Articulating the World: Intentionality Language Nature

Workshop / Book Symposium with Joseph Rouse

Free University Berlin, March 911 2016

As the rapid advances of medical and biotechnological research in the late 20th century have
dramatically changed the conditions of human life, the question how homo sapiens is placed in the
world demands renewed philosophical attention. Tackling this question requires a critical-reflexive
philosophy that is eminently informed by current scientific practice, and which similarly
understands the practice of science as both disclosing and transforming the world.
In his recently published monograph Articulating the World. Conceptual Understanding and the
Scientific Image (2015, University of Chicago Press), Joseph Rouse develops such a reflexive and
normative philosophy. The workshop aims to discuss Rouses central theses on the unique character
of human intentionality, the natural history of language and philosophical debates on how the world
is disclosed by experimental research. It therefore gathers experts in analytic and phenomenological
philosophy of mind, social-pragmatic philosophy of language and philosophy of science to discuss
the following questions:
Intentionality: Is the capacity to understand objects as objects a uniquely human capacity, or do
non-human animals share similar traits? And furthermore, has the conceptual character of
human intentionality evolved gradually from perceptual and behavioral capacities in animals, or
is it distinctive of the hominoid niche?
Language: Can we understand the use of concepts as committing and entitling speakers to draw
inferences or execute actions as an evolved phenomenon of discursive niche construction, or
does it belong exclusively to the social domain? Can the objectivity of concepts be understood
by their normatively adequate use in the relevant practical domain?
Nature: What can philosophers of science gain by shifting their focus from established
knowledge to the prospective analysis of ongoing scientific practice? Can a pragmatic
understanding of science as research account for the objective status of laws, models and
theories? And does the notion of conceptual articulation through experimental systems provide
a valid alternative to representationalist accounts of science?
Supported by: DFG Collaborative Research Center 1171 Affective Societies
Conference organizers: Jan Slaby (FU Berlin), Philipp Haueis (Berlin School of Mind & Brain), Jrg
Volbers (FU Berlin)
Speakers: Uljana Feest (Hannover), Philipp Haueis (Berlin), David Lauer (Berlin), Rebekka Kukla
(Washington DC), Mark Okrent (Boston), Jaroslav Peregrin (Prag), Matthew Ratcliffe (Vienna), HansJrg Rheinberger (Berlin), Jan Slaby (Berlin), Markus Wild (Basel), Andrea Woody (Seattle)
Space is limited please register well in advance at: philipp.haueis@gmail.com

Articulating the World Workshop Schedule

(All talks take place in the FU Berlin, Seminarzentrum, Otto-von-Simson-Str. 26, room L 115)
Wednesday March 9, 2016
14.00

Introduction (Jan Slaby & Philipp Haueis)

14.30

Mark Okrent (Boston) Rouse in Context

15.45 Coffee Break

16.15 Markus Wild (Basel) Biosemantics and Intentionality
17.30 Philipp Haueis (Berlin) Human and animal intentionality in the Anthropocene: a critical
evaluation of discursive niche construction
18.45

Break
19:15 Hans-Jrg Rheinberger (Berlin) Articulating the World from a History of Science
perspective

20.30 Dinner at the Ristorante Galileo (on campus)

Thursday, March 10, 2016
09.30

Mathew Ratcliffe (Wien) Modality and Naturalism

10:45 Coffee Break

11.15
12.30

Rebecca Kukla (Washington, DC) Ontology and Niche Construction

Lunch break
14.00 Jaroslav Peregrin (Prag) Normativity in the Evolved World

15.15

20.00

Coffee Break
15.45

David Lauer (Berlin) Conceptual Normativity and the second Person

17.00

Jan Slaby (Berlin) Political Philosophy of Science and the Scope of Naturalism

Conference Dinner (Location tba)

Friday, March 11, 2016

09.30
10.45

Coffee Break
11.15

12.30

Uljana Feest (Hannover) Conceptual articulation and the experimental creation of

phenomena: the role of scientific method(ology)
Andrea Woody (Seattle) Configuring normative spaces: Research agendas, conceptual
articulation, and technologies for representation

Lunch Break
13.30 Joseph Rouse (Middletown) Comprehensive Response and Outlook
14.45

ca. 15.30

Final discussion

End of the workshop

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