Plans for CEP 2009

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If my mental processes are determined wholly by the motions of atoms in my brain, I have no reason to suppose that my beliefs are true… and hence I have no reason for supposing my brain to be composed of atoms.
J.B.S. Haldane.
[quoted in C.S. Lewis’ Possible Worlds, Chatto & Windus: London, 1927, p. 209]

Annual Conference, 2009

Consciousness and Belief

The framework of meaning that supports our lives, whether religious, scientific or pragmatic is, in the end, a matter of belief. These beliefs become habitual parts of our everyday lives, and we rarely give them serious critical scrutiny. What the world appears to be is what we implicitly believe it to be and, for the most part, we are content with that.

Some beliefs, that the familiar person in front of us is indeed who we think they are, for example, are common sense and taken for granted. But even a belief as fundamental as this can disappear, as the extraordinary Capgras syndrome demonstrates. Just how many of the beliefs that we hold implicitly can fade and change in this way? Is this a pathological or a productive process? While Capgras's syndrome is pathological, not being willing or able to question beliefs might also be a sign of rigidity or over-compliance. If seeing were believing, we would still think the sun moved around the earth and science as we know it would never have arisen. But to think that science as it's presently practiced could fully account for the human condition is itself a belief. If that were to fade, what might take its place? Which of our conventional beliefs might benefit from critical scrutiny, and what consequences might follow?

Questions like these, and the theme itself, can be changed and developed in the light of your comments. We would also welcome reactions to the list of potential speakers below:

Raymond Tallis, an eloquent defender of human autonomy from scientific reduction.

Terence Deacon, on cultural evolution of belief.

Douglas Hofstadter, on his recent book 'I am a Strange Loop'.

Richard Dawkins debating with a theist such as Anthony Freeman or Fraser Watts.

Richard Wiseman (professor of psychology at University of Hertfordshire) paired with David Abram (author of 'Spell of the Sensuous'). Both are accomplished sleight-of-hand magicians, and have a lot to say about how people come to believe what is not so is actually so.

Jonathan Cole, a clinical neuroscientist who writes on, amongst other things, deafferentation and living without movement and position sense in spinal cord injury - see "Still Lives" (2004) MIT Press.

So, please let us have your suggestions for workshops, speakers or the structure of the conference itself. We have always wanted our meetings to break out of the classic conference format. We have sometimes succeeded, but it is always worth trying to improve how we share our ideas and experiences.

If you would like to, you can give your feedback via the short online member survey; alternatively you can email Susan Stuart (s.stuart@philosophy.arts.gla.ac.uk).

We look forward to seeing you in 2009.

Best wishes from the CEP Committee.