The International Berkeley Society

Recent Berkeley Conferences and Events

7th-8th March 2008, Edinburgh Philosophy Society: “Berkeley’s Ideas and Idealism”

Held at the University of Edinburgh. For information, contact Georgi Gardiner (thephilosophysociety@gmail.com).

Alasdair Richmond (University of Edinburgh), “Into Space with Bishop Berkeley”

David Berman (Trinity College Dublin), “From Scepticism to Immaterialism and Descriptive Psychology, Then Back to Siris”

Catherine Wilson (City University of New York), “Berkeley and the Corpuscularian Philosophy”

Tom Stoneham (York University), “Imagination and Representation in Berkeley and Collier”

Peter Baumann (University of Aberdeen), “Molyneux and Berkeley”

29th December 2007, American Philosophical Association, Eastern Division, Baltimore, IBS Session

Samuel Rickless (University of California, San Diego), “Berkeley and Abstract Ideas”

Commentator: Martha Brandt Bolton (Rutgers University)

Sukjae Lee (Ohio State University), “Berkeley on the Activity of Spirits”

Commentator: Jeff McDonough (Harvard University)

27th-29th September 2007, Gaeta, Italy, sponsored by the University of Cassino

Organized by Silvia Parigi (silpari@libero.it), Antonio Clericuzio, and Eva Valeriani. Held at the Hotel Mirasole in the seaside resort of Gaeta (between Rome and Naples), the conference included opportunities for participants not only to exchange ideas at the sessions and nightly dinners but also to walk the beach and swim in the Gulf of Gaeta. On the final day of the conference, participants were also treated to a showing of the film on Berkeley, "The Dean of Thin Air." The program included:

Bertil Belfrage (Univ. of Lund): “An Introduction to Berkeley’s Philosophy of Common Sense”
Daniele Bertini (Univ. of Parma): “Berkeley, Theology, and Bible Scholarship”
Costica Bradatan (Texas Tech Univ.): “Berkeley and the Cathars”
Richard Brook (Bloomsburg Univ. of Pennsylvania): “Berkeley, the Space of Our Lives, and the Space of Physics”
Geneviève Brykman (Univ. of Paris, Nanterre): “Berkeley, Spinoza, and Radical Enlightenment”
George Caffentzis (Univ. of Southern Maine): “Algebraic Money: New Reflections on Berkeley’s Second Conceptual Revolution”
Sébastien Charles (Univ. of Sherbrooke): “L’animal selon Berkeley”
Stephen Daniel (Texas A&M University): “How Berkeley’s Works Are Interpreted”
Antonino Drago (Univ. of Pisa/Univ. of Florence): “The Genius of Infinitesimal Analysis: Berkeley’s Critical Analysis and Its Generalization by Lazare Carnot”
Marc Hight (Hampden-Sydney College): “Berkeley’s Metaphysical Instrumentalism”
Roomet Jakapi (Univ. of Tartu): “Berkeley and the Separate State of the Soul”
Silvia Parigi (Univ. of Cassino): “Scire per causas vs. scire per signa: Berkeley and Scientific Explanation in Siris”
Luc Peterschmitt (Univ. of Lille 3): “Berkeley and Chemistry in the Siris: the Rebuilding of a Non-Existent Theory”
Claire Schwartz (Univ. of Neuchâtel): “Berkeley et la référence mathématique"

6th-9th August 2007, University of Helsinki, Finland

Whitehall, Rhode Island (click for enlargement)

Organized by Timo Airaksinen (timo.airaksinen@helsinki.fi), Bertil Belfrage (bertil.belfrage@telia.com), and Ville Paukkonen (ville.paukkonen@helsinki.fi), the conference was held at the historic main building of the University facing Senate Square. The night before the conference began, participants were treated to a bus tour of Helsinki. Other highlights of the conference week were a reception with the University rector, a wine and cheese party at the Irish consulate in Helsinki, and a banquet at a restaurant on the island fortress of Suomenlinna. The program included:

