Technische Universität Dortmund, 13-14 March 2014
The “experimental philosophy” movement has recently gained some momentum in the philosophical community. The movement’s basic idea is to introduce experimental methods (other than thought experiments) or, more broadly, empirical methods to philosophy. Appropriated from the experimental paradigm in psychology, the method first and most often employed in experimental philosophy arguably is the use of questionnaires. Using experimental studies of this kind in philosophy may serve a number of purposes. A prominent one is to supplement the more traditional tools of analytic philosophy which are used in conceptual analyses of philosophically interesting terms. However, there is also a variety of other (at least partially) empirical methods in linguistics, e.g. methods from psycholinguistics, corpus analysis, etymology, discourse analysis or field studies, which could also be used for this purpose or a variety of other purposes in philosophy.
The first set of guiding questions of the workshop is: Which empirical methods from linguistics have been applied in philosophy already? To which end? Where and how could such methods be applied? The literature at present is sparse and scattered across various journals, the common methodological root is not always apparent. It is therefore expedient to gain an overview on the approaches that have already been tried, and to consider potential applications of methods that have not yet been tried. This, of course, also raises methodological questions. Most importantly: What are the potential benefits of the different empirical methods from linguistics for philosophy, and what are the limits of their application?
The workshop brings together researchers who implement empirical methods from linguistics in their philosophical research. Although the focus of the workshop is on the use of such methods in philosophy, both philosophers and linguists will be involved. Each of the six workshop sessions will open with a philosophical paper demonstrating the application of a specific linguistic method in philosophy. The paper will be followed by two peer commentaries, one by a linguist, the other by a philosopher.
The primary purpose of the workshop is exploratory: The potential applications, the benefits and the limits of linguistic methods in philosophy stand in need of clarification. The secondary purpose is to create a networking opportunity for researchers who employ (and those who intend to employ) empirical methods from linguistics in philosophy. The workshop is intended to pilot a larger conference, to be held in 2015.
The workshop is graciously supported by GdF, the Gesellschaft der Freunde der Technischen Universität Dortmund e.V. (the Society of the friends of TU Dortmund University), and GAP, the Gesellschaft für Analytische Philosophie e.V. (the Society for Analytic Philosophy).
(Last updated: 06 March 2014)
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13.30–14.00 |
Registration |
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14.00–14.15 |
Opening of the Workshop |
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14.15–15.15 |
Session 1: Corpus Analysis Aurelie Herbelot (Cambridge): Peer commentaries: |
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15.15–15.45 |
Coffee break |
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15.45–16.45 |
Session 2: Questionnaires Studies and Comparative Linguistics Shin Sakuragi (Shibaura Institute of Technology, Tōkyō): Peer commentaries: |
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16.45–17.45 |
Session 3: Questionnaire Studies Magdalena Sztencel (Newcastle): Peer commentary: |
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19.30– |
Conference dinner |
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08.30–9.30 |
Session 4: Psycholinguistics Anna Drożdżowicz (Oslo): Peer commentaries: |
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09.30–10.30 |
Session 5: Psycholinguistics Eugen Fischer (East Anglia): Peer commentaries: |
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10.30–11.00 |
Coffee break |
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11.00–12.00 |
Session 6: Typology and Diachronic Linguistics Barbara Vetter & Emanuel Viebahn (HU Berlin): Peer commentary: |
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12.00–13.00 |
Lunch break |
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13.00–14.00 |
General discussion / future plans |
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14.00 |
Workshop Closing |
For your information:
The workshop will be held at the Erich-Brost-Institut of TU Dortmund University:
Erich-Brost-Institut
Otto-Hahn-Straße
44227 Dortmund
Dortmund is, of course, linked to Germany’s railway, and there are frequent trains going in andcoming from every direction.
The closest airports are Dortmund and Düsseldorf (ca. 1 hour by train). Köln-Bonn Airport (ca. 2 hours) and Hannover Airport (ca. 2.5 hours) may be alternatives.
From Dortmund main station (Dortmund Hauptbahnhof, abbreviated Dortmund Hbf.) take the S-Bahn No. 1 (S1) heading towards Solingen Hbf. Get off at Dortmund-Universität, the third stop (6 min ride).
Find more help at http://www.tu-dortmund.de/uni/International/Contact_and_Directions/.
Train schedules can be found and online tickets bought at http://www.bahn.de.
Assuming you got off at the railway station Dortmund-Universität, the Erich-Brost-Institut is in walking distance (5 min): Follow the bulk of the students heading past the main library (Bibliothek) on your left. Walk straight across the bridge and past the refectory (Mensa) to your right. You willcome to a square. Take a left. Erich-Brost-Institut is at the end of the footpath.
Find a map at http://www.tu-dortmund.de/uni/International/Contact_and_Directions/ (the venue is labelled No. 22) or at http://www.brost.org/anfahrt.html.
Ask any student. Most will be able to help in some way.
Hotels can be found at, e.g., http://www.hotel.de or www.hrs.de.
Bed ‘n’ Breakfast can be found, e.g., at http://www.airbnb.com.
Dr. Roland Bluhm
Technische Universität Dortmund
Fakultät Humanwissenschaft und Theologie (14)
Institut für Philosophie und Politikwissenschaft
Emil-Figge-Str. 50
4227 Dortmund
Germany
Phone: +49 231 755-7912
Phone: +49 231 755-2999 (Secretary)
Fax: +49 231 755-5896 (Secretary)