FEW call for papers

CMU will host FEW this year. The conference is scheduled for June rather than May. The call for papers appears below:

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We are in the process of organizing our sixth annual formal epistemology workshop (the first, second, third, fourth, and fifth workshops were all great successes). The purpose of these workshops is to bring together individuals, both faculty and graduate students, using mathematical methods in epistemology in small focused meetings. Topics treated will include but are not limited to:

* Ampliative inference (including inductive logic);
* Game theory and decision theory;
* Formal learning theory;
* Formal theories of coherence:
* Foundations of probability and statistics;
* Formal approaches to paradoxes of belief and/or action;
* Belief revision;
* Causal discovery.

Besides papers with respondents, each workshop will typically include short introductory tutorials (two or three topically related presentations) on formal methods. These tutorials will be oriented particularly to graduate students.

The sixth workshop is scheduled for June 18 – June 21, 2009 and will be held at Carnegie Mellon University. We are now accepting submissions for FEW 2009. Please send submissions by email to Branden Fitelson. Submissions are due — in the form of full papers — by Sunday, March 15, 2009; notifications of acceptance either as definite presenters or as alternates will be sent out by Thursday, April 30, 2008. Some of the papers presented at FEW 2009 will appear in a special issue of the
Journal of Philosophical Logic.

Those interested in participating, either by presenting papers, responding, or providing tutorials, or in helping with organization, should contact one of the local organizers listed below. We can contribute $500 in travel funds for every graduate student who presents or comments on a paper. We are also able to contribute $250 in travel costs for a number (to be determined) of graduate students who attend the workshop without presenting or commenting on a paper. Priority will
be given to graduate students who have not attended previous workshops, and to women and minorities. Graduate students who wish to be considered for travel funding should contact Kevin Kelly or Richard Scheines (the local organizers this year) by May 1, 2009.

Kevin Kelly
Richard Scheines
CMU

Branden Fitelson
UC-Berkeley

Sahotra Sarkar
UT-Austin

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NOTE: The FEW website is now located at:

http://fitelson.org/few/

We hope to see you all in Pittsburgh in June!

New course at CUNY

Rohit Parikh is preparing a new course focusing on epistemic logic at CUNY.  Here are excerpts of the informal description of the course and some administrative data about the course itself:

PHIL 76800 - Epistemic Logic and Applications (Tuesdays 6:30-8:30)

Epistemic logic has gone through an explosive development since the publication of two books, Knowledge and Belief: An introduction to the logic of the two notions, by Jaakko Hintikka, and Convention: A philosophical study, by David Lewis.  Developments in epistemic logic have since influenced philosophy, computer science, economics, linguistics and social science. After doing a survey of the two books mentioned above, the course will proceed to cover more recent topics like common knowledge, logical omniscience, agreeing to disagree, "no-trade" theorems, cheap talk and knowledge updating.

Students will benefit more if they are familiar with propositional logic (which is pretty much required) and have some idea of Kripke structures, although the latter will be covered in the course.

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It seems that the course will cover both issues related to philosophical foundations and more applied and technical results.  There are few courses that manage to do both things at an excellent level so this seems a nice opportunity for students in the NYC area. 

Two talks today in NYC

Greg Wheeler will give a talk on "Coherence and Confirmation" at 6:30 today in Rohit Parikh's seminar at CUNY Graduate Center. Also today, Thomas Kelly will give a talk on "Confidence and Belief Revision" at 4:10 in Philosophy Hall here at Columbia.

Today, in my mailbox ...

I found my copy of Epistemology: 5 questions. It looks great, and I can't wait to read it. Unfortunately I will have to do just that, since other work calls. However, unable to resist a brief look, I stumbled upon the following passage in Timothy Williamson's response to being asked what he regards as the most neglected topics and/or contributions in contemporary epistemology: "The best hope for progress in epistemology lies in the use of methods that have not been part of its stock and trade for centuries. Close to my heart, of course, are the methods of formal epistemology, especially epistemic logic and probability theory. The methods of experimental psychology also promise to shake up comfortable assumptions of belief-forming processes." Seems right to me!

