CFP: 2nd Fragmentation Workshop: Developments in Philosophy and Psychology

The 2nd Fragmentation Workshop: Developments in Philosophy and Psychology is organised by the research project The Fragmented Mind and will take place at the University of Graz, Austria, on May 6-7, 2016. We welcome submissions of anonymized abstracts of 500–1000 words for 45 minutes presentations on any aspect of the workshop topic — see below — made by 28 February 2016 at [email protected]. 

Keynote speakers:

• Agustín Rayo (MIT)
• Dan Greco (Yale)

Topic:

Fragmentation, or compartmentalisation, is roughly the view that a single agent has various separate systems of belief, which need not make for a consistent and deductively closed overall system. This notion of fragmentation has been developed and employed in the work of Cherniak, Lewis, and Stalnaker, and has more recently been advertised by philosophers such as Egan, Elga, Greco, Rayo, among others. Despite great advances, many fundamental questions regarding the status of the fragmentation hypothesis, its explanatory benefits, and the details of a fleshed-out theory of fragmentation remain open. The objective of this workshop is to investigate ways of developing the fragmentation hypothesis and to evaluate its explanatory merits and limits.

(Non-exhaustive) list of topics:

• What is a theory of fragmentation?
• What are the main motivations for fragmentation? What are its main problems?
• What speaks in favour of realism about fragmentation? What reasons are there for anti-realism, or eliminativism, about fragmentation? 
• Which views of belief are compatible with fragmentation?
• Is the reference to other attitude types (e.g. Tamar Gendler’s alief) or to more subtle distinctions (e.g. Brie Gertler’s beliefs vs. judgments) explanatorily equivalent to fragmentation?
• How does Davidson’s notion of “mental division” relate to fragmentation?
• What is the relation between fragmentation and memory?
• What is the relationship between fragmentation and dual-process theory?
• What is the relationship between fragmentation and the modularity of mind?
• Do empirical studies on memory, or other cognitive aspects, support the fragmentation hypothesis?
• Can a theory of fragmentation help us solve some of philosophy’s perennial problems and puzzles?

Submission format:

Submissions of anonymous abstracts of 500-1000 words (exclusive bibliography),

prepared for anonymous peer-review, in pdf format should be sent to [email protected]. Authors will be notified of decisions by 15 March 2016. Please indicate in your email the title of your paper.

Some support for travel and accommodation might be available.

Submission deadline: 28 February 2016

Workshop website: www.fragmentationproject.com

Organisers: Cristina Borgoni, Dirk Kindermann

Contact: [email protected]