A series of debates on Medieval and Contemporary Philosophy

Disputation is the most widely known of the reasoning methods used by medieval philosophers, having also become a method of teaching, and even a literary form, used in a wide span of works in Philosophy, Theology, as well as in the Medical and Natural Sciences. Its contribution to the growth of knowledge has been remarkable.

In the same spirit, we intend to organize debates around key topics of the philosophical tradition and bring into dialogue specialists in medieval and in contemporary philosophy.

In each one-day seminar two different topics (under one general heading, e.g., logic and metaphysics) will be discussed, the first in the morning, and the second in the afternoon. The invited speakers will engage in discussion of a particular philosophical issue, from the vantage point of their own discipline. The discussions will be open to the audience.

These sessions are not only meant to revive the methodological tradition of disputations, by confronting different perspectives and ways of reasoning. They are also intended to promote cross-fertilization, either by allowing to look at medieval issues through contemporary lenses, or by tracing the genealogy of current philosophical debates back to their medieval origins, and by bringing medieval concepts and arguments to bear on the contemporary philosophical conversation.

The project includes two cycles of seminars, the first to be held in Porto, in 2019, which is described below. The second cycle will take place 2020, with a program to be announced.

In the end, an innovative volume will be published, gathering together the contributions from all the debates.

PROGRAM (1st series)

Session 1
25th October 2019
Carving Out the World: Logic and Metaphysics

1. The Notion of Logical Consequence
Chair: Tommaso Piazza
— Mikko Yrjönsuuri (Jyväskylä)
— Ricardo Santos (Lisboa)

https://ifilosofia.up.pt/activities/mcpd-consequence

Session 2
16th November 2019
On Coming to Know: Epistemology

2. Sources of Evidence: God, the Intellect and Extra-Mental Things
Chair: Sofia Miguens
​— José Meirinhos (Porto)
— Timothy Williamson (Oxford)

3. The Epistemology of Testimony: Authority and Disagreement
​Chair: Vítor Guerreiro
​— Philip Choi (Boulder, Colorado)
— Domingos Faria (Lisboa)

https://ifilosofia.up.pt/activities/mcpd-espistemology

Next sessions:

Issues on Value: Ethics and Aesthetics

Metaphysics: on what it is

Nature

Mind

Action

Organizers: José Meirinhos (Porto) — Tommaso Piazza (Pavia) — Vítor Guerreiro (Porto)

Venue: Faculdade de Letras da Universidade do Porto

Promoted by the project Petrus Hispanus (Porto) / Instituto de Filosofia da Universidade do Porto - FIL/00502

Funded by Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT-Portugal)