uAnalytiCon-2024: Reference and Objecthood


Call for Papers


Ural Federal University named after the first President of Russia B.N. Yeltsin
Ural Institute of Humanities
Department of Philosophy
Chair of Ontology and Theory of Knowledge


Statement

In this difficult and anxious time, uAnalytiCon Organizing Committee declares its commitment to humanist ideals, compassion, and solidarity. We do not welcome the military solutions of any conflict and want to express our empathy and condolences to all the victims and their families, no matter which side they are on now.

We consider it harmful to divide the research community along any lines, including national and political ones. Science and philosophy belong to humanity as a whole, not to particular social or ethnic groups.


Dear colleagues,

we are pleased to announce
Annual International Conference
«uAnalytiCon-2024: Reference and Objecthood»,
which takes place on May 24-25, 2024


Our up-coming uAnalytiCon-2024 will focus on reference and objecthood. The connection between these concepts can be found throughout the history of analytic philosophy and can be traced back to Gottlob Frege. During the conference, we will pay special attention to Kit Fine's naive metaphysics and the theory of variable objects as well as to Leon Horsten's account of arbitrary objects. In order to analyze reasoning, explain how language works and develop a structuralist philosophy of mathematics, they both propose the metaphysics of arbitrary objects. According to Frege, the use of variables presupposes the indeterminacy of reference, but the objects being the value of variables appear quite definite and concrete. Fine and Horsten challenge this view and transfer the indeterminacy from the reference to the objects themselves. The nature of arbitrary objects is the source of so-called afthairetic modality, which can be understood as the possibility of an object to take one or another value. On Horsten’s view, this kind of modality is a sui generis modality. Thus, an arbitrary object is an abstract entity, which can be in the state of being a concrete object but cannot be a particular one.

At uAnalytiCon-2024, we will reflect on the difference between naive metaphysics and fundamental metaphysics as well as their methodological principles, the concepts of reference and objecthood, the definition and status of arbitrary objects, and possible applications of the relevant approaches.

Key speaker: Leon Horsten, University of Konstanz

We welcome submissions from a wide range of disciplines, including but not limited to:

  • metaphysics;
  • epistemology;
  • philosophy of language;
  • philosophy of mathematics;
  • philosophy of mind;
  • logic.

Abstracts must be 500 words or less and prepared for blind review. To submit abstracts please fill out our submission form. The deadline for abstract submissions is March 31, 2024. Notifications of acceptance will be sent by April 15, 2024.

Official conference languages: Russian, English.

Please note that online participation is possible only for the talks in English.

To register as an attendee, fill out the attendee registration form.

The participation is free of charge. Unfortunately, the Organizing Committee has no available funds for covering transport and accommodation. Participants are responsible for covering travel expenses.

Organizing Committee:

  • Ilya Gushchin
  • Alexey Kislov, PhD
  • Olga Kozyreva, PhD
  • Lev Lamberov, PhD
  • Victoria Sukhareva, PhD

Head of the Organizing Committee:

Dmitry Ankin, PhD