Cognizing as Being in the History of Philosophy

Abstract: Could thinking and perceiving be, not primarily ways to connect with outside objects, but ways of being? Could mental phenomena be as real as, or even more real than, trees and stones? Can a single unified metaphysics handle both mental and nonmental natures? This colloquium draws together various ways of approaching “cognizing as being” from across the history of philosophy.

All times in Eastern Daylight Time (EDT)
Unless otherwise noted, all Wednesday sessions will take place in the Oak Room, South Dining Hall.

8:45–9:20 a.m. Continental breakfast

9:20–9:30 a.m. Welcome

9:30–10:40 a.m. Subjectless Solipsism in Indian Yogācāra
Jan Westerhoff, University of Oxford

10:40 a.m.–11 a.m. Coffee break

11 a.m.–12:10 p.m. Aristotle on Intellectual Identity, Actual and Potential
Jon Buttaci, The Catholic University of America

12:10–1:30 p.m. Lunch, Hospitality Room, South Dining Hall

1:30 a.m.–2:40 p.m. Forms and Superforms: The Reflexivity of Human and Divine Nous in Aristotle
Caleb Cohoe, Metropolitan State University of Denver

2:40–3 p.m. Coffee break

3–4:10 p.m. The Inseparability of Intellect and Intelligibility in the Platonic Tradition
Lloyd Gerson, University of Toronto

4:10–4:20 p.m. Coffee break

4:20–5:30 p.m. The Substrate of Thought: A Problem in Medieval Metaphysics of Knowing
Therese Cory, University of Notre Dame

Unless otherwise noted, all Thursday sessions will take place in Room 215 of McKenna Hall Conference Center.

8:45–9:15 a.m. Continental breakfast, 216 McKenna Hall

9:15–10:25 a.m. Suhrawardī’s Panpsychism and Its Origins
Fedor Benevich, University of Edinburgh

10:25–10:45 a.m. Coffee break

10:45–11:55 a.m. Our Being is Cognizing God: Plotinus, Iamblichus, and Ficino on Intellect and Unity
Denis J.-J. Robichaud, University of Notre Dame

12–1:30 p.m. Lunch, 216 McKenna Hall

1:30–2:40 p.m. Consciousness and Being in Kant and Fichte
Katharina Kraus, Johns Hopkins University

2:40–3 p.m. Coffee break

3–4:10 p.m. Universality, Opposition, and the Human Individual
Sebastian Rödl, University of Leipzig

4:10–4:20 p.m. Coffee break

4:20–5:30 p.m. Heidegger on Thinking and Being
Mark Wrathall, University of Oxford

5:30–6 p.m. Concluding discussion