Monday, March 2, 2015, 5:00 – 7:00 PM
Professor Karen Lewis (Columbia) will present “Reverse Sobel Sequences in Static Semantics” in Room 302, NYU Philosophy Department, 5 Washington Place, New York City. (Abstract below.)
ABSTRACT: Sobel Sequences are consistent sequences of counterfactuals like the following:
(1a) If Sophie had gone to the parade, she would have seen Pedro dance.
(1b) But of course, if Sophie had gone to the parade and been stuck behind someone tall, she wouldn’t have seen Pedro dance.
But reverse the sequence, and it does not sound so good at all. This observation – that order makes a difference to the consistency of the sequence – motivated Kai von Fintel and Thony Gillies to abandon the classic Lewis-Stalnaker semantics and adopt a dynamic semantic account of counterfactual conditionals. Subsequently, Sarah Moss defended the classic Lewis-Stalnaker semantics against the charge that it need be abandoned because of Reverse Sobel Sequences, arguing for a pragmatic account of the infelicity of the sequences. I argue that ultimately both the dynamic semantic account and Moss’s account are untenable, but that seeing what is good about each account points the way to the right positive story. Finally, I defend a positive view that attributes the effect of counterfactuals on the context to pragmatics, but treats the effect of the context on counterfactuals as semantic.
If you wanted to prepare for the topic in advance, the paper by Sarah Moss on Sobel sequences is available online here.
Monday, March 23, 2015, 5:00 – 7:00 PM
Professor Laura Franklin-Hall (NYU) will present “Between Explanatory Objectivity and Explanatory Anthropocentrism” in Room 5307 at the Graduate Center, CUNY, 365 5th Avenue, New York City.
Monday, April 20, 2015
The winner of the SWIP-Analytic 2015 Graduate Student Essay Prize will present at SWIP-Analytic Spring 2015. View CFP here.
May 28-30, 2015
SWIP-Analytic organizers Chloé Cooper Jones, Marilynn Johnson, Lisa Miracchi, Kate Pendoley, and Katie Tullmann will be presenting a panel entitled “Challenging the Canon” at the Hypatia conference, Exploring Collaborative Contestations, at Villanova University, May 28-30, 2015. The event will be held in conjunction with the APA Committee on the Status of Women Diversity Conference. View the event CFP here.
Fall 2015
Professor Susanna Siegel (Harvard) will present at SWIP-Analytic Fall 2015.
Monday, October 5, 2015
Professor Michelle Moody-Adams (Columbia) will present at SWIP-Analytic Monday, October 5, 2015.
Everyone (men & women, philosophers & non-philosophers) is welcome at our public events. Please contact us at swipanalytic@gmail.com to discuss possible accessibility accommodations if needed.
SWIP-Analytic is a branch of the New York Society for Women in Philosophy dedicated to providing a forum for women in the New York area working on language, mind, metaphysics, logic, ethics, epistemology, and philosophy of science. It strives to continue NYSWIP’s commitment to being resource for all women in philosophy in the New York area.
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