Timo Airaksinen (Univ. of Helsinki): “Berkeley on Newton in Siris”
Bertil Belfrage (Univ. of Lund): “ 'Ideas' in Section One of Berkeley’s Principles”
Talia Bettcher (California State Univ. at Los Angeles): “Abstraction: Berkeley against Locke”
Martha Bolton (Rutgers Univ.): “Berkeley on Perception, Judgment, Suggestion and Inference”
Wolfgang Breidert (Univ. of Karlsruhe): “Representation in Berkeley’s Philosophy of Mathematics”
Richard Brook (Bloomsburg Univ. of Pennsylvania): “Does Berkeley Need a Subconscious?”
Geneviève Brykman (Univ. of Paris, Nanterre): “Is Immaterialism a Roundabout Way to Faith?”
George Caffentzis (Univ. of Southern Maine): “Berkeley and Hume on Money, Notions, and Conventions”
Stephen Daniel (Texas A&M Univ.): “The Pervasiveness of Stoic Elements in Berkeley’s Thought”
Georges Dicker: “Another Whack at Berkeley: a Critical Analysis of Principles 1-7”
Mykolas Drunga: “Berkeley and the Time-Gap Argument”
Dan Flage: “Analysis in Berkeley’s New Theory of Vision”
Jani Hakkarainen: “Hume and Berkeley’s Repugnancy Argument against the Primary Secondary Qualities Distinction”
Marc Hight: “Of Brutes and Men: What the Nature of Beasts Can Tell Us about Berkeley’s Conception of the Mind”
Roomet Jakapi: “Berkeley and the Disembodied Soul”
George Pappas: “Berkeley’s Treatment of Scepticism ”
Ville Paukkonen: “Berkeley on Self-Knowledge”
Luc Peterschmitt: “The New Theory of Vision: Science or Metaphysics?”
Howard Robinson: “Two Berkelian Arguments about the Nature of Space”
Tom Stoneham: “Arthur Collier on Imagination and Inexistence”
Kenneth Winkler: “ 'Marvellous Emptiness': Berkeley on Consciousness and Self-Consciousness”

28th December 2006, American Philosophical Association, Eastern Division, Washington, D.C.

IBS Session: "Mind and Language in Berkeley"

Genevieve Migely (Cornell College, Iowa) “Berkeley’s Actively Passive Mind”

Commentator: Timo Airaksinen (University of Helsinki)

Seth Bordner (University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill), “Word and Object in Berkeley”

Commentator: Marc Hight (Hampden-Sydney College, Virginia)

5th-8th September 2005, University of Tartu, Estonia

Organized by Bertil Belfrage and Roomet Jakapi, the conference was held at the University of Tartu in Estonia. In addition to sessions devoted to discussing Berkeley's thought, the conference included a walking tour of Tartu, receptions, a banquet, and a trip to the historic city of Tallinn. The program included:

Bertil Belfrage, Bodafors, Sweden, “The Biased Presentation of Berkeley’s Works”
Tom Jones, Saint Andrews, “Towards a New Biography of Berkeley”
Geneviève Brykman, Paris X-Nanterre, “Evil and God’s Providence in Berkeley”
Roomet Jakapi, Tartu, “Passive Obedience and the Law of Nature”
Timo Airaksinen, Helsinki, “Berkeley’s Corpuscular Theories in Siris”
Talia Bettcher, California State/Los Angeles, “Berkeley on the Privacy of Sensible Ideas”
Marc Hight, Hampden-Sydney, “Berkeley on Ideas, ‘Fleeting, indeed, and changeable’ ”
Jørgen Huggler, Copenhagen, “‘I refute it thus!’: An Account of Zinkernagel’s and Favrholdt’s Reception of Berkeley”
Margaret Atherton, Wisconsin/Milwaukee, “Berkeley and Locke on Real Knowledge”
Wolfgang Breidert, Karlsruhe, “Prejudice and Suggestion”
Robert Schwartz, Wisconsin/Milwaukee, “What Berkeley Sees in the Man Born Blind”
Michael Allers, Michigan, “A Worry About Divine Perception in Berkeley”
Stephen Daniel, Texas A&M, “The Berkeley-Leibniz Relation”
Charles McCracken, Michigan State (emeritus), “Leibniz and Berkeley on ‘Body’”
Laurent Jaffro, Blaise Pascal, “Ferrier’s Reading of Berkeley: A Reappraisal of Reidian Historiography”
Tom Stoneham, York, “Berkeley’s ‘Esse is Percipi’ and Collier’s ‘Simple’ Argument”
Georges Dicker, SUNY Brockport, “Anti-Berkeley”
Miles MacLeod, Utrecht, “The Formalist Interpretation of Berkeley’s Philosophy of Mathematics”
Richard Brook, Bloomsburg (emeritus), “Berkeley and Husserl on Geometrical Demonstrations”
Luc Peterschmitt, Lille III, “Berkeley and Natural Philosophy: The ‘Problem’ of Chemistry”

