Varieties of Philosophical Expressivism

Conference: Varieties of Philosophical Expressivism

19–21 May 2022

University of Mannheim, Schloss, Room O 138 | ZOOM

Philosophers have become increasingly interested in expressivist views within various subfields such as ethics, aesthetics, epistemology, the philosophy of language and logic, and the philosophy of mind. What unites these views is the idea that affirmations about a certain subject matter are not, or not primarily, descriptions of a mind-independent reality, but serve to express the speakers’ mental states. It is, however, a controversial matter what this means exactly and what it implies. What are the formal, what are the logical properties of the notion of expression? Can one express a mental state one does not possess? And what, if any, are the semantic or pragmatic consequences of adopting an expressivist position? For example, are there any genuinely expressivist views that can plausibly be combined with classical truth-value semantics, and if so, are they restricted to specific classes of claims?

In the conference, we aim at identifying structural similarities (as well as differences) between the distinct strands of expressivism in order to shed light on, among other things, the notion of expression, the conceptual and semantic challenges that expressivists face, and the merits and drawbacks of expressivist theories in general.  

The conference is organized by members of the research project "Mind the Meaning: The Philosophy of Psychological Expressivism".

Confirmed Speakers: 

Stephen Barker (University of Nottingham)

Jochen Briesen (University of Konstanz)

Felix Bräuer (University of Mannheim)

Matthew Chrisman (University of Edinburgh)

Katharina Felka (University of Graz)

Stephen Finlay (University of Southern California)

Wolfgang Freitag (University of Mannheim)

Luca Incurvati (University of Amsterdam)

Christa Peterson (University of Southern California)

Benjamin Schnieder (University of Vienna)

Mark Schroeder (University of Southern California)

Michael Scott (University of Manchester)

Nadja-Mira Yolcu (University of Mannheim)

The talks and discussion will be live broadcasted via ZOOM. The respective ZOOM-links will be made available an hour before the event starts at: https://www.uni-mannheim.de/mind-the-meaning/events/

For further information, please go to: https://www.uni-mannheim.de/mind-the-meaning/events/

Attendance is free, please register: [email protected]