Submitted Talks Accepted for Presentation at the Metaphysics of Quantity Conference

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Countdown: 1 Month 0 Days until the Metaphysics of Quantity Conference at NYU!

We are pleased to announce that we have selected four papers, submitted earlier this year, for presentation at the Metaphysics of Quantity Conference at NYU (Sponsored by the New York Institute of Philosophy), this May 1st through the 3rd. There were many submissions of extremely high quality, and it was very difficult to narrow it down to four. The papers submitted covered a range of topics, engaging with many different aspects of the metaphysics of quantity, quantitative properties, physical magnitudes.

The four papers accepted for presentation are:

  • “Intrinsic Properties of Properties” by Sam Cowling (Denison)
  • “Reductionism about Physical Magnitudes” by Marco Dees (Rutgers)
  • “Against Comparativism about Mass in Newtonian Gravity” by Niels Martens (Oxford)
  • “The Metaphysics of Dimensional Analysis” by Brad Skow (MIT)

The organizers would like to thank all those who responded to the call for papers.

Call For Papers! Deadline Feb 1st 2015

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We are please to announce that we are now accepting submissions for a conference on the Metaphysics of Quantity at NYU, May 1-3. This conference is made possible thanks to generous support by the New York Institute of Philosophy.

Please see our CFP page here. Reprinted below:

Metaphysics of Quantity @ NYU

Submission Deadline: February 1st, 2015

Description:  This conference aims to showcase new work on the nature of quantitative properties and relations. By quantities we mean to include physical magnitudes—like mass, electric charge, or velocity—as well as other gradable features—like spicyness, population density, temperature, value.
Quantities are often thought to exhibit a determinable/determinate structure.  For instance, mass is an example of a determinable quantity while 5kg mass is an example of a determinate quantity. The metaphysics of quantity concerns the nature of these features.  Questions in the metaphysics of quantity include: how are quantities related to numbers? Are some physical quantities intrinsic to objects?  What role do quantitative features play in laws of nature? In virtue of what do a quantity’s determinates exhibit metric structure, etc?

We invite philosophers to contribute papers on any topic concerning the metaphysics of quantity.  The conference will consist of a combination of talks from accepted papers, as well as presentations by the invited speakers, below:

Speakers:

Cian Dorr (New York University)

Maya Eddon (UMass Amherst)

Jessica Wilson (University of Toronto)

David Baker (University of Michigan)


Keynote Address:  Brent Mundy (Syracuse)
Topics of contributed papers may include but are not limited to:

  • The relationship between quantities and numbers
  • The metric structure of quantities
  • The relationship between physical quantities and measurement theory
  • Quantities and their role in the laws
  • Quantities and their role in scientific and/or mathematical explanations.
  • The relationship between quantities and debates concerning the metaphysics of space and time
  • Absolutism vs comparativism in the metaphysics of quantity
  • The intrinsicality/extrinsicality of quantitative properties.
  • Quantities and the nominalism vs realism debate
  • Quantities and dispositions
  • Quantities and causation
  • Quantities and modality
  • The relationship between quantities and naturalness, fundamentality, and/or grounding.
  • The metaphysics of non-fundamental quantities
  • The relationship between physical quantities and mereology (issues of additivity, etc.)
  • The significance of “zero value” determinate quantities (like 0kg of mass, 0m, or neutral charge)
  • Quantities and the metaphysics of logic
  • The nature of quantities commonly represented with vectors, like velocity, force, strength, etc.
  • The metaphysics of non-scalar quantities
  • The metaphysics of evaluative/normative quantities
  • The determinable/determinate structure of quantitative properties and relations.

Papers should be suitable for a 45 minute presentation.  The ideal length is around 5,000-6,000 words.  Please submit a fully anonymized copy of your paper to themetaphysicsofquantity@gmail.com in pdf, rtf or docx format.  Please also attach a separate document including your name, title of your paper, contact information, and institutional affiliation (if any).

The deadline for submissions is February 1st.

If you have questions about the conference, please contact Zee Perry at zee.perry@nyu.edu or Erica Shumener at ehs231@nyu.edu