Thinking the Individual: Proper Names, Indexicals, Conceptual Descriptions in Contemporary Philosophy
International Conference. Organized by the Research Unit MéThéor (University of Liège), the Research Unit 'Phenomenologies' (University of Liège), and the National Center for Logical Research (CNRL - NCNL)
University of Liège, 10-11 February 2010
Presentation
How do we refer to objects in their individuality? What does it mean, to identify an individual in the world? Does reference always entail conceptual identification? Or is a pre-logical objectification possible? From Bolzano to Kripke, the problem of individual identification has been — from a logico-linguistic as well as psychological or phenomenological point of view — subject to numerous controversies, still well alive today, around the notions of definite description, of proper name, of indexical, of deictic, of rigid designator, etc. The conference aims to investigate some of these controversies by exploring various approaches of the individuality problem in contemporary philosophy: Bolzano's distinction between intuition and concept, Mill's notion of connotation, Frege's, Russell's, Quine's, and Kripke's logics of proper name, the Husserlian conception of indexicality and noema, the theory of individual concepts in the pre-Fregean German logic and in Carnap's intensional logic, etc.
Invited speakers
- Jocelyn Benoist (Université de Paris 1 Sorbonne)
- Jean-Philippe Narboux (Université de Bordeaux 3)
- Francesco Orilia (Università di Macerata)
- François Recanati (CNRS, Institut Nicod)
Contact
Denis Seron (d.seron(a)ulg.ac.be) +32 (0)4 366 55 92
Conference Committee
R. Brisart (FUSL, Université de Luxembourg), A. Dewalque (ULg), B. Leclercq (ULg), D. Seron (FNRS-ULg).
Scientific Committee
J. Benoist (Université de Paris 1), R. Brisart (FUSL, Université de Luxembourg), A. Dewalque (ULg), P. Gochet (ULg), B. Leclercq (ULg), D. Seron (FNRS-ULg).
The conference is free of charge and open to the public without registration.
