FIRST CALL FOR PAPERS
DEGREES OF BELIEF
Konstanz, 22-24 July 2004
The Department of Philosophy and the Philosophy, Probability and
Modeling Group at the Centre for Junior Research Fellows of the
University of Konstanz invite papers for an international conference on
Degrees of Belief.
We invite contributions from philosophers of language, epistemologists,
philosophers of science, logicians, as well as computer scientists,
political scientists, economists, AI researchers, or anyone interested
in the field. Our aim is to bring together academics as well as maybe
theoretically interested practitioners from disciplines in which
degrees of belief play an important role. We hope to be able to
increase dialogue between the disciplines, as well as to provide a
platform for recent research in any of these areas.
Topics that will be addressed include, but are not restricted to:
1) What are the objects of belief?
2) Does belief come in degrees, or is it a yes-or-no affair? I.e. is
belief quantitative or categorical?
3)If belief comes in degrees, what laws do/should degrees of belief
obey?
3a. Degrees of Belief as subjective probabilities
3b. Degrees of Belief as Dempster-Shafer belief functions
3c. Degrees of Belief as degrees of possibility (and necessity)
4) If belief is categorical, what laws do/should categorical or plain
belief obey? (AGM belief revision theory)
5) Degrees of belief, plain belief, and Ranking Theory
6) Degrees of belief in the sciences (decision theory, AI, political
theory, engineering) and in practice (risk assessment etc.)
7) Current issues and puzzles (Sleeping Beauty, Doomsday Argument, etc.)
Confirmed speakers include:
Henry E. Kyburg
Isaac Levi
Henri Prade
Hans Rott
Teddy Seidenfeld
Brian Skyrms
Philippe Smets
Wolfgang Spohn
Please submit a 1500-word short outline version of the paper you wish to
present.
DEADLINE: 10. March 2004.
Please send your papers by email to [EMAIL PROTECTED], preferably in
PDF format (especially if you use TeX or LaTeX), but any other
customary format is fine. Alternatively, you may also submit in
hardcopy: send four copies to
Franz Huber / Christoph Schmidt-Petri
Philosophy, Probability and Modeling
Centre for Junior Research Fellows
PO Box M682
University of Konstanz
78457 Konstanz
GERMANY
All submissions will be refereed, hence papers should be anonymised.
Accepted authors will be notified by 30 April 2004. Students are
encouraged to submit papers.
All invited papers, as well as a small number of the contributed ones
will be published in an anthology with a major academic publisher.
Please note if you wish to be considered for inclusion.
The conference fee will be 65 EUR. The fee includes participation,
conference materials, tea and coffee, but not the conference dinner. The
conference dinner is likely to cost around 35 EUR. Waivers to
participants from Eastern Europe, and reductions to students or other
persons in need are available.
More information will be made available on the conference website:
www.uni-konstanz.de/ppm/events/dob
ACCOMMODATION
We cannot organize travel or hotel bookings, though we are pleased to
assist you if you encounter any problems. Please note that Konstanz is
a holiday location, especially in the summer, and hence hotels tend to
be booked up early. The following hotels are all centrally located:
Steigenberger Inselhotel (sgl 106-169, dbl 179-251)
http://www.konstanz.steigenberger.com/servlet/PB/menu/1003416_l2/index.h
tml
Hotel Barbarossa (sgl 38-62, dbl 85-115)
http://www.barbarossa-hotel.com
Hotel Mercure Halm (price varies)
http://www.mercure.com/mercure/fichehotel/de/mer/2827/fiche_hotel.shtml
Hotel Graf Zeppelin (sgl from 40, dbl from 60)
http://www.zeppelin.mdo.de/
G�stehaus Centro (sgl 58, dbl 80)
http://www.gaestehauscentro.de/english_page
Youth Hostel (from 16,40)
http://www.jugendherberge.de/html/jugendherbergen/individual_jh.jsp?
IDJH=15
Camping (from 5, not so central but on the lake)
http://stadt.konstanz.de/tourismus/klausenhorn/index.htm
More info on Konstanz:
http://www.stadt.konstanz.de
TRAVEL
Flights. The nearest international airport is Zurich in Switzerland,
about 1,5 hours? train ride away. Easyjet flies to Zurich from London.
An airport on the other side of the lake, but still rather close to
Konstanz is Friedrichshafen. Ryanair flies to Friedrichshafen from
London Stansted.
Other relevant airports include Stuttgart (about 3 hours), and
Basel-Mulhouse-Freiburg (about 3 hours). Munich is 5 hours away.
Trains. For connections to Konstanz from Germany or Switzerland see
www.bahn.de. Please note that Konstanz also has a Swiss station labelled
Konstanz (CH). It is the same station as the German one.
CONTACT
For any queries, please contact
Franz Huber ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) or
Christoph Schmidt-Petri
([EMAIL PROTECTED])
or any of the organizers.
ORGANIZERS
Luc Bovens
Franz Huber
Christoph Schmidt-Petri
Wolfgang Spohn
This conference is subject to funding.
Websites:
www.uni-konstanz.de/ppm/events/dob.html
http://www.uni-konstanz.de/FuF/Philo/Philosophie/
--
Degrees of Belief
22-24 July 2004
University of Konstanz
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
