The Study of the Human Self
The Second Biennial William and Mary Colloquium in Philosophy was held September 25 - 26, 2008.
At this interdisciplinary conference, panelists and participants addressed the following questions:
- What kind of agent are we?
- What are we actually like as deliberators, choosers, and actors?
- And what are the methods of inquiry most likely to help us discover the truth about our capacities as agents?
Complete Listing of Conference Schedule (pdf)
Panelists
Roy Baumeister
Department of Psychology, Florida State University. Roy’s most recent book is The Cultural Animal: Human Nature, Meaning, and Social Life (2005), published by Oxford University Press. He is co-editor of Are We Free? Psychology and Free Will (2008), also by OUP (http://www.psy.fsu.edu/faculty/baumeist.dp.html)
Patricia Churchland
Department of Philosophy, University of California San Diego. Patricia’s most recent book is Brain-Wise: Studies in Neurophilosophy (2002), published by MIT Press. (http://philosophy.ucsd.edu/faculty/pschurchland/)
Paul Sheldon Davies
Department of Philosophy, College of William and Mary. Paul’s most recent book is Subjects of the World: Darwin’s Rhetoric and the Study of Agency in Nature (2009), published by the University of Chicago Press.
Tamar Szabo Gendler
Department of Philosophy and Chair of Cognitive Science Program, Yale University. Tamar’s most recent articles include “Alief and Belief” (2008) in Journal of Philosophy and “Self-Deception as Pretense” (2008) in Philosophical Perspectives: Mind. She is co-editor of Conceivability and Possibility (2002), published by Oxford University Press. (http://pantheon.yale.edu/~tgendler/)
Todd Heatherton
Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Dartmouth College. Todd is co-editor (with Roy Baumeister) of Losing control: How and why people fail at self-regulation, (1994), San Diego: Academic Press. He is also co-editor of The Psychological Science: Mind, Brain, and Behavior, (2003), published by W.W. Norton. (http://www.dartmouth.edu/~heath/)
Robert Kane
Department of Philosophy, University of Texas at Austin. Robert is author of The Significance of Free Will (1996), published by Oxford University Press. Most recently he is editor of A Contemporary Introduction to Free Will (2005), Oxford University Press. (http://uts.cc.utexas.edu/~rkane/)
Alfred Mele
Department of Philosophy, Florida State University. Al’s most recent book is Free Will and Luck (2006), published by Oxford University Press. (http://www.fsu.edu/~philo/people/faculty/almele.html)
Jaak Panksepp
College of Veterinary Medicine, Washington State University. Jaak’s most recent edited book is the Textbook of Biological Psychiatry (Wiley, 2004). He is author of Affective Neuroscience: The Foundations of Human and Animal Emotion (1998), Oxford University Press. (http://www.vetmed.wsu.edu/depts-vcapp/people/Panksepp-endowed.asp)
Esther Sternberg
National Institute of Health, Neuroendocrine Immunology and Behavior Section. Esther is author of The Balance Within: The Science Connecting Health and Emotions (2000), W.H. Freeman and Co.: paperback (2001), Holt (translated into Dutch, Chinese, Japanese). (http://www.esthersternberg.com)
Daniel Wegner
Department of Psychology, Harvard University. Dan’s most recent book is The Illusion of Conscious Will (2002), published by MIT Press. (http://www.wjh.harvard.edu/~wegner/)
This conference is made possible by
Funds from the Rachel & E.W. Thompson Philosophy Endowment; Forades Philosophy Department Speaker’s Series Endowment; and W&M Arts & Sciences, Office of the Dean.
Riverside Regional Medical Center's Department of Medical Education is the CME sponsor for this conference.
Riverside Regional Medical Center is accredited by the Medical Society of Virginia to provide continuing Medical Education for Physicians. The target audience for CME credit is neurologists, psychiatrists, and other interested healthcare providers. Riverside Regional Medical Center designates this educational activity for a maximum of 11.25 AMA PRA Category 1 Credits. Physicians should only claim credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.
