The 2010 Synthese Conference

I just received this from Vincent Hendricks

On April 15th and 16th of 2010, the Synthese Conference will take place at Columbia University. The 2010 edition of the Synthese Conference will focus on the theme of epistemology and economics. Recent years have seen an increasing amount of interaction between epistemology and economics: traditional topics in epistemology, such as the analysis of knowledge, have found a significant role in the study of interactive decision making, while traditional topics in economics, such as the analysis of rationality, now figure prominently into certain areas of epistemology. We anticipate that the conference program will include slots for five invited papers and at least five contributed papers. Every paper that is presented at the conference will be considered for the special issue of Synthese that will be based on the conference theme of epistemology and economics. The list of invited speakers is still being finalized. In the meantime, we encourage submissions for the contributed slots. Submissions should be relevant to the conference theme of epistemology and economics, broadly construed, and should satisfy the usual guidelines for submissions to Synthese. Submissions for the contributed slots must be received no later than February 1, 2010. Notifications of acceptance will be made by February 20, 2010. All submissions should be sent to synthese.conference.2010@gmail.com .

Editorial Updates

Thanks to those of you still staying tuned to Knowability. Hope to get back to posting some philosophy in the near future. For now two pieces of news that i'm happy to report.

My special issue of Synthese, Knowability and Beyond, is slowing becoming available online as the authors get their proofs back to the publisher. Here's my introduction. Also currently available from the issue is Michael Hand's paper, "Anti-realism and Universal Knowability", which utilizes the typically overlooked difference between pragmatic and non-pragmatic reasons for the unperformability of a proof.

Also, New Essays on the Knowability Paradox, became available in August. That project was a labor of love, taking 6 years to get to print. It includes Alonzo Church's two referee reports on Fitch's 1945 paper regarding Fitch's counterfactual definition of value, and includes the first two formulations of the knowability paradox. The volume includes a reprint of Fitch's 1963 paper, where the result was first published, and 19 new essays covering various aspects of the discussion.

Crispin's New Research Program

The Northern Institute of Philosophy now exists. This is the new research program directed by Crispin Wright. The structure and mission of the program is outlined on the website, and will include the launching of a new journal, provisionally titled The Northern Light, that will specialize in short sharply focused papers.