Philosophy Program RSSS, ANU

The Philosophy Program, RSSS is hosting two related interdisciplinary workshops in July. The first of these is on the Evolution of Signalling; the second on Emotions and Commitment. Both workshops span two days, comprising talks from a broad range of local and international researchers.

The venue and a preliminary program for each Workshop is below. Each speaker’s session is 75 minutes long, with approximately 45 minutes for the presentation and 30 minutes discussion.

The workshops are being organised by Richard Joyce, Brett Calcott, and Kim Sterelny. No registration is necessary, but if you are interested in attending either of these workshops, please let us know which days / workshops you wish to attend by sending the details here: anuworkshops2008@gmail.com.

Evolution of Signalling Workshop, 24th-25th July

Venue: Innovations Building, Eggleston Rd, Australian National University.

Day 1, Thursday, 25th July

• 10:00 - 11:15: Brian Skyrms (Faculty of Logic and Philosophy of Science, UC Irvine)
  Evolution of Signaling Systems with Multiple Senders and Receivers

• 11:30 - 12:45: Hanna Kokko (Department of Biological and Environmental Science, University of Helsinki)
  Can animals obey conventions?

• 14:15 - 15:30: Joseph Bulbulia (Religious Studies, Victoria University of Wellington)
  Emotional Signaling in a Firewalk

• 15:45 - 17:00: Ben Kerr (Department of Biology, University of Washington)
  Part I: Why some memories do not last a lifetime: Optimal recall in changing environments.
  Part II: David slays Goliath “discretely”: Competitive reversals through oscillations and chaos

Day 2, Friday, 26th July

• 10:00 - 11:15: Carl Bergstrom (Department of Biology, University of Washington)
  The Transmission Sense of Information

• 11:30 - 12:45: Juliane Kaminski (Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology)
  Reading signals or intentions: dogs’ understanding of human communication

• 14:15 - 15:30: Nick Shea (Faculty of Philosophy, University of Oxford)
  Signalling Between Generations

• 15:45 - 17:00:
  Summary & Open Discussion (led by Peter Godfrey Smith)

Emotions and Commitment Workshop, 28th-29th July

Venue: Sparke Helmore Theatre 1, Australian National University.

Day 1, Monday, 28th July

• 10:00 - 11:15: Jesse Prinz (Department of Philosophy; UNC, Chapel Hill)
  Emotions and morality: Processing models and metaethical implications

• 11:30 - 12:45: Paul Zak (Director of the Center for Neuroeconomics Studies; Claremont Graduate University)
  The neurobiology of trust, generosity and sacrifice

• 14:15 - 15:30: Dan Kelly (Department of Philosophy; Purdue University)
  Disgust and the commitment model

• 15:45 - 17:00: June Tangney (Department of Psychology, George Mason University)
  A cognitive-affective model of moral motivation and behavior: Specifying mechanisms of change for intervention with offenders

Day 2, Tuesday, 29th July

• 10:00 - 11:15: Paul Griffiths (Department of Philosophy; University of Sydney)
  Emotions in the wild

• 11:30 - 12:45: William Brown (Director of the Centre for Culture and Evolutionary Psychology, Brunel University West London)
  Reliable signals of commitment: Empirical studies

• 14:15 - 15:30: Dan Fessler (Department of Anthropology, UCLA)
  Some noncommittal musings on the relationship between emotions and objective commitment, subjective commitment, and dedication