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Epistemological Contextualism

Department of Philosophy, University of Stirling
20th - 21st March, 2004

Overview | Delegates and Programme | Epistemology in Stirling | Contacts | Other Epistemology-Related Research Events


Overview

Epistemological Contextualism has been one of the dominant research programmes in contemporary epistemology, with the classic papers on this topic by Keith DeRose, Stewart Cohen, David Lewis and others amongst some of the most discussed work in this area of the last thirty years. Primarily, contextualism has attracted philosophers because of the straightforward response that it offers to one very influential formulation of the sceptical paradox. In recent years, however, this thesis has been applied to a number of problems that are outwith the sceptical paradox, such as the Gettier Problem and the Lottery Puzzle.

For the most part, the debate regarding contextualism has been driven by philosophers from North America. The aim of this conference is to bring together, for the first time, some of the most prominent philosophers working on contextualism from North America with a group of the leading epistemologists with interests in this area in the UK.

This conference was generously sponsored by The Philosophical Quarterly, who published the proceedings of this event in a special issue.

The conference was timed to coincide with Professor DeRose's visit to the Department of Philosophy at the University of Stirling as a 2004 Scots Philosophical Club Centenary Fellow.

Delegates and Programme

Speakers

Commentators

Chairs

Jessica Brown (Bristol)

Tim Black (California State, Northridge)

Duncan Pritchard (Stirling)

Stewart Cohen (Arizona)

Duncan Pritchard (Stirling)

Katherine Hawley (St. Andrews)

Keith DeRose (Yale)

Tony Brueckner (UCSB)

Stephen Read ( The Philosophical Quarterly/ St. Andrews)

Neil Gascoigne (Surrey)*

René van Woudenberg (Amsterdam)

Duncan Pritchard (Stirling)

Charles Travis (Northwestern)

Alan Millar (Stirling)

Peter Sullivan (Stirling)

Ralph Wedgwood (Oxford)

Michael Brady (Stirling)

Juli Eflin (Ball State, USA)

Timothy Williamson (Oxford)

Patrick Greenough (St. Andrews)

Bryan Frances (Leeds)

Crispin Wright (St. Andrews & NYU)

Peter Baumann (Aberdeen)

Lars-Bo Gundersen (Aarhus, Denmark)

Pre-Conference Talk

Prior to the conference, on Friday 19th March (4-6pm), there was an additional talk in the Philosophy Department which was given by one of the conference speakers, Neil Gascoigne, on the topic of scepticism.

Conference Programme

Pre-Conference Workshop

On Monday 15th March, there was a small informal Epistemology workshop, featuring papers by Keith DeRose (Yale), Patrick Greenough (St. Andrews), and Duncan Pritchard (Stirling).
 

Other Epistemology-Related Research Events

A 'sister' conference to the Epistemological Contextualism conference was held on the weekend of November 20th - 21st 2004. This was on 'Virtue Epistemology' and timed to coincide with Professor John Greco's visit to the Department of Philosophy at the University of Stirling as a 2004 Scots Philosophical Club Centenary Fellow. Speakers included:

As with the conference on Epistemological Contextualism, this conference was funded by The Philosophical Quarterly. The proceedings of this conference was published in a special issue of Philosophical Studies. For more details about Professor Greco's visit, click here.

Virtues: Moral and Epistemic

In March 2002, the Philosophy Department at Stirling hosted a conference entitled. Virtues: Moral and Epistemic. The speakers at this conference included:

  • Antony Duff (Stirling)
  • Miranda Fricker (Birkbeck)
  • Chris Hookway (Sheffield)
  • Sandra Marshall (Stirling)
  • Marie McGinn (York)
  • Philip Percival (Glasgow)
  • John Skorupski (St. Andrews)
  • Michael Slote (Miami)
  • Lawrence Solum (Loyola Marymount)
  • Linda Zagzebski (Oklahoma)

For more details on this conference, click here. The proceedings from the conference were published in a special double issue of Metaphilosophy that was edited by the conference organisers (Dr Michael Brady and Professor Duncan Pritchard). The proceedings were subsequently published as a book with Blackwell entitled 'Moral and Epistemic Virtues' which featured additional articles by, amongst others, Guy Axtell (Nevada), Julia Driver (Dartmouth), Juli Eflin (Ball State), John Greco (Fordham) and Duncan Pritchard (Stirling).

The Philosophy Department at Stirling plans to host further events related to epistemology over the coming years, so look out for postings.

New Master's Programme in Knowledge and Mind

Starting in September 2004, the Philosophy Department will be offering a new one-year Master's (MLitt) programme entitled 'Knowledge and Mind'. For further details about this course click here. Any initial inquiries can made to the course director, Professor Duncan Pritchard.
 

Contacts

For any other queries, please contact the conference organiser, Dr Michael Brady.