June 25-27, 2012
University of Turin, Italy
It is our pleasure to announce the Fifth Semantics and Philosophy in Europe
(SPE) colloquium. This year¹s colloquium will be devoted entirely to
two topics:
(A) PLURAL REFERENCE
INVITED SPEAKERS
Theodore Scaltsas (University of Edinburgh)
Peter Simons (University of Dublin)
TUTORIAL
Salvatore Florio (Birkbeck College)
Oystein Linnebo (Birkbeck College)
Friederike Moltmann (IHPST, Paris)
(B) NOMINALIZATIONS AND ONTOLOGIAL COMMITMENT
INVITED SPEAKERS
Jody Azzouni (Tufts University)
Andrea Bottani (University of Bergamo)
Anthony Everett (University of Bristol)
Alberto Voltolini (University of Turin)
Thomas Ede Zimmermann (Wolfgang-Goethe Universitaet Frankfurt)
A detailed description of the two topics can be found at the bottom of this
announcement.
SUBMISSION DETAILS
We invite submissions of anonymous *two-page* abstracts including
references, for a 30-minute talk, on one of two topics of the
conference.
Please specify title, one of the topics, name, affiliation, and e-mail
address on an extra-page.
Submission address: spe.2012@gmx.net
Deadline for submissions: April 3, 2012
Notification of acceptance: April 30, 2012
ORGANIZING COMMITTEE
Oystein Linnebo (Birkbeck College)
Friederike Moltmann (IHPST, Paris)
Benjamin Schnieder (University of Hamburg)
Alberto Voltolini (University of Turin)
SELECTION COMMITTEE
Jody Azzouni, Francesco Berto, Andrea Bottani, Massimiliano Carrara,
Anthony Everett, Thomas Hofweber, Oystein Linnebo, Friederike Moltmann,
Mark Sainsbury, Benjamin Schnieder, Peter Simons, Alberto Voltolini,
Ede Zimmermann
TOPIC (A) - PLURAL REFERENCE
Plural reference has become a lively philosophical topic since some
philosophers and logicians have claimed that plural terms of natural
language can refer to several entities at once as their semantic
values. This
raises a number of open questions for philosophers and semanticists as
well:
- Should linguists adopt this philosophical conception of plural
reference?
- Can semantics be affected by philosophical arguments on the need
to avoid the so-called paradoxes of absolute generality?
- What are the spin-offs of developing a semantics for a plural
language in a plural metalanguage?
- Are there other forms of non-singular reference, e.g., list-like
expressions?
TOPIC (B) - NOMINALIZATION AND ONTOLOGICAL COMMITMENT
Natural language allows a variety of ways of building referential
expressions out of non-referential ones. This raises such key question
at the interface between ontology and semantics as:
- Which ways of setting up a single object as the semantic value of
a referential term are permissible?
- What is the ontological status of these objects?
- When is ontological commitment to such things as fictional or
nonexistent objects, delivered by referential terms, to be taken at
face value?
- How should the threat of paradox be addressed that goes along with
some of the ways of introducing such objects?
- Is an ontologically deflationist strategy the best way to deal
with such issues?
- Does the use of singular terms and quantification provide the
right criteria for ontological commitment in the first place?
About SPE
The purpose of the Semantics and Philosophy in Europe Colloquia is to
enhance the dialogue between linguists and philosophers by providing a
forum for presenting research in the interface between linguistic
semantics and the various areas of philosophy (philosophy of
language, logic, philosophy of mind, metaphysics, philosophy of
mathematics,
epistemology). SPE takes place annually in different European cities.
The previous meetings took place in Paris (SPE1, 2008), London (SPE2,
2009), Paris (SPE3,2010), and Bochum (SPE4, 2011).
Financial Support for SPE5
European Research Council Starting Grant ŒPlurals, Predicates, and
Paradox¹ (directed by O. Linnebo)
ANR-DFG Project ŒNominalizations: Philosophical and Linguistic
Perspectives¹ (directed by F. Moltmann and B. Schnieder)
Website (to be launched in February 2012)
http://speconference.wordpress.com/
The University of Aberdeen is a charity registered in Scotland, No SC013683.
