Summer 2010 Conferences

Conferences at UCD in the summer of 2010

by Maria Baghramian

In July 2010, the UCD School of Philosophy hosted a series of philosophy conferences, occasioning one of the largest gatherings of philosophers in Europe. The first conference, the annual meeting of the British Society of Philosophy of Science. took place on July 8 and 9. Over one hundred philosophers from UK, US and Continental Europe gave papers on topics ranging from the philosophy of quantum mechanics to biology. They also managed to let their hair down by dancing the night away to the music of ‘The Critique of Pure Rhythm’ an oldies-style rock band comprising professional philosophers and students from the Department of Philosophy, Logic and Scientific Method at the London School of Economics.

The next and much bigger event was the Joint Session of the Aristotelian Society and Mind Association, one of the oldest and most important international conferences of in philosophical calendar. Nearly 250 philosophers from as far afield as China, Japan, India, Brazil as well as UK, US and the Continental Europe descended on UCD to take part in three intense days of philosophising. This was the Joint Session’s third visit to Ireland in its 92 years of history. The last occasion, also organized by Prof Maria Baghramian of the School of Philosophy, was in 1996 when the event was jointly hosted by UCD and Trinity College Dublin.

The 2010 conference was a much bigger affair with nine plenary symposia on a variety of philosophical topics, a record number of parallel sessions as well as AGMs, and side-gatherings of a number of philosophical societies. The opening Presidential Address was delivered by the President of the Aristotelian Society, Prof. Anthony Duff (University of Stirling) with the title 'Towards a Theory of Criminal Law?' The ex-Taoiseach (Prime Minister), Dr Garret FitzGerald’s presence raised the question of whether this was the first Joint Session where a former prime minister had been in audience and had asked a question. A quick trawl in the records, however, showed that Lord Balfour had been present at a Joint Session after retirement, but there is no information on any questions he may have asked.

One particularly successful session was the meeting of the UK Society for Women in Philosophy (SWIP). The occasion was used to launch the Irish Society for Women in Philosophy. The event was marked by a riveting account of the trials and tribulations of women philosophers in Ireland, presented by Attracta Ingram, Emeritus Professor, UCD School of Politics. The last evening of the Joint Session was taken over by the urgent matter of the football World Cup, when more than a hundred philosophers watched the final match in the Staff Common Room. For the next two days, July 12 and 13, the hardier philosophers continued their work in smaller groups in conferences on Indian Philosophy, Philosophy of Mathematics and Political Philosophy held in a variety of Dublin locations. Many others decided to take a well-deserved break from philosophy.

Some pictures: