WITTG-97, 20th International Wittgenstein Symposium

Anmerkung des GK-Schriftführers:

Dieses Symposium wird von seinem Organisationskomitee wie folgt vorgestellt:

"An die Gesellschaft für Kognitionswissenschaft:
Wir bitten um Weitersendung der folgenden Ankündigung eines logisch/philosophischen Symposiums, das in seinen ersten vier Sektionen den Schwerpunkt auf KI-Anwendungen in der Logik, Sprachphilosophie, Wissenschaftstheorie und Ethik legt (siehe auch die thematischen Schlagworte in der Beschreibung der Sektionen). Teilnehmer aus den Computer- und Kognitionswissenschaften sind hochwillkommen.

Danke.
Dr. Georg Dorn für das Organisationskomitee von WITTG-97"

This is the third (and last) announcement of 
the 20th International Wittgenstein Symposium
10-16 August 1997
Kirchberg am Wechsel, Austria, Europe.
The general theme of the symposium is:
The Role of Pragmatics in Contemporary Philosophy
It consists of six sections:
1. Pragmatic Aspects of Applied Logic
2. The Pragmatic Dimension of Language
3. Pragmatic Problems in the Philosophy of Science
4. Pragmatic Approaches in Ethics and in the Theory of Action
5. Pragmatic Philosophers and Pragmatic Systems of Thought
6. Wittgenstein

The announcement below encompasses the following three chapters:
        TOPIC AND AIM OF THE SYMPOSIUM
        THE SIX SECTIONS OF THE SYMPOSIUM IN DETAIL
        CALL FOR PAPERS

Further information on the next Wittgenstein symposium 
is obtainable at: 
http://www.sbg.ac.at/phs/docs/wittgenstein97.htm

Thank you for your attention.

Sincerely yours,
Paul Weingartner, Gerhard Schurz and Georg Dorn
Organizing Committee
(Department of Philosophy, University of Salzburg, Austria)


TOPIC AND AIM OF THE SYMPOSIUM

The logico-semantical and language-internal perspective 
of logical empiricism and neopositivism has turned out to be 
much too narrow to provide a satisfactory analysis of
scientific knowledge and practical reasoning. 
When the tides of relativism and skepticism -- caused by the 
breakdown of logical empiricism -- had calmed down, 
the diagnosis of many if not most of the analytic philosophers was
that the blind spot in the program of the logical empiricists 
had been the missing dimension of pragmatics. 
The same diagnosis had already been stated in the late work 
of both Wittgenstein and Carnap. Indeed, the solutions of 
fundamental problems in philosophy and of foundational problems 
in the philosophy of science involve the consideration of 
pragmatic factors; just think of work regarding epistemic 
attitudes viewed from a realistic perspective, or regarding 
the nature of meaning as depending on the use of concepts 
in the language, or regarding the empirical restrictions 
of human cognition, or regarding the goals and values in 
the practice of science and in the ethical deliberations of 
everyday life. In this perspective, pragmatic philosophy 
is not at all opposed to the philosophical search for truth, 
but may be rather viewed as a crucial method for making progress 
in this search instead of getting stuck in 
seemingly insoluble paradoxes or aporetic circles. 

The goal of this symposium is to provide a comprehensive 
picture of the influence, efforts, merits and problems 
of pragmatics in all main areas of contemporary philosophy,
including cognitive science. General contributions concerning 
the role of pragmatics in one of the main philosophical areas 
as well as special contributions concerning particular problems 
the solution of which involves pragmatical considerations 
are both welcome. The following chapter "Sections in detail" 
with its list of thematic key words gives an impression 
of the manifold of topics this symposium will deal with. 


THE SIX SECTIONS OF THE SYMPOSIUM IN DETAIL

Section 1: Pragmatic Aspects of Applied Logic

Key Words of Section 1 "Pragmatic Aspects of Applied Logic":
formal pragmatics; pragmatics and possible worlds; 
pragmatics, situations and propositional attitudes; 
logic and relevance; nonmonotonic logic; 
uncertain, defeasible and approximative reasoning; 
pragmatics in probabilistic reasoning; 
application problems of logic in AI 
and in cognitive science; pragmatical aspects of logic programming; 
computational complexity and tractability; 
logical representation of belief and belief revision;...

Plenary Lectures in Section 1 "Pragmatic Aspects of Applied Logic":
Ernest W. Adams, The Utility of Truth and Probability 
John L. Pollock, On Defeasible Reasoning [Title will be specified.] 

Further Invited Lectures in Section 1 "Pragmatic Aspects 
of Applied Logic":
Ken Gemes, [Title not yet known] 
Hans Kamp, The Logic of Incremental Interpretation of Discourse 
Natasha Kurtonina, Pragmatics and Semantics in Computability Theory
Evgenij A. Sidorenko, Binary Relation Semantics of Entailment: 
Formal and Epistemological Aspects 

Section 2: The Pragmatic Dimension of Language

Key Words of Section 2 "The Pragmatic Dimension of Language": 
pragmatics and semantics; pragmatic aspects 
of natural language representation in AI and in 
cognitive science; pragmatics and ontology; pragmatic 
and holistic theories of meaning; pragmatics and indexicals; 
pragmatics and reference; pragmatics versus rigidity 
of designators; pragmatic aspects of linguistic frameworks; 
speech act theory; pragmatics in communication and discourse;...

Plenary Lectures in Section 2 "The Pragmatic Dimension 
of Language":
Peter Gaerdenfors, The Pragmatic Role of Modality in Natural Language
Hubert Haider, [Title not yet known] 

Further Invited Lectures in Section 2 "The Pragmatic Dimension 
of Language":
Manfred Bierwisch, [Title not yet known] 
Franz von Kutschera, Begreifen und Begriffe 
Georg Meggle, Intentionalistische versus regeltheoretische Semantik 
Edgar Morscher in collaboration with Alexander Hieke, 
Pragmatische Widersprueche 

Section 3: Pragmatic Problems in the Philosophy of Science

Key Words of Section 3 "Pragmatic Problems 
in the Philosophy of Science":
pragmatic aspects of scientific discovery and 
scientific knowledge; pragmatics and the 
instrumentalism-realism debate; evolutionary epistemology; 
pragmatics in theory construction and evaluation; 
pragmatics in induction and abduction; computational philosophy 
of science; AI-models of learning and discovery in science; 
pragmatics (vs. semantics) of explanation and causality; 
pragmatics in the justification of scientific knowledge; 
pragmatics of intended theory applications; 
pragmatic aspects of theory dynamics and revision; 
pragmatic components of the concept of paradigm;...

Plenary Lectures in Section 3 "Pragmatic Problems 
in the Philosophy of Science":
William L. Harper, Inferences from Phenomena: Newton versus 
Bootstrap Confirmation 
Patrick Suppes, From Experiments to Theoretical Calculations: 
Pragmatism Reigns in Physics

Further Invited Lectures in Section 3 "Pragmatic Problems 
in the Philosophy of Science":
Theo Kuipers, Pragmatic versus Non-pragmatic Aspects of 
Confirmation, Empirical Progress and Truth Approximation 
Peter Mittelstaedt, [Title not yet known] 
Ryszard Wojcicki, Pragmatic Aspects of Tarski's Definition of Truth 

Section 4: Pragmatic Approaches in Ethics and 
in the Theory of Action

Key Words of Section 4 "Pragmatic Approaches in Ethics and 
in the Theory of Action": 
concepts of pragmatic and practical rationality; 
pragmatic components in the theory of action; 
pragmatics and intentionality; decision- and game-theory; 
pragmatics and utilitarianism (including rule utilitarianism); 
pragmatics in the balancing of goods; pragmatics versus 
deontological ethics; pure versus applied ethics; 
pragmatic aspects of justice; procedural ethics and 
evolutionary ethics; pragmatics of ethical dialogue and 
transcendental pragmatics;...

Plenary Lectures in Section 4 "Pragmatic Approaches in Ethics and 
in the Theory of Action":
Dieter Birnbacher, Praktische Ethik und ethische Pragmatik 
Brian Skyrms, Bayesian Subjunctive Conditionals in Extensive 
Form Games, Backward Induction and Forward Induction 

Further Invited Lectures in Section 4 "Pragmatic Approaches in Ethics
and in the Theory of Action":
Richard C. Jeffrey, Interpreting Agency
Henrik Kreutz, [Title not yet known] 
Wolfgang Lenzen, Der Wert des Lebens -- 
Moeglichkeit und Grenzen eines pragmatischen Ansatzes

Section 5: Pragmatic Philosophers and Systems of Thought

Key Words of Section 5 "Pragmatic Philosophers and 
Systems of Thought":
Ch. S. Peirce, W. James, J. Dewey, C. I. Lewis, 
H. Reichenbach, W.v.O. Quine, N. Rescher,...; 
philosophical 'relatives' of pragmati(ci)sm, such as: 
empiricism and (logical) positivism, conventionalism, 
operationalism, holism, constructivism; 
pragmatical standpoints in epistemology; 
semantical versus pragmatical conception of truth; 
pragmatics of knowledge; pragmatics of justification;... 

Plenary Lectures in Section 5 "Pragmatic Philosophers and 
Systems of Thought":
Paul Gochet, Foundherentism against Pragmatism 
Nicholas Rescher, Pragmatism in Crisis 

Further Invited Lectures in Section 5 "Pragmatic Philosophers 
and Systems of Thought":
Peter H. Hare, Representation: Classical Pragmatism and 
Today's Teleological Naturalism 
Risto Hilpinen, On C. S. Peirce's Pragmatic Theory of Meaning 

Section 6: Wittgenstein

Key Words of Section 6 "Wittgenstein":
Since contributions to the Wittgenstein section are not restricted 
to the general topic of the symposium, 
no key words are given for the Wittgenstein section.

Plenary Lectures in Section 6 "Wittgenstein":
Jacques Bouveresse, Wittgenstein on Nonsense, Absurdity, 
and Impossibility
David Pears, Thought and Action: 
some Pragmatic Aspects of Wittgenstein¹s Later Philosophy

Further Invited Lectures in Section 6 "Wittgenstein":
James Conant, Wittgenstein on Meaning and Use 
Pamela L. Dick, Trust, Certainty and Truth in "Ueber Gewissheit"
Luis Flores, Elements for a Pragmatics in Wittgenstein's 
"Philosophische Untersuchungen" 
Eike von Savigny, The Hardness of the Logical Must

(Please note: all the titles given above are provisional.)

CALL FOR PAPERS

The Organizing Committee encourages you 
to participate in the 20th International
Wittgenstein Symposium and to present 
a paper in one of its six sections.

If you intend to present a paper, 
please make your intention known by letter, fax or phone call to: 

       The Austrian Ludwig Wittgenstein Society
       Conference Office
       Markt 63
       A-2880 Kirchberg am Wechsel
       Austria, Europe
       Telephone and Telefax: 0043 2641 2557 

A detailed registration form will then be sent to you, 
together with the guidelines for the submission of papers and 
a list of key words to the sections. 

Please note: 

Contributions to section 6 need not pertain to pragmatics 
or pragmatism; contributions to sections 1-5 need not 
pertain to Wittgenstein. 
Papers must be written in English or German. 
Papers must arrive at the Organizing Committee by 30 April 1997. 
Papers must not have been published or 
accepted for publication elsewhere. 
Submitted papers will be refereed. 
Authors will be informed as to acceptance of their paper by 
15 June 1997. 
The accepted papers of registered participants will be published in: 
Paul Weingartner, Gerhard Schurz and Georg Dorn (eds.): 
The Role of Pragmatics in Contemporary Philosophy: 
Contributions of the Austrian Ludwig Wittgenstein Society, Vol. 5,
Kirchberg 1997. 
The copyright holder is the Austrian Ludwig Wittgenstein Society
(Markt 63, A-2880 Kirchberg am Wechsel), which is also 
the organizing institution of the symposium. 
The low-priced volume can be bought in the Conference Center 
at the beginning of the symposium.