On the Very Idea of an Internet Meme

Well, not really, but in the spirit of procrastinating, I'll play along with this so-called meme, which has been evolving across some blogs here, here, and here (where I was tagged):

1. Pick up the nearest book (of at least 123 pages)
2. Open the book to page 123
3. Find the fifth sentence on that page
4. Post the next three sentences
5. Tag five people

And here is what we get. Donald Davidson's Essays on Actions and Events, and at page 123 we find:

I dream of a theory that makes the transition from the ordinary idiom to canonical notation purely mechanical, and a canonical notation rich enough to capture, in its dull and explicit way, every difference and connection legitimately considered the business of a theory of meaning. The point of canonical notation so conceived is not to improve on something left vague and defective in natural language, but to help elicit in a perspicuous and general form the understanding of logical grammar we all have that constitutes (part of) our grasp of our native tongue.

In exploring the logical form of sentences about actions and events, I concentrated on certain features of such sentences and neglected others.

I guess my dreams are are a bit more exciting than Davidson's. This is from some of his comments about his essay, "The Logical Form of Action Sentences." Davidson's book was not the first one I grabbed. Strawon's Skepticism and Naturalism: Some Varieties was the obvious choice, but it only has 98 pages.

I hereby tag: Selbsttatigkeit, Carubou, Spontaneity&Receptivity, The Brooks Blog, and The Ends of Thought. Let's see what happens.

Von Kant Bis Hegel (Conference)

Concordia University is hosting the Von Kant Bis Hegel conference October 11-12, 2008. The theme of the conference is Nature, Naturalism and Naturphilosophie. The list of invited speakers is quite impressive.

NY German Idealism Workshop

We are excited to announce that the New York German Idealism Workshop Series is planning two events for the Spring.

Here is the info for the first meeting:

Dietmar Heidemann (Hofstra)
Paper: "Is Kant a Skeptic?"
Date: March 7, 4pm
Place: The New School at 65 5th Ave (corner of 14th St.)
Room: Machinist Conference Room (The room number is 106. The Machinist Conference room is on the Mezzanine level between floors 1 and 2).

The workshop series focuses on Kant and German Idealism, but is not at all limited to Fichte, Schelling and Hegel. At each workshop a paper will be presented (approx. 45 minutes), and after a 10-15 minute response paper, we will have a discussion period. Two weeks before the workshop the paper will be circulated by email. This will give us time to consider the work more thoroughly than if we were to only listen to a presentation, as is customary in department workshop series and conferences. Our hope is that such a format will bring about a deeper engagement with the each paper. To receive the paper, contact me by email.

Hegel and Feminism Panel

Angelica Nuzzo is organizing a panel on "Hegel and Feminism" for the New York Society for Women in Philosophy. Here are the details:

"Hegel and Feminism"
Friday, March 14th 4-630 at the Graduate Center CUNY (34th and 5th Ave) - Room (TBA)

"What if Hegel's Master and Slave were Women?", Michell Aboulafia (The Juilliard School)

"Hegel, Lacan, Property and the Feminine", Jeanne L. Schroeder (Cardozo Law School)

"Panel Chair and Discussant", Angelica Nuzzo (Graduate Center/Brooklyn College, CUNY)

Cosmos and History Double Issue on Hegel

Thanks to Tom from Grundlegung for pointing out that Cosmos and History has a double issue online dedicated to "Thinking the Spirit of the Age: Hegel and the Fate of Thinking." There are some interesting articles there, some by Angelica Nuzzo, H. S. Harris, Karin de Boer, Andrew Haas and many others. Also, Yovel's translation and commentary on Hegel's "Preface" to the Phenomenology of Spirit and Robert Sterns book on the Phenomenology are reviewed. Enjoy!

CFP

This conference might be of interest to people working on German Idealism and related issues:

"Intercorporeality and Intersubjectivity", University College Dublin, June 6 & 7. Abstracts due March 15.