THE ROYAL INSTITUTE OF PHILOSOPHY ANNUAL ESSAY PRIZE COMPETITION

The Royal Institute of Philosophy and Cambridge University Press are pleased to announce the inauguration of an annual Philosophy Essay Prize. Winners of the Prize will receive £2,500 with their essay being published in Philosophy and identified as the essay prize winner.

The topic for the inaugural essay competition is The Value of Truth.

Entries may address the topic in a variety of ways, for example, by consideration of historical figures and ideas, by direct analysis and argument, in relation to different kinds of value and different areas in which truth maybe found: logic, metaphysics, aesthetics, ethics, etc. In assessing entries priority will be given to originality, clarity of expression, breadth of interest, and potential for advancing discussion.

All entries will be deemed to be submissions to Philosophy and more than one may be published. In exceptional circumstances the prize may be awarded jointly in which case the financial component will be divided, but the aim is to select a single prize-winner.

Entries should be prepared in line with standard Philosophy guidelines for submission (see http://www.royalinstitutephilosophy.org/page/46 ).

The closing date for receipt of entries is October the 1^st 2012. Entries will be considered by a committee of the Royal Institute of Philosophy, and the winner announced by the end 2012. The winning entry will be published in Philosophy in April 2013.

Jacobsen Fellows 2011/12

Paloma Atencia-Linares, University College London

Carl Baker, University of Leeds

Michael Clark, University of Manchester

Jeremy Dunham, University of the West of England

Roberto Grasso, University of Edinburgh

Milena Ivanova, University of Bristol

Marianna Antonutti Marfori, University of Bristol

Alexander Oldemeier, University of Leeds

RIP Bursary Winners 2011/12

Sophie Archer, University College London

Anna Corrias, Warburg Institute

Fay Edwards, King's College London

Matt Farr, Bristol University

Francesco Gentile, University of Nottingham

Kerry McKenzie, University of Leeds

Christoph Schuringa, Birkbeck College

Alexandra Verker, King's College London

CALL FOR PAPERS: ROYAL INSTITUTE OF PHILOSOPHY CONFERENCE PHILOSOPHICAL AESTHETICS AND SCIENCES OF ART

28^th to 30^th of June 2012

University of Leeds

Submissions of papers are invited for an international conference in aesthetics ‘Philosophical Aesthetics and the Sciences of Art?’ to be held at the University of Leeds, on the 28^th to 30^th of June 2012. The conference is organised by the AHRC funded research project ‘Method in Philosophical Aesthetics: The Challenge from the Sciences’ (http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/humanities/aesthetics/index.html) in association with the University of Leeds, the University of Nottingham and the Royal Institute of Philosophy.

Confirmed Keynote Speakers Include:

• • Whitney Davis (UC Berkeley)

• • Stacie Friend (Heythrop)

• • Berys Gaut (St Andrews)

• • Gordon Graham (Princeton Theological Seminary)

• • Jenefer Robinson (Cincinnati)

• • Roger Scruton (Oxford, St Andrews, and American Enterprise Institute)

• • Deena Skolnick Weisberg (Temple)

Philosophers are now used to paying close attention to the results of theoretical and experimental work in the sciences. This has been long-standing practice in the philosophy of the sciences, and it is now common in the philosophy of mind. The practice is growing in the philosophy of language and in ethics, where there is controversy over the authority of linguistic and moral intuitions. The practice is less common in aesthetics, but it is beginning to develop, most notably in appeals to theories of vision in disputes about pictorial perception, and reference to empirical work on the emotions and imagination in the discussion of our engagement with fiction. Such interventions are controversial in some quarters; more controversial still are claims that work in the neurosciences and in evolutionary psychology can deepen, perhaps even revolutionise, our philosophical conceptions of the arts. Some argue that such studies will not make any positive contribution to understanding the nature and value of artistic experiences; the most we can hope for from them is that light be shed on empirical side-constraints.

Papers should address one or more of the following topics:

• • whether empirical and/or naturalistic approaches can shed light on the value(s) of art (a subject that may seem especially difficult to get empirical traction on);

• • whether empirical/psychological accounts of creativity (which are notoriously problematic) have any potential to shed light on the profound significance of artistic creativity;

• • whether naturalistic approaches to the imagination fail to address the deep issues raised by the paradox of fiction;

• • whether empirical approaches have, in fact, anything serious to say about beauty or, rather, confuse the beautiful with the merely agreeable.

Papers should take between 40 and 45 minutes to present and be submitted in a form suitable for blind review. Our aim is to involve speakers with a variety of perspectives, ranging from those with a good deal of enthusiasm for ‘empirical philosophy’ to those more inclined to favour traditional, a priori approaches. It is intended that papers presented at the conference should be suitable for publication as a special supplementary volume of Philosophy. It is a condition of accepting the invitation to participate in the conference that we would have the first right of refusal on a final version of any paper delivered at the conference for the volume.

Deadline for submissions is 17^th February 2012. Conference fee will be waived for accepted speakers and two nights' accommodation provided.

Papers should be submitted, and enquiries addressed, to Dr. Jon Robson ([email protected])