2006 Conference on Issues in Modern Philosophy: "Understanding Space and Time"

The New York University Department of Philosophy sponsors annual conferences on issues in modern philosophy. Each conference invites a number of distinguished philosophers to examine the development of a central philosophical problem from early modern philosophy to the present, seeking to understand the evolution of formulations of the problem and of approaches to resolving it. By examining the work of philosophers of the past both in historical context and in relation to contemporary philosophical thinking, the conferences aim to allow philosophy’s past and present to illuminate each other.

The 2006 Conference, "Understanding Space and Time," will be held November 10-11, 2006.   Registration for the conference is now closed.

Papers for the 2006 conference are linked to below.  Some of these files are password-protected; the username and password will be emailed to conference participants. Please check back for the other papers to be presented, as well as for updated versions of the papers that are here.

Tad Schmaltz: Descartes on the Extensions of Space and Time
Dan Garber: In What Sense are Leibnizian Bodies Extended?
Anja Jauernig: Comments on Garber
Nick Huggett: Can Spacetime Help Settle Any Issues in Modern Philosophy?
Michael Friedman: Newton and Kant on Absolute Space: From Theology to Transcendental Philosophy
Alan Gabbey: The empirical credentials of absolute space and some puzzles about simultaneity: Newton and Huygens
Andrew Janiak: Comments on Gabbey