[MaFLa] Proper Names Workshop (CEU, May 18-19)

[Zsofia Zvolenszky]

> Proper Names Workshop
>
> Current Work in Linguistics and Philosophy of Language
>
> Workshop at CEU IAS, Budapest
>
> May 18-19, 2015
>
> 1051 Budapest, Okt�ber 6. u. 7. / Room 101
>
> Sponsors:
> Institute for Advanced Study, CEU
> Department of Logic, Institute of Philosophy, E�tv�s University (ELTE)
> Research Institute for Linguistics of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences,
> Budapest
>
> Organizers:
> Craige Roberts, CEU IAS, Hungary; Linguistics and Philosophy, The Ohio
> State University, USA
> Zs�fia Zvolenszky, Philosophy, E�tv�s University (ELTE), Hungary
>
>
> Speakers:
> David Braun, Philosophy, University at Buffalo, SUNY, USA
> Delia Graff Fara, Philosophy, Princeton University, USA
> Emar Maier, Linguistics and Philosophy, University of Groningen, Netherlands
> Ora Matushansky, Linguistics, SFL (Universit� Paris VIII/CNRS), France;
> Utrecht University/UiL OTS, Netherlands
> Anders Schoubye, Philosophy, University of Edinburgh, UK
> Zs�fia Zvolenszky, Philosophy, E�tv�s University (ELTE), Hungary
>
>
> Discussants:
> Hanoch Ben-Yami, Philosophy, Central European University, Hungary
> Laura Delgado, Philosophy, University of Barcelona/LOGOS Spain
> Hans-Martin G�rtner, Linguistics, Research Institute for Linguistics,
> Hungary
> Aidan Gray, Philosophy, University of Illinois Chicago Circle, USA
> Brendan Balcerak Jackson, Philosophy, Zukunftskolleg, University of
> Konstanz, Germany
> Robin Jeshion, Philosophy, University of Southern California, USA
> Hans Kamp, Philosophy and Linguistics, Institute for Natural Language
> Processing, University of Stuttgart, Germany
> Karen Lewis, Philosophy, Barnard College, Columbia University, USA
> Eliot Michaelson, Philosophy, King's College, UK
> Matthew Moss, Philosophy, Columbia University, USA
> Hazel Pearson, Linguistics, Zentrum f�r Allgemeine Sprachwissenschaft
> Berlin, Germany
> Jessica Pepp, Philosophy, University of Oslo, Center for the Study of
> Mind in Nature, Norway
> David Pitt, Philosophy, California State University at Los Angeles, USA
> Brian Rabern, Philosophy, University of Edinburgh, UK
> Craige Roberts, Linguistics, CEU/IAS, Hungary; The Ohio State
> University, USA
> Paolo Santorio, Philosophy, University of Leeds, UK
>
>
> Workshop description:
> Some of the most interesting questions in philosophy and science are the
> ones whose answers at first seem most obvious: How do we know what
> exists? Why does an apple fall from a tree instead of floating up? One
> of the central questions in philosophy of language and linguistic
> semantics in the 20th century was how we refer using proper names. It
> may seem obvious that a name refers to the person who bears it through
> an accord in that individual's speech community, and, similarly, that
> this referent is featured in the semantic content of utterances
> involving the name. This simple answer is reflected in Saul Kripke's
> influential proposal dating from the 1970s. But by itself it fails to
> account for observations about the full range of uses of names. How can
> our theory cover names without referents, like Athena or Bugs Bunny?
> Consider identity statements, in connection with which one of the
> central figures in the early literature on proper names, Gottlob Frege,
> remarked: "Identity challenges reflection". Since Hesperus and
> Phosphorus both refer to the same planet, Venus, how can Hesperus is
> Phosphorus mean something more than Hesperus is Hesperus? Closely
> related is the question of how to account for problems of de re belief
> attribution and denial: Thales didn't believe that Hesperus was
> Phosphorus should not be taken to attribute to Thales a failure to
> appreciate the law of identity. And how are referential uses of names
> related to predicative uses, as in There are ten Venuses in the
> directory? The challenge is to capture the distinctive aspects of these
> various uses while still providing a unified, overarching analysis of
> names, one which does justice to the intuitively appealing, simple
> answer entertained above.
>
> Contemporary work on these issues is being conducted by both linguists
> and philosophers, and the nature of the topic and some of the
> recalcitrant problems facing extant accounts call for their
> collaborative interaction. Accordingly, our invited participants include
> scholars from both fields. The workshop will consist of six extended
> sessions over two days, each led by one of our invited speakers, with
> ample time for discussion and interaction with the distinguished group
> of invited discussants. We have a website where participants can share
> papers and links to other relevant work, in preparation for our
> discussions.
>
> Others with appropriate background are cordially invited to join us.
> Please let us know by May 5th if you would like to attend, so we can
> plan accordingly.
>
> For more information, please visit the conference website:
> https://ias.ceu.edu/node/43092
>
>