty in climate science; and

·            The interface between values and science in policy decision-making.

The deadline for submissions is January 15th, 2016. Abstracts should be no more than 1,500 words in length and prepared for blind review. To submit an abstract, email a review copy to [email protected], and include identifying information (e.g., name, institutional affiliation, and contact info) in the body of the email. The authors of abstracts selected for presentation will be notified by the 12th of February.