Extended Deadline -- First European Graduate School for Philosophy of Language, Mind and Science

"Extended Deadline: 11th October 2008Bochum/Tilburg: First European Graduate School -- Philosophy of Language, Mind and Science

*Session 1: Rationality, Consciousness and the Architecture of the Mind10-14 November 2008Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Germany*Keynote Speakers: José Luis Bermúdez (Washington University St. Louis),Peter Carruthers (University of Maryland) and Michael Esfeld (University of Lausanne)

*Session 2: Reasoning and Decision Making17-21 November 2008Tilburg Center for Logic and Philosophy of Science (TiLPS), Tilburg University, The Netherlands*Keynote Speakers: Ulrike Hahn (Cardiff), MichaelPauen (HU Berlin), J.D. Trout (Loyola University Chicago) and Michiel van Lambalgen (University of Amsterdam)"

Additional information can be found here.

ISIPTA 09 - CALL FOR PAPERS

"The ISIPTA meetings are the primary international forum to present and discuss new results on the theories and applications of imprecise probability.Imprecise probability is a generic term for the many mathematical and statistical models and methods, allowing us to measure chance or uncertainty without the restriction of sharp probabilities. These models include lower and upper expectations or previsions, interval-valued probabilities, convex sets of probability measures, belief functions, Choquet capacities, comparative probability orderings, fuzzy measures, possibility measures, plausibility measures, and sets of desirable gambles. Imprecise probability models are needed in inference and decision problems where the relevant information is scarce, vague or conflicting, and where preferences maybe incomplete."

Additional information about ISIPTA 09, including the call for papers, can be found here.

Addendum to the previous post

Vincent Hendricks asked if I would post information about the new "5 Questions" volume. I'm happy to oblige. However, and not surprisingly, Horacio beat me to it! Well, in any case, the following information may be taken as an addendum to Horacio's post:

NOW AVAILABLE! Epistemology: 5 Questions Edited by Vincent F. Hendricks & Duncan Pritchard ISBN: 978-87-92130-07-5List Price: $38 / £28372 pages New York, London: Automatic Press / VIP Epistemology: 5 Questions is a collection of short interviews based on 5questions presented to some of the most influential and prominent scholars in epistemology. We hear their views on epistemology with particular emphasis on the intersection between mainstream and formal approaches to thefield; the aim, scope, the future direction of epistemology and how their work fits in these respects.

Buy from Amazon

"In your hands, you have a terrific collection of interviews about epistemology by some of the leading contemporary epistemologists. An impressive array of insight, charm, and iconoclastic comments by some of the people who changed the field forever. A must read!" - Otávio Bueno,University of Miami

"Vincent F. Hendricks and Duncan Pritchard have done the epistemology community a big favor: they have elicited revealing personal histories and comments on the state of the field from a variety of the field's leading researchers [...] It is both a snapshot of various influential research trajectories as they stand at the present time, and a collection of tantalizing suggestions for new avenues of research. I recommend it especially to those thinking about the connections between what Hendricks has elsewhere called "mainstream and formal epistemology." - Sanford Goldberg, Northwestern University

"Think of knowledge as a primitive concept, the dynamics of belief, reliable inquiry, social judgment. Think of mainstream epistemology, formal epistemology, scientific epistemology. Think of philosophy crossing with computer science, logic, psychology, sociology. Think of some of the main figures in these fields. Think of a lot of fun. Don't think twice: It's Epistemology: 5 Questions." - Hannes Leitgeb, University of Bristol

"Vincent F. Hendricks and Duncan Pritchard have produced a remarkable volume: the list of 29 interviewees reads like a "who's who" of leading contemporary epistemologists, and by carrying out interviews structured around 5 leading questions, the editors have produced a collection that anyone interested in recent and contemporary debates in epistemology will find both useful and entertaining." - Alexander Miller, University of Birmingham

Preface iii Acknowledgements v1 Horacio Arló-Costa 12 Sergei Artemov 113 Alexandru Baltag 214 Johan van Benthem 395 Luc Bovens 476 Lorraine Code 637 Fred Dretske 798 Pascal Engel 879 Robert J. Fogelin 9510 Richard Fumerton 10511 Clark Glymour 11712 Alvin I. Goldman 12113 Alan Hájek 13914 Joseph Y. Halpern 15515 Sven Ove Hansson 16716 Jaakko Hintikka 17917 Wiebe van der Hoek 18518 Kevin T. Kelly 19119 Hilary Kornblith 21120 Martin Kusch 21721 Jonathan L. Kvanvig 23122 Isaac Levi 24123 Rohit Parikh 25724 John L. Pollock 26725 Krister Segerberg 28326 Ernest Sosa 30527 Wolfgang Spohn 31128 Timothy Williamson 32329 Linda Zagzebski 335