2018 OZSW Research Master Winter School

The Dutch Research School of Philosophy (OZSW) and the University of Amsterdam (UvA) are pleased to invite Research Master (ReMa) students to participate in the 2018 ReMa Winter School, to take place from 8-9 January 2018.

Students attending the Winter School can also extend their visit to Amsterdam and stay for the Graduate Conference in Theoretical Philosophy that will follow immediately after (9-11 January).

Organizing university

University of Amsterdam

Date(s)

8-9 January, 2018

Location

University of Amsterdam (room TBA)

Type of activity

2-day Winter School

Type of activity

Students can earn 2EC by completing a set of related readings and actively participating in the event.

Primary target group

ReMa student members of the OZSW

Application/registration deadline

15 December

About the topic

The OZSW Winter School aims at contributing to the professional development of the students from the five research master programs (Groningen, Utrecht, Nijmegen, Amsterdam and Rotterdam) and to give them an opportunity to meet one another.

This year’s Winter School focuses on methodological and practical skills in philosophy, including how to write a successful methodology section in a grant proposal, how to present your work to (non-)philosophers, and how to contribute to philosophy in the public sphere. Special attention will be paid to the growing inspiration of philosophy by empirical fields such as cognitive sciences and computational linguistics.

Aim / objective

Every student attends 2 workshops. Please indicate your ordered preferences for the three workshops on the registration form.

Workshops:
Pluralism in philosophy | Project writing | Public Philosophy

Pluralism in philosophy: Theoretical philosophy investigates fundamental concepts across a diverse range of areas — from culture in cultural theory and intentionality in phenomenology, to existence in ontology, proof and truth in the philosophy of language and mathematics, causation in the philosophy of science. A recent trend, orthogonal to the analytic and continental traditions, has it that such fundamental concepts may be declined in the plural: there is actually no single notion of existence, but different primitive ways of existing. Similarly, there is no single concept of truth, but different truth-bearers may be true in different ways. The core feature of contentful mental representations may also be plural: there are irreducibly plural ways of carrying intentionality. And so on. In this series of workshops we will examine the state of the art of this plurality of pluralisms: what are the best arguments for them? What challenges and objections do they face? How do they relate to each other, on top of their different origins and subject matters?

Effective project writing: Many research master students and PhD students alike dream of an academic career. Yet, in the era of budget cuts, impact, and publish or perish culture, pursuing an academic career depends on attracting funds. However, attracting research grants is a highly competitive endeavour – one that makes effective project writing one of the most valuable skills a junior researcher can have on the academic market today. Unfortunately, very few programmes include a dedicated module on the topic. This workshop fills this lacuna by offering a hands-on training on research project writing. Standard elements of every project applications are: abstract, state of the art, objectives, methodology, innovative elements, and self-assessment. Among these, particular attention will be given during the workshop to strategies to write the methodology section of a research proposal. The workshop will be given by researchers with a decennia-long experience with writing proposals and securing research funds. Participants are required to hand in a draft research proposal in advance.

Public philosophy: During the workshop Public Philosophy we will dive into the rhetorical differences between scientific and public writing. We will look at a number of different core strategies to set up an essay for a greater public. We will discuss how philosophers can contribute to public debates and how we can present philosophical concepts to a wider audience and still retain the ‘philosophical integrity’ of the concepts used. Participants are required to hand in a short outline, summary or central thesis in advance of the workshop. Together we will work towards setting up and writing a compelling introduction to your essays and we will ‘translate’ your philosophical claims into contributions to public discussion. You will leave the workshop equipped with a number of strategies to outline an essay, a compelling introduction and a philosophical analysis that is tantalizing and intriguing for an audience of ‘interested laymen’.

Program

Monday, January 8th

09:45 – 10:30 Welcome/coffee/opening
10:30 – 11:30 Keynote lecture Michela’s Massimi
11:30 – 12:30 Quick introduction round of students
12:30 – 14:00 Lunch
14:00 – 14:15 General intro to workshops
14:15 – 15:15 First parallel workshop session
15:15 – 15:45 Coffee break
15:45 – 16:45 Second parallel workshop session
16:45 – 17:30 General discussion/recap
17:30 – 18:30 free
18:30 – 20:00 Borrel, drinks, plus food LAB111
20:00 – 22:00 Movie Night at LAB111

Tuesday, January 9th

09:45 – 10:30 welcome/coffee/opening
10:00 – 11:00 Keynote lecture Marc Slors
11:00 – 13:00 Career perspectives
13:00 – 14:00 Lunch (shared with Theoretical Philosophy  Conference)

Students attending the Winter School can also extend their visit to Amsterdam and stay for the Graduate Conference in Theoretical Philosophy that will follow immediately after (9-11 January). The conference will focus on ‘Philosophy in the ALT-world’, discussing topics concerning alternative facts, post-truth and lies. These issues will be addressed from the perspective of theoretical philosophy, but also include approaches more commonly found in the critique of ideology or in political thinkers such as Arendt or Fromm.

Lecturers

  • Michela Massimi (Edinburgh)
  • Marc Slors (Radboud University Nijmegen)

Required preparations

Every student attends 2 workshops. Please indicate your ordered preferences for the three workshops. We will try to accommodate your requests. The participants are expected to read the assigned literature, and to actively participate and do assignments during the workshops.

Certificate / credit points

2 ECTS

Costs

Registration: €10 for the event, if you wish to book hostel accommodation via us for the night of 8 January, it is €10 + €20.

How to apply / register

Registration form for this event  (deadline for registration: 15 December 2017)

 

Organizers

This course is coordinated by Aukje van Rooden of the University of Amsterdam.

Contact info

For further information related to the contents of this course, please contact the coordinator at the following e-mail address: OZSW-2018-fgw@uva.nl with subject heading “OZSW-rMA-2018.”