The American Philosophical Association is pleased to announce that Patricia Kitcher (Columbia University), Daniel Dennett (Tufts University), and David Chalmers (New York University) have been selected to give lectures at the 2020 APA divisional meetings.
Professor Kitcher will give the de Gruyter Kant Lecture at the 2020 Eastern Division meeting in Philadelphia, PA. The de Gruyter Kant Lecture Series is open to a broad approach to Kantian philosophy across the philosophical disciplines. This may also include contemporary philosophical work in the Kantian tradition. The lecture, which includes a $1,500 monetary award plus travel costs not to exceed $1,500, is offered annually at an APA divisional meeting on a rotating basis.
Samuel Rickless (UC San Diego), chair of the de Gruyter Kant Lecture selection committee, said, “Patricia Kitcher is the Roberta and William Campbell Professor of the Humanities and holder of the Carnoy Family Program Chair for Contemporary Civilization in the department of philosophy at Columbia University. Her main areas of research focus on Kant’s cognitive psychology and Kant’s ethics, paying close attention to what Kant can contribute to current debates in psychology and cognitive science. She has authored numerous articles in prestigious journals and has published two very influential books on Kant’s philosophy of mind, Kant’s Transcendental Psychology (Oxford University Press, 1990), and Kant’s Thinker (Oxford University Press, 2011), in addition to a philosophical investigation of psychoanalysis in Freud’s Dream: A Complete Interdisciplinary Science of Mind (MIT Press, 1992). Her latest book has been described as ‘a significant achievement and a lasting contribution to the field.’”
Professor Dennett will give the Patrick Romanell Lecture at the 2020 Central Division meeting in Chicago, IL. The Patrick Romanell Lecture is presented annually at a divisional meeting of the APA on the topic of philosophical naturalism. The lecture comes with a monetary award of $1,200 plus travel costs.
Shannon Spaulding (Oklahoma State University), who chaired the Romanell Lecture selection committee, said, “Daniel Dennett’s naturalistic methodology and distinctive style have deeply influenced the philosophical study of consciousness, intentionality, evolutionary biology, and many other topics in philosophy and cognitive science. His writing is both philosophically robust and empirically based, clear and creative, nuanced and accessible. Daniel Dennett’s work beautifully exemplifies the philosophical naturalism that the Romanell Lectureship is meant to honor.”
Professor Chalmers will give the Sanders Lecture at the 2020 Pacific Division meeting in San Francisco, CA. The Sanders Lecture was established in 2013 to honor a distinguished scholar in philosophy of mind, metaphysics, or epistemology who engages the analytic tradition. It is generously funded by the Marc Sanders Foundation. The lecture, which includes a $3,500 monetary award plus travel costs not to exceed $1,500, is offered every year at an APA divisional meeting on a rotating basis.
Aaron Zimmerman (UC Santa Barbara), chair of the Sanders Lecture selection committee, had this to say: “David Chalmers has done more than anyone to advance arguments designed to show that the qualitative aspects of consciousness cannot be fruitfully analyzed in functional terms. He has skillfully applied two-dimensional semantic frameworks to argue against reductive analyses of phenomenal properties while developing influential analyses of mental computation and plausible criteria for distinguishing merely verbal disputes from matters of philosophical substance. His service to the community and leadership in philosophy of mind are truly without equal.”
