Philosophers debate the mysteries of life

U of M hosts Conference of the WCPA

Carson Jerema, Staff

Philosophy scholars debated sex, God and the existence of mathematical objects at the 42nd annual conference of the Western Canadian Philosophical Association.

The University of Manitoba department of philosophy hosted this year’s conference, taking place between October 7th and 9th at the Fort Garry Hotel. The conference attracted professional philosophers from several Canadian and some American universities..

With five panels simultaneously offered for every time slot, attendees and delegates were given a broad range of philosophical topics to discuss.

The most well attended event was the keynote address, given by Princeton University professor of philosophy Gideon Rosen. Rosen primarily discussed the philosophy of mathematics and, in particular, the question of the existence of mathematical objects.

Rosen also defended ideas put forth in his book A Subject with no Object, co-authored with John Burgess, also of Princeton.

His defence was directed primarily at Harvard University professor Hilary Putnam, who has argued that Rosen and Burgess were Platonists. Platonists believe that numbers exist in the abstract outside of time and space.

Rosen argued that his book merely supports the concept that numbers exist in the context of mathematical equations and not on their own in the abstract.

While Rosen’s lecture was highly technical, many who attended were able to understand and follow the argument because of his skills as a lecturer.

“He’s an amazingly lively speaker and . . . he gave a very technical presentation, and as a non-technical philosopher, I was able to follow very well almost all the way through and that’s a remarkable feat,” said Scott Anderson of the University of British Columbia.

Sarah Jones, a student in attendance, said she was surprised at the depth of analysis regarding some of the more abstract topics at the conference.

“What was interesting for me was that I didn’t know people actually thought about these things,” she said.

Among the papers presented was one entitled “Sex Under Pressure: Jerks, Boorish Behaviour, and Gender Hierarchy” by Scott Anderson. Anderson analysed the social context in which men use pressure tactics such as manipulation and “whining” to persuade women to acquiesce to sex.

Jack Macintosh of the University of Calgary presented his paper on “Natural Philosophy and Religious Arguments,” in which he analysed philisophical proof of God’s existence.

There were also panels related to the topic of education and learning. One panel discussed the possibility of offering philosophy in high schools, while another addressed “The Elementary Teacher as a Moral Authority.”

The conference was organized by U of M associate professors Tim Schroeder and Ben Caplan. Schroeder said that because the WCPA conference was general ,it gave academic philosophers the opportunity to meet others who they otherwise would not have met.

“You can meet people that aren’t in the same field as you. People you know socially, people that you want to catch up with.”

Schroeder and Caplan enlisted the help of several philosophy students who were put in charge of chairing individual panels. Philosophy Club president Richard Ksjazek and vice-president Akosua Matthews were in charge of organizing student volunteers.

Schroeder said that the involvement of the students gives them the opportunity to engage with professors outside of the classroom.

“They get to see that philosophers aren’t super geniuses and gods, that philosophers come and give talks that [students] can see flaws in,” he said.

Schroeder said that he and Caplan were pleased with the end result of the conference.

“We thought a lot about what kind of conference we wanted, what kind of atmosphere we wanted, what kinds of people we wanted on the program, what kinds of sessions. We got really lucky.”

The WCPA has no super-ordinate body. The conference rotates every year between seven western Canadian universities. The only organization is that when it is a university’s turn to host they are obliged to do so.

Last year the University of Victoria hosted the conference; next year Simon Fraser University will do so.