CFP: Cross-Linguistic Disagreement: An international conference on disagreement in the age of globalization

Submission deadline: January 31, 2020

Conference date(s):
July 14, 2022 - July 15, 2022

Go to the conference's page

Conference Venue:

Japan Advanced Institute of Science and Technology
Kanazawa-shi, Japan

Details

Is it possible that two people, or two groups of people, disagree with each other and that is due to the difference of language? Let us suppose that, speakers of language A assert or accept “P” but speakers of language B deny its translation, while there is no ignorance, misunderstanding, or error about the world on either side. Is such a situation possible at all? One may think that it is not (since, for example, in such a situation the translation must be wrong). But others may think that it is at least conceptually possible. Still others may even claim that it is not only possible, but actual! Let us call such a situation cross-linguistic disagreement. The precise formulation of it has yet to be given. But whether actual or not, the possibility of cross-linguistic disagreement seems to raise many interesting and significant philosophical questions. For example,

Is cross-linguistic disagreement (if there is any) a case of faultless disagreement?

Is cross-linguistic disagreement (if there is any) settleable at all?

Or,

Should it be settled in the first place?  

Also,

Should we reduce our confidence in our philosophical views in the face of cross-linguistic disagreement concerning philosophically relevant judgments?

And of course,

Is cross-linguistic disagreement actual?

Or is it even possible?

This international, inter-disciplinary conference is meant to explore these and related questions.


Please submit your abstract of approximately 500 words by the end of January 2020, through the following link:

https://forms.gle/eqRa5LkhAyWX6EBh7

(Just as Epistemology for the Rest of the World (2018, OUP), we plan to publish a volume based on this conference. Selected papers presented in this conference are invited to contribute to this volume.)

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