Are there Unidimensional ‘Common Currencies’ of Value? 

Reading Workshop: Are there Unidimensional ‘Common Currencies’ of Value?  18th of June, Edith Morley Building, Room 181, Whiteknights Campus, University of Reading
Philosophers frequently discuss “common currencies” in relation to fitness, utility, decision-making, well-being, and economics. Can well-being or moral value be captured in a single dimension as utilitarians argue? And what about biological design or decision-making? This workshop aims to uncover whether talk of unidimensional common currencies of value is merely metaphorical or whether there are genuine parallels, perhaps real patterns and meaningful analogues, captured by this concept. Do these common-currency claims conflict with one another, or is there a natural synergy among them?

Morning Session

• 09:30: Welcome Tea & Coffee
• Tea and coffee will be available in the room ahead of our first session.
• 10:00 - 11:00: Opening Talk: Unidimensional Values: From Fitness to Utility to Monetary Common Currencies
• Presented by Walter Veit (Reading)
• 11:00 - 12:00: Second Talk: Fitness and Utility
• Presented by Samir Okasha (Bristol)

Midday

• 12:00 - 13:00: Lunch Break

Afternoon Session

• 13:00 - 14:00: Third Talk: Foraging and the Common Currency of Behaviour
• Presented by John McNamara (Bristol)
• 14:00 - 15:00: Fourth Talk: Animal Welfare and the Search for a Hedonic Common Currency
• Presented by Heather Browning (Southampton)
• 15:00 - 15:30: Afternoon Tea & Coffee Break
• 15:30 - 16:30: Final Talk: Can Neuroscience Find Neural Utility?
• Presented by Mark Walton (Oxford)

Evening

• 17:00: Group Dinner at Park House Bar

To register for either in-person or online participation, please send an email to Walter Veit, which you can find here: https://walterveit.com/