CFA: Me, the Self, and I : Interdisciplinary Graduate Conference on the Unity of the Self

CALL FOR ABSTRACTS:

Invited speakers:

Thomas Sattig (University of Tübingen)

Elisabeth Pacherie (Institut Jean Nicod)

Scientific Committee: Hanoch Ben-Yami, Anna Berti, Paola Borroni, Clotilde Calabi, Marcello Massimini, Cristina Meini, Elisa Paganini, Corrado Sinigaglia, Alfredo Tomasetta, Giuliano Torrengo, Achille Varzi, Maurizio Tirassa

Topic areas: metaphysics, philosophy of mind, philosophy of cognitive science, psychology, cognitive science, neuroscience

Personal identity is a largely discussed topic. It raises many questions such as, e.g.: what makes a person the same over time? What sorts of changes can a person undergo to count as the same person? Answering these questions elicits the exchange of ideas between philosophy and cognitive science. It is intuitively attractive to say that a person is numerically identical to herself at different times and through time. However, things get complicated once we consider the cases of severe physical changes or distortions of the mental life. For example, a case of a split-brain patient or a complete surgical face reconstruction. Considering these cases, a significant contribution arrives from neurosciences. The fundamental characteristics of subjectivity can be illuminated through the study of the pathological distortions (e.g. internal alterations in neurological and psychiatric patients) and by external manipulation (e.g. multisensory illusions in healthy subjects).

The Graduate Conference organized by the Doctoral School in Philosophy and Human Sciences will address these issues from multiple perspectives. Submissions are welcome from philosophers, psychologists and cognitive scientists whose research is involved in the topic of personal identity broadly construed.

Suitable contributions should address, but are not restricted to the following:

-       The Persistence Problem

-       Physical Criterion for Personal Identity

-       Psychological Criterion for Personal Identity

-       The role of memory in preserving identity

-       Personal Identity and Narrative Self

-        Personal identity and Fractured Self

-        Personal Identity and Self-awareness: sense of agency, sense of ownership, etc.

-        Body schema and body image in the notion of Self

-        Body ownership and the sense of Self in Psychiatric patients

-        Body ownership and the sense of Self in brain damaged patients

Submission Guidelines

 We accept extended abstracts (about 1500 words) that should be prepared for a blind review in a PDF or Word format. A separate title page should be submitted with the following details: name, institutional affiliation and academic position, paper title, contact information. Both documents should be sent to [email protected] and no later than 16th October 2015. We accept contributions from graduate students in Philosophy, Psychology, Cognitive Science and Medicine (even if not enrolled in a PhD program). The participation in the conference is free of charge. Moreover, we might be able to cover some expenses for the accepted students.

For further information you can contact us by email: [email protected]

IMPORTANT DATES

- 16th October 2015 deadline for the abstract submission

- 13th November 2015 notification to the authors

Conference organizers:

Giacomo Andreoletti

Francesco Della Gatta

Chiara-Camilla Derchi

Kristina Pucko

 This conference is organized by the Doctoral School in Philosophy and Human Sciences – University of Milan (website: eng.dipafilo.unimi.it/ecm/home/)