Yale Teleology Conference

The Yale Teleology Conference will bring together philosophers, historians, and scientists to debate the role of purposes in our best accounts of human cognition, human action, and the non-human world. The conference will engage a wide range of approaches to teleological explanation and reasoning, with the aim of extending, enriching, and challenging familiar accounts of the roles that teleological thinking can play in the human and natural sciences. 

The conference will take place on May 5th and 6th, 2026, at the Humanities Quadrangle at Yale University, in New Haven, Connecticut. The conference is hosted by Paul Franks (Philosophy and Jewish Studies), Joshua Knobe (Cognitive Science and Philosophy), and Malina Buturović (Classics), and co-organized by Daniel LeBlanc, Sera Schwarz, and Henry Straughan. It is supported by the Edward J. and Dorothy Clarke Kempff Fund at Yale University.

Confirmed speakers include:

• James Kreines (Claremont McKenna College)
• Tania Lombrozo (Princeton University)
• Jeffrey Mcdonough (Harvard University)
• David Rose (Stanford University)
• Karl Schafer (University of Texas at Austin)
• Jonathan Schaffer (Rutgers University)
• Mark Schiefsky (Harvard University)