Young Berkeley Portrait International Berkeley Conference
Redwood Library and Athenæum
Newport, Rhode Island
June 26-28, 2008
Conference Pictures
Berkeley Portrait National Gallery

On June 26-28, 2008, the Redwood Library and Athenæum in Newport, Rhode Island (http://www.redwoodlibrary.org/) will be the site of a major conference devoted to the study of the Irish philosopher George Berkeley (1685-1753). The event, which is sponsored by the International Berkeley Society, will include three days of presentations on Berkeley’s life and thought as well as visits to his home (Whitehall) and other sites associated with his 1729-31 stay in Rhode Island.

Currently the schedule includes the following:
  • Thursday, June 26

Welcome
9:00

Cheryl V. Helms (Director, Redwood Library)
Session One
9:05
9:50
10:35
Stephen H. Daniel (IBS President, chair)
Bertil Belfrage, Bodafors, Sweden:
“The Distorted Berkeley: Consequences of a Biased Edition”

Seth Bordner, University of North Carolina: “Berkeley’s ‘Defense’ of ‘Commonsense’”

Break
Session Two
10:45
11:30
12:15
Larry Nolan, California State University, Long Beach (chair)
Wolfgang Breidert, University of Karlsruhe: “Knowledge of Existence and Non-Existence”

Tom Lennon, University of Western Ontario: “Heterogeneity”

Lunch
Session Three
2:00
2:45
3:30
Galen Johnson, University of Rhode Island (chair)
Samuel Rickless, University of California, San Diego: “Berkeley’s Master Argument”
Ville Paukkonnen, University of Helsinki: Hylas’ Parity Argument
Break
Session Four
3:45
4:30
Katherine Dunlop, Brown University (chair)
Melissa Frankel, Harvard University: “Something-We-Know-Not-What, Something-We-Know-Not-Why: Berkeley, Meaning, and Explanation”
James Van Cleve, University of Southern California: “Berkeley vs. Reid on Three Puzzles of Vision”
5:15
Tour of the Redwood Library and Athenaeum
6:00
Sean Berkeley, descendant of George Berkeley: “Smibert’s Painting of the Young Berkeley” (open to public)
6:15-7:30
Cynthia Grund, University of Southern Denmark: “Berkeley on Perception, Visionand Second Life” (open to public)

  • Friday, June 27

Session Five
9:00
9:45
10:30
Keota Fields, University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth (chair)
Stephen H. Daniel, Texas A&M University: “Berkeley on the Essential Link Between Mind and the Language of Nature”
Alan Nelson, University of North Carolina: Berkeley on Simple Ideas”
Break
Session Six
10:45
11:30
12:15
Michael Latzer, Gannon University (chair)
Nancy Kendrick, Wheaton College (Massachusetts): “Berkeley’s Rejection of Existential Necessity”

John Roberts, Florida State University: “Berkeley’s God Must Perceive and He Must Be the Christian God”
Lunch
Session Seven
2:00
2:45
3:30
Terhi Kiiskinen, University of Helsinki (chair)
Talia Mae Bettcher, California State University, Los Angeles:
Berkeley on Divine Foreknowledge
Genevieve Migely, Cornell College (Iowa):
Moral Motivation in Berkeleys Theory of Intentionality
Break
Session Eight
3:45
4:30
John Troyer, University of Connecticut (chair)
Georges Dicker, SUNY Brockport: How Hylas Could Have Conquered Pain and Found Pleasure
Caterina Menichelli, University of Macerata
:
“The Concept of Beauty in
Berkeley
’s Works”
5:30-6:45
Walking tour of Newport led by John Hattendorf (Naval War College), beginning at the Redwood, ending in Trinity Church

  • Saturday, June 28

Session Nine
9:00
9:45
10:30
Heta Gylling, University of Helsinki (chair)
Daniel Flage, James Madison University: “Was Berkeley an Ethical Egoist?”
Marta Szymańska, Jagiellonian University (Poland), Berkeleys Project of Preventing the Ruin of Great Britain and the Concept of Happiness
Break
Session Ten
10:40
11:25
12:10
12:20
1:05
Lois Eveleth, Salve Regina University (chair)
C. George Caffentzis, University of Southern Maine, “Locke, Berkeley, and Hume as Philosophers of Money”
Luc Peterschmitt,
Univ. Charles-de-Gaulle, Lille III, “Can Berkeley Be an Instrumentalist? A Reappraisal of Berkeley’s Philosophy of Science”
Brief Intermission
Timo Airaksinen,
University of Helsinki, “Light in Siris
Lunch
2:30-5:30
Bus tour of Berkeley-related sites near Newport (Old Narragansett Church, Smith’s Castle); reservations required
5:30-7:15
Tour bus stop at Whitehall, Middletown, Rhode Island; conference buffet dinner at Whitehall
7:30
Tour bus returns to Redwood Library



Conference Registration and Buffet Dinner Costs:

To register on-line for the conference and pay for dinner, and to join or renew your IBS membership using PayPal, fill in the boxes below and click on the PayPal button.

Send payments (in U.S. dollars only) by surface mail to:

International Berkeley Society
Department of Philosophy
Texas A&M University
College Station, TX 77843-4237
U.S.A.

Accommodations: because the conference occurs during the high point of Newport’s tourist season—in particular, on the weekend of the fashionable Newport Flower Show—conference attendees should make arrangements as soon as possible to stay at one of the neighborhood bed-and-breakfast inns. As you will see, B&Bs in Newport are not cheap, but you can take solace from the fact that breakfast is included; and the specified B&Bs are only a few minutes’ walk to the Redwood. For information, go to the interactive map: http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&msa=0&msid=101334949373051111068.0004405a8ea1e3a450ea4&z=17&om=1. To see exactly what the area looks like, click on the “Satellite” function in the upper right hand corner of the map. The list of B&Bs (starting closest to the Library) includes:

Before making your choice you’ll probably want to go to the websites to see how nice these places really are. The rates listed are averaged over four nights and assume that you are arrive Wednesday, June 25, and depart Sunday June 29. (The conference begins on Thursday morning, 26 June, and ends on Saturday night, 28 June 2008.) If you want to come early or stay longer, you can work out a reduced rate when you make your reservations. As a rule, B&Bs require you to pay when you make reservations, and if for some reason you don’t come, they reimburse you (less a processing fee). To get these rates, you must tell the B&B owners you are attending the Berkeley conference at the Redwood ("Redwood" being the important word here). The Berkeley Society has not reserved any of the rooms listed above, so the sooner you make your reservations, the more likely you will be guaranteed a room.

In the summer Newport is a major tourist destination. It is also very popular for weddings and tours of the local mansions (http://tickets.newportmansions.org/). For information about what to do while in Newport, go to http://www.gonewport.com/.

Travel: for information about how to get to Newport, go to http://www.gonewport.com/nav.aspx?id=17. Those flying from the U.S. or Canada should fly into Providence, RI and take the Cozy Cab Newport Shuttle (http://www.cozytrans.com/) or rent a car. Those flying from Europe should fly into Boston and take the Peter Pan bus (http://www.peterpanbus.com/tickets/fares.php).

For more information, contact Steve Daniel, Department of Philosophy, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843-4237; sdaniel@people.tamu.edu; phone: 979-846-4649.