CFP: Sixth Italian Conference in Analytic Metaphysics and Ontology (ITAONT-6)

Sixth Italian Conference on Analytic Metaphysics and Ontology (ITAONT-6; including a Workshop on Jessica Wilson’s Metaphysical Emergence), L’Aquila, 20-23 June 2022

DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSIONS: 30 March 2022

The Sixth Italian Conference in Analytic Metaphysics and Ontology will be held in L’Aquila on 20-23 June 2021. Previous Italian Conferences in Analytic Metaphysics and Ontology have been held, since 2003, in Padova, Pisa, Bergamo and Torino.

The Conference is an occasion for discussing innovative research in analytic metaphysics and ontology. We invite submissions on every topic in metaphysics, including but not limited to the following broad research areas:

1) methodology of metaphysics and ontology (metaontology; metametaphysics; descriptive vs revisionary ontology; grounding; metaphysical explanation; ontological pluralism vs monism);

2) time and change (theories of persistence; ontology and metaphysics of time; philosophy of time travel; metaphysical relevance of fundamental scientific theories; causation);

3) supervenience and emergence (modal and hyperintensional accounts; emergentism in philosophy of mind and philosophy of science); 

4) abstract entities (nominalism vs realism; indispensability arguments; fictionalism; abstract-concrete distinction);

5) substance and properties (metaphysics of substance; properties and relations; universals vs tropes; instantiation; haecceitism and quidditism);

6) mereology and constitution (mereological essentialism; classical mereology vs. hylomorphism; ordinary objects; composition and vagueness; monism vs dualism about material constitution);

7) modal metaphysics (possible worlds and possibilia; dispositions and powers; counterpart theory; necessitism vs contingentism);

8) metaphysics of artifacts (definition of artifact; realism vs. antirealism; conditions of existence and identity);

9) social ontology (collective intentionality, group agency, documentality, metaphysics of persons and groups, ontology of law and money; ontology of information).

10) metaphysics and semantics (propositions, facts, events, states of affairs; truthmaking; ontological commitment; quantifier variance; mass terms and stuff ontology; metaphysics of language);

11) history of metaphysics (Aristotle and neo-Aristotelian approaches in metaphysics; Medieval and Modern philosophy and analytic metaphysics; history of early analytic metaphysics; the metaphysical turn in analytic philosophy);

12) metaphysics and literature (literature as a way to express metaphysical theories; metaphysical status of fictional works and entities; agency and authorship).

INVITED SPEAKERS

Claudio Calosi (Université de Genève)

Damiano Costa (Università della Svizzera Italiana, Lugano)

Darren Hudson Hick (Furman University, Greenville)

Nurbay Irmak (Boğaziçi University, Istanbul)

Kevin Mulligan (Università della Svizzera Italiana, Lugano)

Jeroen Smid (University of Amsterdam)

Jonathan Tallant (University of Nottingham)

Barbara Vetter (Freie Universität, Berlin)

Jessica Wilson (University of Toronto)

Hong Ju Wong (Universität Tübingen)

Andrea Bottani (Università di Bergamo)

Roberta Ferrario (LOA - CNR, Trento)

Diego Marconi (Università di Torino)

Erica Onnis (Aachen)

Michele Paolini Paoletti (Università di Macerata)

Alberto Voltolini (Università di Torino)

SIFA LECTURE

The conference will host a lecture by Maegan Fairchild (University of Michigan), financed by SIFA (Italian Society for Analytic Philosophy).

WORKSHOP ON WILSON’S METAPHYSICAL EMERGENCE

The conference will also host a workshop on Jessica Wilson’s recent book “Metaphysical Emergence” (OUP 2021), with the participation of the author and invited talks by Michele Paolini Paoletti and Hong Ju Wong. Abstracts for talks concerning the topics of the book are also welcome.

BURSARIES FOR YOUNG SCHOLARS

The conference is free of charge and no registration fee is requested. Moreover, four bursaries covering the expenses for lodging and food are available for young scholars, who are currently PhD students or have received their PhD not more than 6 years ago. The bursaries will not cover travel expenses. During the submission process, the authors who are eligible for the bursaries should indicate this in the appropriate field. During the review process, the four best abstracts among those of young scholars will be selected.

HOW TO SUBMIT

The submission process is managed through EasyChair at the following address: https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=itaont6.

Those wishing to deliver a talk should submit a long abstract of max 1000 words, which should be loaded as a .pdf attachment in EasyChair. Also a short abstract of max 250 words should be inserted in the appropriate field during the submission process. The abstracts should be prepared for blind review. Please check the appropriate fields if you intend to submit your abstract for the workshop on Wilson’s book and/or if you are a young scholar (as above defined) and you wish to apply for one of the bursaries above. The outcome of the review process and the attribution of the four bursaries will be notified to the authors by 30 April 2022.

PRACTICAL DETAILS

Contributors will have 40 minutes, ideally divided into 30 minutes of exposition and 10 minutes of discussion. The language of the conference will be English. The conference will be entirely streamed online. However, all the talks should be delivered in presence and all the following Q&A will analogously happen in presence. The organization is ready to move the entire conference online in case of specific problems concerning the pandemic emergency and ensuing, general travel restrictions, but individual requests to deliver the talk online for personal reasons will not be considered. The website of the conference (see below) will also include information about the current norms regulating travels from abroad to Italy and the access to the conference venue.

CONTACTS

For any information, please write to [email protected].

WEBSITE OF THE CONFERENCE

http://itaont6.lagado.org

SCIENTIFIC COMMITTEE

- Lorenzo Azzano ([email protected]) 

- Massimiliano Carrara ([email protected])

- Ciro De Florio ([email protected])

- Donatella Donati ([email protected])

- Simone Gozzano ([email protected])

- Giorgio Lando ([email protected])

- Vittorio Morato ([email protected])

- Cristina Nencha ([email protected])

IMPORTANT DATES

- Deadline for submissions: 30 March 2022

- Notifications of acceptance: 30 April 2022

- Conference dates: June 20-23 June 2022.

SUPPORTING INSTITUTIONS

Dipartimento di Scienze Umane (Dipartimento di Eccellenza 2018-2022 "Arti, linguaggi e media: tradurre e transcodificare"), Università dell’Aquila

Fondazione CARIPARO/Dipartimento FISPPA, Università di Padova, progetto “Polarization of irrational collective beliefs in post-truth societies (PolPost)”

Dipartimento di Filosofia, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Milano

Società Italiana di Filosofia Analitica (SIFA)