International Workshop in Honor of Professor Chad Hansen
Global Themes in Ethical Naturalism
Philosophy Department at the National University of Singapore
27-28 June 2011
The 21st Century in Western philosophy has seen a resurgence of metaethics with a range of
classical approaches refined and flourishing. One successful resurrection has been Western
ethical naturalism bolstered by naturalistic approaches in epistemology, semantics, cognitive
psychology and philosophy of mind. At the same time, studies of Chinese philosophy,
traditionally dominated by naturalistic approaches, have uncovered more and more areas of
overlap and places where the two different traditions and conceptual schemes can
productively interact and, in principle, inform each other in ways that promote philosophical
progress.
PROGRAMME
Day 1: Monday, 27 June 2011
8.30 a.m. - 9.00 a.m.
Breakfast
9.00 a.m. - 10.30 a.m.
Keynote: Chad Hansen
“Natural Normative Status of Social Daos”
10.30 a.m. - 12.00 p.m.
Chris Fraser:
“Chinese Naturalism and the Limits of Ethics”
Commentator: Hagop Sarkissian
12.00 p.m. - 1.00 p.m.
Lunch
1.00 p.m. - 2.30 p.m.
Michael Rubin:
“How Realist is Realist-Expressivism?”
Commentator: Kyle Swan
2.30 p.m. - 4.00 p.m.
Derek Baker:
“Explanation and Instrumentalism”
Commentator: Chris Brown
4.00 p.m. - 4.15 p.m.
Afternoon tea
4.15 p.m. - 5.45 p.m.
Hans-Georg Moeller:
“On the Risks of Morality: Towards a New-Daoist Negative
Ethics.”
Commentator: Li Chenyang
Day 2: Tuesday, 28 June 2011
8.30 a.m. - 9.00 a.m.
Breakfast
9.00 a.m. - 10.30 a.m.
Neil Sinhababu:
“Emotional Perception of Morality”
Commentator: Michael Rubin
10.30 p.m. - 12.00 p.m.
Dan Robins:
“Xunzi and the Constancies of Nature”
Commentator: Chris Fraser
12.00 p.m. - 1.00 p.m.
Lunch
1.00 p.m. - 2.30 p.m.
Hagop Sarkissian:
“How the descriptive shapes the normative in Classical
Confucian Ethics”
Commentator: Neil Sinhababu
2.30 p.m. - 4.00 p.m.
Jesse Prinz:
“Measuring Morality”
Commentator: Loy Hui Chieh
4.00 p.m. - 4.15 p.m.
Afternoon Tea
4.15 p.m. – 5.00 p.m.
Lisa Raphals in absentia:
“Daoism and Science” (For discussion)
5.00 p.m. - 5.30 p.m.
Discussion of publication plans