Time and Agency

Theme: Actions have a duration, they sometimes follow on intentions directed toward the future and are themselves sometimes directed toward bringing about future events. They may also be caused by past events, or be brought on by motives or reasons. Actions are individuated from within a temporally extended continuous stream of activity, and the temporal properties internal to actions may differ from the temporal properties of the stream. They may create a break in the continuity of that stream, or they may instead reinforce the stream’s continuity. Actions are performed by agents, whose selves or practical identities may or may not be unified through psychological continuity, through their standing plans for the future, or through narratives. Agents inhabit a world that is temporally ordered, and that ordering is reflected in action. In seeing themselves as standing under an obligation and in adopting intentions, agents recognize reasons for future actions, and in judging them responsible for those actions we in turn trace their agency to past decisions on their part.

Whatever perspective one takes on the above issues, it is clear that action and agency cannot be understood apart from time. This conference aims to explore these temporal features of actions and their agents.

The conference is open to interested members of the public, though space may be limited and conference participants will have priority. Further information, including presentation titles, a schedule of speakers and directions to the event, is available at the conference website.

Invited Speakers:

•          Lynne Rudder Baker (University of Massachusetts Amherst)
•          John J. Drummond (Fordham University)
•          Shaun Gallagher (University of Memphis)
•          J. David Velleman (New York University)

Panel Speakers:

•       Ben Wolfson (University of California, Santa Barbara)
•       Patrick Fleming (James Madison University)
•       Jennifer Morton (City College of New York)
•       David Ciavatta (Ryerson University)
•       Kim Frost (University of Pittsburgh)
•       Micah Tillman (The Catholic University of America)
•       Chauncey Maher (Dickinson College)
•       Henry Somers-Hall (Manchester Metropolitan University)
•       Santiago Amaya (Washington University in St. Louis)
•       B. Scot Rousse (Northwestern University)
•       Monika Betzler (University of Berne)

Comments By:

•       Michael Brent (Columbia University)
•       John Schwenkler (Mount St. Mary’s University)
•       Carl Hammer (Baruch College, CUNY)
•       C. Hans Pedersen (Indiana University of Pennsylvania)
•       Steven Gross (Johns Hopkins University)
•       Alex Madva (Columbia University)
•       Lior Levy (Temple University)
•       Irene Bucelli (Kings College London)
•       Michael Brownstein (New Jersey Institute of Technology)
•       Kyle Fruh (Georgetown University)

Conference Organizers:

• Roman Altshuler (Marymount Manhattan College) [email protected]>
• Michael Sigrist (George Washington University) [email protected]>

Sponsored by The George Washington University Department of Philosophy, The Columbian College of Arts and Sciences, and The George Washington University Philosophy Club.