"My new life began in October [1959] with Professor Ayer's seminar for postgraduates in the first-floor salon that was the Grote Professor's Room. Mondays at 5. He and his colleagues would listen to the week's paper by a postgraduate, perhaps on a chapter of Mr Peter Strawson's new book of descriptive metaphysics, Individuals [...]. They would then lead the assembly in the discussion of the paper, or, if it would not bear extended examination, the chapter itself. Should that fail, as it did not with Individuals, there was the general subject of the chapter. It could fail too, of course. Things could turn out to be non-subjects. There was a lot of them, perhaps sufficient to cover all of contemporary French and German philosophy." (From Ted Honderich's autobiography)
Presentations are for 20 minutes and everyone is expected to contribute to general discussion after that—you should read the paper thoroughly before a given session.
All papers being discussed are available electronically through the UCL Library. Clicking on the titles below will take you directly to the papers. Or click here to get the alphabetical listing of all journals. UCL userid and password are required for access outside College.
David McCarthy, ‘Intending Harm, Foreseeing Harm, and Failures of the Will', Noûs 36:4 (2002) 622–642. Presented by Gry Wester.
Michael Fara, ‘Dispositions and Habituals', Noûs 39:1 (2005) 43–82. Presented by Ali Oduncu.
Thomas Nagel, ‘The Problem of Global Justice', Philosophy and Public Affairs 33:2 (2005) 113–147. Presented by Elizabeth Cripps.
Dominic Gregory, ‘Imagining Possibilities', Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 69:2 (2004) 327–348. Presented by Poly Pantelides.
John MacFarlane, ‘Future Contingents and Relative Truth', The Philosophical Quarterly 53 n. 212 (2003) 321–36. Presented by Lee Walters.
Followed by dinner at Özer. Places strictly limited. Book early (with Richard) to avoid disappointment.
Thomas Carson, 'The Definition of Lying', Nous 4:2 (2006) 284-306. Presented by Ian Phillips.
James Woodward, 'Counterfactuals and Causal Explanation', International Studies in the Philosophy of Science 18:1 (2004) 41-72. Presented by Elliot Pine.
Douglas Lavin, 'Practical Reason and the Possibility of Error', Ethics 114:3 (2004) 424-457. Presented by Arthur Schipper.
Nishi Shah, 'How Truth Governs Belief'. Philosophical Review 112:4 (2003) 447-82. Presented by Gabriel Lakeman.
Niko Kolodny, 'Love as Valuing a Relationship', Philosophical Review 112:2 (2003) 135–89. Presented by Simon Hampson.
Alex Byrne, 'How Hard Are the Skeptical Paradoxes?', Nous 38:2 (2004) 299 –325. Presented by Mark McBride.
David Owens, 'A Simple Theory of Promising', Philosophical Review 115:1 (2006) 51-77. Presented by Chris Jay.
Stephen Read, 'The Unity of the Fact', Philosophy 80:3 (2005) 317-342.
Presented by Howard Peacock.
James Higginbotham, 'Competence with Demonstratives', ed. James Tomberlin, Language and Mind. Philosophical Perspectives Volume 16, Blackwell: Oxford, 2002, 1-16. Presented by Jonny McIntosh.