14th Annual Virginia Tech Graduate Philosophy Conference

We are now accepting papers for the 14th Annual Virginia Tech Graduate Philosophy Conference in Blacksburg, VA, November 10-11, 2017. This year's theme is "Realism and the 'Real World.'" We are proud to announce that Dr. Russ Shafer-Landau (University of Wisconsin, Madison) and Dr. Nathaniel Jezzi (Lafayette College) will serve as our keynote speakers.

Various philosophical sub-disciplines engage in realism/antirealism debates about their respective concepts. In some cases, the results of these debates may seem removed from everyday life; in other cases, they hold (or at least seem to hold) great consequences for our individual and social decision-making. This conference concerns the latter sort of cases. It explores the prospects for realism in those areas that affect how we actually live our lives.

Papers may proceed in multiple directions. For example, they might consider the case for (or against) realism in some domain, or they might argue why—contrary to common intuition—our conclusions about realism in said domain do not actually matter for our practical decision-making.

We welcome applications from a broad range of sub-disciplines, including but not limited to: philosophy of science, social philosophy, ethics, aesthetics and philosophy of religion. NOTE: We have extended our submission deadline until September 25, 2017.

Please submit papers to [email protected]. Applicants should be enrolled in MA or PhD programs. Papers should be roughly 3,000-3,500 words in length and suitable for a 20-minute presentation. We ask applicants to prepare their papers for blind review and to include a separate cover sheet with title, author name(s), 150-200-word abstract, institutional email address, and phone number. Local transportation and accommodation with VT graduate students is available.

For more information, please visit our website at: http://vtphilconference.weebly.com.