7th-9th November 2003, Irish Philosophical Society/Kilkenny Berkeley Society, Kilkenny, Ireland

“Celebrating Berkeley, Kilkenny’s World Philosopher” consisted of a series of talks and excursions in and around Kilkenny city and county. Events included slide shows on excavations at Dysart Castle (Berkeley’s boyhood home) and Berkeley's stay in the Rhode Island, two presentations on Berkeley’s philosophy, readings from his works at Saint John’s Church, a banquet, and trips to Dysart Castle and Dunmore Cave.

20th-23rd October 2003, University of Rennes, France

Organized by Dominique Berlioz and Bertil Belfrage and sponsored by the University of Rennes and the University of Nantes, the conference was held on the campus of the University of Rennes I to commemorate the 250th anniversary of Berkeley's death. In addition to a reception in the historic City Hall of Rennes, fine meals in local eateries, and a memorable banquet at one of the city’s finest seafood restaurants, the conference also included a day-trip to Mont St. Michel. The program included:

Timo Airaksinen, “The Enigma of Siris”
Margaret Atherton, “‘The books are in the study as before’: Berkeley's Claims about Real Physical Objects”
Jean-Christophe Bardout, “Berkeley metaphysician”
Bertil Belfrage, “What Is There In Berkeley’s World ?”
Laura Berchielli, “The Molyneux Problem”
Dominique Berlioz, “Les idées sont-elles des tropes?”
Jean-Marie Beyssade, “Interdit et exception dans l’Obéissance passive”
Wolfgang Breidert, “I see nothing but light and colours”
Richard J. Brook, “Berkeley on What We Immediately See”
Geneviève Brykman, “Existence et nature de la liberté chez Berkeley”
Sébastien Charles, “Berkeley polémiste : de l’Essai au Discours”
Stephen Daniel, “The Limits of Berkeley’s Natural Philosophy”
Roselyne Degremont, “Libre-pensée et pensée libre”
Georges Dicker, “Berkeley on Immediate Perception: Once More unto the Breach”
Richard Glauser, “Le problème de l’identité intersubjective des objets”
Raymond W. Houghton and Maureen Lapan, “Berkeley in Rhode Island”
Marc Hight, “Ideas, Archetypes and the Nature of the World”
Laurent Jaffro, “Berkeley on Education: ‘Wise Men of Antiquity’ and ‘Modern Ears’ in Alciphron”
Roomet Jakapi, “Berkeley and the Future State of the Soul”
Robert Muehlmann, “Berkeley’s Strategy of Sophistical Demonstration”
George Pappas, “Berkeley and Locke”
David Raynor, “Kant and Berkeley’s Idealism”
Ralph Schumacher, “Berkeley on Misperception”
Robert Schwartz, “Heterogeneity and the Senses”
Kenneth Williford, “Berkeley’s Theory of Meaning in Alciphron VII”

Rennes conference participants: back row, left to right: Ray Houghton, Georges Dicker, Steve Daniel, George Pappas, David Raynor, Luc Peterschmitt, Bertil Belfrage, Wolfgang Briedert, Richard Glauser, Roomet Jakapi. Middle row, left to right: Alvina Dicker, Laura Berchielli, Roselyne Le François (adjunct mayor of Rennes in charge of international affairs), Margaret Atherton, Dominique Berlioz, Genevieve Brykman, Marc Hight, Maureen Lapan, Susan Brook, Richard Brook, Marlene Briedert. Front row: Ken Williford, Sébastien Charles, Mark Kulstad, Ralph Schumacher, Robert Muehlmann, Robert Schwartz

