Projets de recherche - Research Projects

Episteme - the Epistemology research group in Geneva

My research activities are now integrated in Episteme, the Epistemology research group of the Department of Philosophy. See Episteme's webpage.

I am a member of the steering committee of the European Epistemology Network. See the European Epistemology Network webpage.

Perceptual Warrant, Entitlement and A Priori Knowledge

2009 - 2012

Fonds national de la Recherche Scientifique

The FNS project Perceptual Warrant, Entitlement and A Priori Knowledge is funded by the the Swiss National Foundation and based at the Department of Philosophy, University of Geneva. This project adresses the problem of the justification of our perceptual beliefs and of the nature of perceptual evidence. Like most contemporary writers we shall call the generic notion of justification involved warrant. It is usually assumed that classical foundationalism fails for perceptual beliefs, and that a coherence conception justification is equally defective. It is also agreed that the usual divisions between “internalist” conceptions of justification (which requires that one has access to one’s justifications) and “externalist” ones (which do not require access) are inadequate. Recent theories of justification have distanced themselves from both foundationalism and coherentism. On the one hand, some theories have tended to concentrate directly upon the nature of knowledge, by insisting on a condition of “safety” (if one knows that P one could not easily have been wrong). On the other hand some theoeticians have accepted the idea that there can be prima facie, defeasible justification. Our plan is to discuss the application of these approaches to perceptual knowledge.

The project involves Pascal Engel, Ariel Cecchi, Anne Meylan, Katsuya Takahashi, and Julien Dutant.

For further information read the project's full description (.pdf).

Connaissance, raison et normes - Knowledge, reason and norms

1.4.2007 - 2009

Fonds national de la Recherche Scientifique

Research director: Pascal Engel

Project members: Julien Dutant (Assistant and PhD), Anne Meylan (FNS scientific collaborator and PhD student at the University of Neuchâtel), Ariel Cecchi (scientific collaborator).

Summary

The FNS project Knowledge, Reason and Norms aims at bringing together issues in the theory of knowledge and theories of theoretical reasoning and rationality on the one hand and issues in metaethics and in practical rationality on the other hand. It will focus in particular on a confrontation between theories of epistemic justification and theories of practical justification, and between theoretical and practical norms.

It will deal with five main themes :

  1. a critical examination of the contemporary theories of « virtue epistemology » and of intellectual values,
  2. an analysis and confrontation between theories of practical reasoning and theoretical reasoning,
  3. an analysis of doxastic voluntarism and related issues in the philosophy of mind and knowledge,
  4. an analysis of the « contextualist » approach to knowledge,
  5. an analysis of the ethics of truth and information in practical ethics.

The aim is to explore the systematic relationships between these themes in order to develop a theory of intellectual values and norms and of their significance for epistemology and ethics (in particular for media ethics).

Events and Seminars

Norms, Values and Rationality (.pdf), Sept 4th 2009. Workshop within the SoPhA conference; with Josée Brunet (Montréal), Daniel Laurier (Montréal), Alan Millar (Stirling), Christian Piller (York), Gianfranco Soldati (Fribourg), Giovanni Tuzet (Milano). Program (.pdf).

Epistemic Emotions, July 14th 2009. Workshop with Jonathan Kvanvig (Baylor), Michael Brady (Glasgow), Ingrid Vendrell Ferran (Swiss Center for Affective Sciences, Geneva), Anita Konzelmann (Basel), and Jerome Dokic (EHESS, Paris). Organised by Anne Meylan with the Thumos group.

New Perspectives on Doxastic Voluntarism, Geneva, June 23rd 2009

Speakers: Josep Corbi (Valencia), Richard Feldman (Rochester), Philipp Nickel (Eindhoven), Erik Olsson (Lund), Daniel Schulthess (Neuchâtel). See the conference page.

Workshop on John Broome, Geneva, May 22nd, 2009

Speakers: John Broome (Oxford), Olav Gjelsvik (Oslo), Sven Ove Hansson (KTH Stockholm) , Andrew Reisner (McGill).

See the conference page.

Young European Epistemlogists Workshop, Geneva, march 20-21st 2009

Invited speakers: Adam Carter (Edinburgh), Davide Fassio (Geneva), Mikkel Gerken (Copenhagen), Jan Heylen (Leuven), Chris Kelp (Leuven), Stefan Schubert (Lund). Further speakers TBA. See the conference page.

Workshop: Judgement, Assertion, and Norms, Geneva, dec 4-5, 2008

Speakers: Asbjørn Steglich-Petersen (Aarhus), Timothy Chan (CSMN, Oslo), Igor Douven (Leuven). See the conference page or download the programme.

Epistemic Agency Conference, Geneva, apr 26-27 2008

See the conference's webpage.

Block seminar by John Greco, Geneva, apr 20-27, 2008

Conferences by John Greco (Saint Louis), Geneva, apr 20-27, 2008. (details to be announced)

Norms and Content Conference, Geneva, dec 14, 2007.

Invited speakers: Kathrin Glüer-Pagin (Stockholm), Åsa Wikforss (Stockholm), Ralph Wedgewood (Oxford). (details to be announced)

Philosophical Knowledge Conference, Geneva, nov 20, 2007

Conferences by Jacques Bouveresse (Collège de France), Timothy Williamson (Oxford). Programme and further information here.

Workshop: Prospect for Epistemology in Europe, Geneva, sep 28-29, 2007

Programme here. Invited speakers: Martijn Blaauw (VU Amsterdam), Igor Douven (KU Leuven), Pascal Engel (Geneva), Klemens Kappel (Copenhaguen), Erik Olsson (Lund), Duncan Pritchard (Edinburgh).

Journée Ironique (An Ironical Day), Geneva, may 4th, 2007

Program here (pdf). Invited speakers: Gregory Currie (Nottingham), Sophie Duval (Bordeaux), Patrizia Lombardo (Genève), Kevin Mulligan (Geneva), Anne Reboul (Lyon).

Activities and Conferences

Pascal Engel

Publications

Conferences and reviews

Julien Dutant and Anne Meylan

Publications

Conferences