Third Graduate International Summer School in Cognitive Sciences and Semantics

University of Latvia, Riga
18-28 July 2011

David Lewis on Language and Mind

Invited organizer: Benj Hellie (University of Toronto, Canada) David Lewis's groundbreaking work has set the agenda in wide areas of philosophical literature on language and mind since the late 1960s. As a philosopher, he developed the idea that 'folk' psychological theory, duly ramsified, fixes the referent of a psychological concept on a physical property; that folk theory links intentional vocabulary to the rational explanation of behavior and that natural language meaning is based in intentional psychology via a convention of truth and trustfulness. On the technical side, we find early or initial treatments of the intentional theory of perception; a compositional intensional semantics for a significant fragment of natural language; foundations for Bayesian epistemology and causal decision theory; the supervaluational approach to vagueness; an intensional semantics for the subjunctive conditional; an intensional treatment of the definite description; the canonical picture of ordinary language quantification; and the semantic influence of context. Our seminar will introduce, draw connections among, extend, and dispute Lewis's views on these sorts of issues.

• Cian Dorr (University of Oxford, UK)
• Michael Glanzberg (UC Davis, US)
• Benj Hellie (University of Toronto, CAN)
• Peter Ludlow (Northwestern University, US)
• Casey O'Callaghan (Rice University, US)
• Gideon Rosen (Princeton University, US)
• Gillian Russell (Washington University in Saint Louis, US) 

Academics

• Center for Cognitive Sciences and Semantics, University of Latvia, Riga, Latvia and Department of Philosophy, Kansas State University, USA

Sponsors and Partners

The third graduate International Summer School in Cognitive Sciences and Semantics is co-funded by the office of the Provost, the Vice-President to Research, and the Faculty of Humanities of McMaster University, Canada, Kansas State University, USA, and the University of Latvia. Admission requirements 1) Being registered in a post-graduate program in philosophy or other connected discipline. Exceptionally, advanced undergraduate students will be entitled to enroll. OR 2) Holding a graduate or postgraduate degree in philosophy or other connected disciplines. OR 3) Working as a postdoctoral researcher or professionnal in this field. Selection procedure Students will be selected on the basis of 1) their prior acquaintance with the topic; 2) their overall academic merit. They will be required to provide a cv as well as a statement of purpose (see registration form). Tuition fees Registration fees include: Participation in all academic activities and credit transfer, accommodation, meals and course packet (to be sent in advance). Tuition fees are lower for students who register prior to 15 April 2009. The following amounts are given in Latvian Lats : Before 15 April

• Graduate students and postdoctoral researchers: 450 LVL
• Professionals: 700 LVL

After 15 April

• Graduate students and postdoctoral researchers: 550 LVL
• Professionals: 800 LVL

Partial scholarships are available in limited numbers on the basis of need and academic merit. BANK INFORMATION
Beneficiary: UNIVERSITY OF LATVIA
Address: Raina blvd.19, Riga, Latvia, LV-1586
VAT number: LV90000076669
Bank: THE TREASURY OF REPUBLIC OF LATVIA
Address: Smilsu str.1, Riga, Latvia, LV-1919
Account No. IBAN: LV33TREL9150101000000
BIC code:  TRELLV22
Please mark: Purpose of payment: Third Graduate International Summer School in Cognitive Sciences and Semantics