Skepticism is usually understood as a view or stance in epistemology: the skeptic raises a set of challenges to our beliefs and claims to knowledge. But doubt has always had ethical and political implications. Ancient Pyrrhonists saw suspension of judgement as a path to tranquility. Early modern thinkers used skeptical arguments against religious and political authority. In more contemporary debates over expertise\, trust\, and the "crisis of knowledge"\, questions of what we can know are inseparable from political questions.
\nThis conference explores the ethics and politics of skepticism and doubt. How does skepticism interact with politics--does skepticism undermine or enable certain political arrangements\, ideologies\, or ethical stances? What are the ethical and political implications of different skeptical views or stances? What can we say about specific contexts where doubt may be productive or perilous\, such as in democratic deliberation\, or challenges to scientific consensus?
ORGANIZER;CN=Christopher Ranalli;CN=Robin McKenna: METHOD:PUBLISH END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20260519T051441Z DTSTART;TZID=Europe/Amsterdam:20260625T093000 DTEND;TZID=Europe/Amsterdam:20260626T170000 SUMMARY:New Perspectives on the Semantics-Pragmatics Distinction (VU Amsterdam) UID:20260607T173001Z-iCalPlugin-Grails@philevents-web-6b96c54f56-bljdq TZID:Europe/Amsterdam LOCATION:De Boelelaan 1105\, Amsterdam\, Netherlands\, 1081HV DESCRIPTION:New Perspectives on the Semantics&ndash\;Pragmatics Distinction
\nDate: 25-Jun-2026 - 26-Jun-2026
Location: Amsterdam\, Netherlands
Contact: Tamara Dobler
Contact Email: \;t.dobler@vu.nl
Linguistic Field(s): Computational Linguistics\; General Linguistics\; Philosophy of Language\; Pragmatics\; Semantics
\nThis two-day workshop brings together an international line-up of female researchers working at the intersection of philosophy\, theoretical linguistics\, computational linguistics\, logic\, formal semantics and pragmatics\, psychology\, and political and social science. The event explores diverse perspectives on the semantics&ndash\;pragmatics distinction\, highlighting how interdisciplinary approaches can advance our understanding of meaning\, context\, and interpretation.
\nThe workshop highlights the contributions of women in fields where female representation remains limited\, offering visible role models for students and early-career researchers.
\nInvited Speakers:
- Craige Roberts (Ohio State University)\, &ldquo\;Dynamic pragmatics: Out of the wastebasket&rdquo\; (keynote)
- Robyn Carston (UCL)\, &ldquo\;Polysemy\, polysemy* and polysemy** (keynote)
- Martina Wiltschko (ICREA\, Universitat Pompeu Fabra)\, &ldquo\;Look! It's semantics. It's pragmatics. It's the syntactic spine!&rdquo\;
- Elin McCready (ICREA / Universitat Autò\;noma de Barcelona)\, "Conventionality and Ideology&rdquo\;\,
- Catarina Dutilh Novaes and Celine Henne (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam)\, "Conceptual disagreement\, pragmatics first&rdquo\;
- Maria Aloni (University of Amsterdam)\, &ldquo\;Nothing is Logical&rdquo\;
- Lotte Hogeweg (Radboud University)\, &ldquo\;Gradient meaning categories in controversial language&rdquo\;
- Kata Naszá\;di (University of Amsterdam)\, &ldquo\;When Contextual Inference Fails: Testing pragmatic adaptation in humans and large language models&rdquo\;
- Lea Krause (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam)\, TBA
- Tamara Dobler (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam)\, &ldquo\;The semantics-pragmatics distinction and core cognition&rdquo\; .
Practical Information:
The workshop is in-person only. Attendance is free of charge\, but registration is mandatory as places are limited. To register\, please email Tamara Dobler at \;t.dobler@vu.nl
Venue: Vrije University Amsterdam\, Amsterdam\, The Netherlands
Organisers:
Tamara Dobler (Department of Philosophy\, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam)
Lea Krause (Department of Computer Science\, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam)