17-19 June 2026 - Geneva, Uni Philosophes (PHIL211)
There is a special range of difficulties that metaphysical thinking seems to run into when it tries to be strictly objective, detaching itself from any particular ‘point of view’ or ‘perspective’ on the reality it aims to describe. Reflection on these difficulties – surveyed perhaps most famously by Thomas Nagel, in The View From Nowhere – tends to engender philosophical reactions of different kinds. Some philosophers remain convinced that an objective conception of reality can, if suitably elaborated, accommodate all phenomena, including the seemingly recalcitrant ones. Others are instead tempted to depart from the objective conception, enriching their account of reality with ‘perspectival facts’ of various sorts. Yet others take the difficulties faced by the objective conception to motivate scepticism about the realist presuppositions implicit in metaphysical thinking. 40 years since the publication of Nagel’s book, this conference aims to bring together philosophers interested in understanding the limits of objectivity, their sources, and their implications for metaphysical inquiry.
Speakers:
Lisa Doerksen (CEU)
David Hunter (Toronto)
Max Kölbel (Vienna)
Martin Lipman (Leiden)
Michela Massimi (Edinburgh)
Gurpreet Rattan (Toronto)
Elisabetta Sassarini (Geneva)
Stephan Torre (Aberdeen)
Crispin Wright (Stirling)
Chairs: Sophia Arbeiter, Giovanni Gonella, Paulina Kraft, Donnchadh O'Conaill
Organization: Malte Koot, Will Sharp, Giovanni Merlo
Wednesday June 17th
16.30-16.45: Welcome
16.45-18: Michela Massimi, ‘Ways of world knowing’
19.30: Dinner (Location TBC)
Thursday June 18th
9.45-11: Martin Lipman, ‘On Making Sense of a Perspectival Reality’
11-11.30: Coffee break
11.30-12.45: Lisa Doerksen, ‘Objectivity and Subjective Facts’
13: Lunch @ Uni Dufour
14.30-15.45: Max Kölbel, ‘Content and Objectivity’
15.45-16.15 Coffee break
16.15-17.30: David Hunter, ‘Credal Objectivity and Credal Illusions’
Friday June 19th
9.45-11: Stephan Torre, ‘Anticipation, Personal Identity, and the First-Person’
11-11.30: Coffee break
11.30-12.45: Gurpreet Rattan, ‘An Objective Deduction of the Subjective Self’
13: Lunch @ Uni Dufour
14.30-15.45: Crispin Wright, ‘Taking the measure of the Forced March Sorites’
15.45-16.15: Coffee break
16.15-17.30: Elisabetta Sassarini, TBA
20: Conference dinner (Location TBC)
This conference is funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation through the Starting Grant project “Metaphysics We Can Believe In” (TMSGI1_218195).