[sci.lang] Conference on Predication

rapaport@cs.Buffalo.EDU (William J. Rapaport) (06/09/89)

        School of Humanities, University of California at Irvine
                                  and
         University of California Humanities Research Institute

                        present a conference on

           PROBLEMS AND CHANGES IN THE CONCEPT OF PREDICATION

                      August 21 - August 26, 1989

                      338 Administration Building
                   University of California at Irvine

The purpose of this conference is to  bring  together  scholars  with  a
broad  range  of expertise on the subject of predication, extending from
ancient and medieval philosophy to the philosophy of  science  and  com-
puter  science,  in  order  both to investigate the nature of the tradi-
tional conception of predication and to  assess  various  challenges  to
this conception.

Historically, the topic originates with the ancient Greek  philosophers,
most importantly (though by no means exclusively) with Aristotle.  Pred-
ication, whether conceived as a property of statements or as a  relation
between certain parts of a statement, is unarguably one of the most fun-
damental  philosophical  concepts.   Since  Aristotle's  time,   various
aspects  of  his  account of science, and the theory of predication that
goes with it, have been subjected to vigorous debate, and  many  of  his
theses  have,  in  the  course  of  time, met with widespread rejection.
Nonetheless, the Aristotelian conception and its various descendents are
still  the  subject of intense debate.  The sources of this contemporary
interest are many and diverse, ranging from developments in  metaphysics
and  literary  theory to developments in recent physics.  The discussion
should illuminate ways in which the important philosophical  concept  of
predication  influences,  and is influenced by, the manifold disciplines
on which it impinges.

                              PARTICIPANTS


Frank Arntzenius,    Harvard University and University of Southern California
James Bogen,         Pitzer College
Jeffrey Bub,         University of Maryland
Alan Code,           University of California at Berkeley
Maxwell Cresswell,   Victoria University,
J. Michael Dunn,     Indiana University
Kit Fine,            UCLA
Malcolm Forster,     University of Wisconsin
Karel Lambert,       University of California at Irvine
Frank Lewis,         University of Southern California
Carl Posy,           Duke University
William J. Rapaport, SUNY Buffalo
Erhard Scheibe,      University of Heidelberg
Bas van Fraassen,    Princeton University

The conference is free and open to the public, but advance  registration
is encouraged.  To recieve information, please contact:

    Ann Holland
    UCI Conference Services
    105 Administration
    Irvine, CA 92717
    714-856-6963