3rd-5th April 2003, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas a&m academic bldg

Organized by Stephen Daniel, the conference was held on the campus of Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas, to commemorate the 250th anniversary of Berkeley's death. Visitors had a chance to sample authentic Texas barbeque, and the conference banquet was held at the University Club overlooking the campus. The program included:

Timo Airaksinen (Univ. of Helsinki), “The Meaning and Interpretation of Berkeley’s Siris”
Margaret Atherton (Univ. of Wisconsin, Milwaukee), “Berkeley on the Objects of Immediate Perception”
Michael Ayers (Wadham College, Oxford Univ.), “Berkeley, Ideas and Idealism”
Jeffrey Barnouw (Univ. of Texas), “Berkeley’s Place in the History of Sign-Theories of Visual Perception”
Bertil Belfrage (Bodafors, Sweden), “Berkeley’s Four Conceptions of the Self”
Talia Bettcher (California State Univ., Los Angeles), “Berkeley on Self-Consciousness”
Martha Bolton (Rutgers Univ.), “Berkeley and Representation”
Costica Bradatan (Univ. of Durham), “Platonism and Berkeley’s Early Philosophical Writings”
Wolfgang Breidert (Univ. of Karlsruhe), “Berkeley Poeticized”
Geneviève Brykman (Univ. of Paris X-Nanterre), “The Debate on Human Liberty in Berkeley=s Alciphron”
Sébastien Charles (Univ. of Sherbrooke), “Berkeley and the Lumières: Misconception and Reconstruction”
Phillip Cummins (Univ. of Iowa), “Perceiving and Berkeley’s Theory of Substance”
Stephen Daniel (Texas A&M Univ.), “Berkeley’s Stoic Notion of Mind”
Daniel Flage (James Madison Univ.), “Berkeley’s Epistemic Ontology: The Three Dialogues”
Richard Glauser (Univ. of Neuchâtel), “The Problem of the Unity of a Physical Object in Berkeley
Marc Hight (Hampden-Sydney College), “Berkeley and The Single Idea Thesis: Why My Chair is Not a Congeries”
Laurent Jaffro (Univ. of Paris, Sorbonne), “Berkeley’s Criticism of Shaftesbury on Morality”
Roomet Jakapi (Univ. of Tartu, Estonia), “Christian Mysteries and Berkeley’s Alleged Non-Cognitivism”
Douglas Jesseph (North Carolina State Univ.), “Faith and Fluxions: Berkeley on Theology and Mathematics”
Charles McCracken (Michigan State Univ.), “Berkeley’s Realism”
Robert Muehlmann (Univ. of Western Ontario), “Strong and Weak Heterogeneity in Berkeley’s New Theory of Vision”
George Pappas (Ohio State Univ.), “Berkeley’s Assessment of Locke’s Epistemology”
G.A.J. Rogers (Univ. of Keele), “How Lockean Are Berkeley’s Ideas?”
Ralph Schumacher (Humboldt Univ. of Berlin), “Berkeley on Visible Figure and Extension”
Ian Tipton (Univ. of Wales, Swansea), “Berkeley on the Meaning of ‘Exists’ ”

Texas A&M conference participants: fFront row left to right: George Pappas, Daniel Flage, Costica Bradatan, Stephen Daniel (seated), Ralph Schumacher, Roomet Jakapi, Laurent Jaffro, Sébastien Charles. Back row left to right: Martha Bolton, Ian Tipton, Richard Glauser, Timo Airaksinen, Phillip Cummins, Robert Muehlmann, Douglas Jesseph, Margaret Atherton, Michael Ayers, Bertil Belfrage, Charles McCracken, Jeffrey Barnouw, Marc Hight, Talia Mae Bettcher, Geneviève Brykman, Wolfgang Breidert, John Rogers.