Feminism, Science and Values at Western. Deadline August 15, 2009
May 18, 2009 → Aug 28, 2009
In June 2010, the International Association of Women Philosophers (http://www.iaph-philo.org/ ) will be meeting at The University of Western Ontario. This will be the organization's first meeting in Canada and only its second meeting in North America. Co-hosted by the Rotman Institute for Science and Values and the Department of Philosophy, the conference is scheduled to take place just before the international conference on science and values organized by the Rotman Institute.
The members of the conference organizing committee are: Gillian Barker, Ariella Binik, Samantha Brennan, Helen Fielding, Katy Fulfer-Smith, Elisa Hurley, Tracy Isaacs, Carolyn McLeod, Karen Nielsen, Kathleen Okruhlik, and Angelique Petropanagos.
The organizing committee invites papers from all areas in philosophy, though we especially welcome papers related to the theme of the conference, Feminism, Science, and Values. We also welcome papers from graduate students. Abstracts should be submitted in English, French, or Spanish. Spanish abstracts will be refereed by the IAPH executive instead of the conference program committee.
There are many possible topics, the following being just a small sample:
. Questions about the content of science; the evaluation of hypotheses; the uses of science; the idea of "value-free science"; the regulation and control of science; the funding of science; science as oppressor of
the disadvantaged; science as a liberator of the disadvantaged; science for the people; science and democracy; the "collapse" of the is/ought distinction; the relationship between ethical and epistemic norms; the
role of ethics in deciding what sorts of science to pursue; the role of science in the resolution of ethical questions.
. Questions about concepts of sex/gender, race, intelligence, sexuality, sociobiology, health and disease, normalcy, etc., possibly discussed via specific examples and case studies.
. Feminist work on questions in value theory, in either the field of ethics or aesthetics.
. Historical studies of the relationship between science and feminist thought.
. Discussions of philosophy's role in supporting modes of thought that perpetuate bad practices and discussions of philosophy's emancipatory potential for women and others.
Submissions of long abstracts (750-1000 words) are invited (for eventual presentation of papers that are no more than 3000 words and 20 minutes maximum reading time). We also welcome proposals for panel presentations. For panel proposals, please send a title, a one paragraph description of the panel, names and contact information for all participants, and abstracts for each of the papers on the panel.
Please email all materials as double-spaced Word or RTF attachments, prepared for anonymous review, which requires that you remove all identifying-author tags from your document content and file properties.
Send the e-mail to iaph and include within it (not the abstract) your full contact information.
More information will be available about the conference on our website (coming soon).
Deadline: Midnight Eastern time August 15, 2009.