Conference on The Concept of Predication

[William J. Rapaport]

School of Humanities, University of California at Irvine
and
University of California Humanities Research Institute

present a conference on

PROBLEMS AND CHANGES IN THE CONCEPT OF PREDICATION

August 21 - August 26, 1989

338 Administration Building
University of California at Irvine

The purpose of this conference is to bring together scholars with a
broad range of expertise on the subject of predication, extending from
ancient and medieval philosophy to the philosophy of science and com-
puter science, in order both to investigate the nature of the tradi-
tional conception of predication and to assess various challenges to
this conception.

Historically, the topic originates with the ancient Greek philosophers,
most importantly (though by no means exclusively) with Aristotle. Pred-
ication, whether conceived as a property of statements or as a relation
between certain parts of a statement, is unarguably one of the most fun-
damental philosophical concepts. Since Aristotle's time, various
aspects of his account of science, and the theory of predication that
goes with it, have been subjected to vigorous debate, and many of his
theses have, in the course of time, met with widespread rejection.
Nonetheless, the Aristotelian conception and its various descendents are
still the subject of intense debate. The sources of this contemporary
interest are many and diverse, ranging from developments in metaphysics
and literary theory to developments in recent physics. The discussion
should illuminate ways in which the important philosophical concept of
predication influences, and is influenced by, the manifold disciplines
on which it impinges.

PARTICIPANTS

Frank Arntzenius, Harvard University and University of Southern California
James Bogen, Pitzer College
Jeffrey Bub, University of Maryland
Alan Code, University of California at Berkeley
Maxwell Cresswell, Victoria University,
J. Michael Dunn, Indiana University
Kit Fine, UCLA
Malcolm Forster, University of Wisconsin
Karel Lambert, University of California at Irvine
Frank Lewis, University of Southern California
Carl Posy, Duke University
William J. Rapaport, SUNY Buffalo
Erhard Scheibe, University of Heidelberg
Bas van Fraassen, Princeton University

The conference is free and open to the public, but advance registration
is encouraged. To recieve information, please contact:

Ann Holland
UCI Conference Services
105 Administration
Irvine, CA 92717
714-856-6963