Call for papers

Newton and Empiricism
Center for Philosophy of Science, University of Pittsburgh
10-11 April 2010

Invited Speaker: Lisa Downing (Ohio State)
Program Committee: Zvi Biener (Western Michigan University), J. E. McGuire (University of Pittsburgh), and Eric Schliesser (University of Leiden)

Call for papers

Isaac Newton and John Locke are sometimes portrayed as dual fathers of the British Enlightenment, with Newton providing the exemplar of human knowledge and Locke providing the philosophical infrastructure required for understanding the merit and reach of that exemplar. Yet their union was neither simple nor unchallenged. Newton’s empiricism developed while defending and revising his Principia against philosophical critique, and Locke’s hospitability to Newtonian gravity and realization of Newton’s achievement developed through successive drafts of the Essay and other texts. Moreover, similar complexity exists in the work of Newton’s and Locke’s intellectual heirs. This conference will focus on the compatibility and incompatibility, tensions, and developing relations between Newton, Locke, and their successors in Newtonianism and Empiricism.

The conference will take place on 10-11 April 2010 at the Center for Philosophy of Science, University of Pittsburgh. Possible conference participants should note that Catherine Wilson (University of Aberdeen) will deliver an Annual Lecture Series talk for the Center for Philosophy of Science on the afternoon of 9 April 2010. Conference participants are encouraged to attend.

Partial travel stipends will be available for young scholars, who are highly encouraged to submit abstracts.

The deadline for submitting abstracts (of approximately 750 words) is 1 December 2009. Email submissions are highly encouraged and can be sent to Zvi Biener at zvi.biener@wmich.edu. If you do not receive confirmation of receipt of your abstract within a week, please resubmit or contact the organizers.

For updates, visit the Center Web site