Pragmatist Perspectives on Truth and Knowledge

This is a two-part workshop hosted and organised by the Eidyn research centre at the University of Edinburgh. The theme is pragmatist perspectives on truth and knowledge. In contemporary philosophy pragmatism is, roughly, the philosophical approach according to which we should explain concepts not in terms of what they represent, but in terms of what they enable us to do. The workshop will explore this broader philosophical tradition through the specific themes of truth and knowledge.

The first part of the workshop consists in a seminar with Michael Williams that will focus on four of his papers on themes of truth and knowledge. Each paper will be introduced by a University of Edinburgh PG student with a short critical presentation. The papers discussed are:

• “Why (Wittgensteinian) Contextualism is Not Relativism” presented by Natalie Ashton
• “Responsibility and Reliability” presented by Cameron Boult
• “Pragmatism, Minimalism, Expressivism” presented by Sarah Schoonmaker
• “Meaning and Deflationary Truth” presented by Sebastian Köhler

The second part of the workshop consists in a series of talks concerned with pragmatist approaches to truth and knowledge. These talks are free and open to the general public. Our main speakers are:

• Matthew Chrisman (University of Edinburgh): “Making up Our Mind and What We Ought to Believe”
• Graham Hubbs (University of Idaho): “Saying 'So': Transparency and Transition”
• James O'Shea (University College Dublin): “On Non-Inferential Perceptual Knowledge”
• Michael Williams (Johns Hopkins University): “Knowledge: What's the Use?”

A provisional programme can also be found here: http://www.ppls.ed.ac.uk/events/view/pragmatist-perspectives-on-truth-and-knowledge

Registration

This event is free and open to the public. However, because spaces are limited and we will require an estimate of numbers for the organisation of the catering, anyone interested in attending must register by sending an email to Cameron Boult ([email protected]) and Sebastian Köhler ([email protected]). The deadline for registration is Friday the 17th of May. Please indicate in your email whether you will attend on the 14th, on the 15th or both (and whether you have any dietary restrictions or special needs).

Acknowledgements

This event is sponsored by generous support from the Eidyn Research Centre for Mind, Knowledge and Normativity and the School of Philosophy, Psychology and Language Sciences, University of Edinburgh.