International Conference of Religious Doctrines and the Mind-Body Problem

International Conference of Religious Doctrines and the Mind-Body Problem

Sponsor: Islamic Sciences and Culture Academy (ISCA)

Date: 2011, March 9-10

Email: icrm@isca.ac.ir

Postal Address: Iran, Qom, P.S. Box: 37185/3688

Tel/Fax: (098)251-774 80 64

Website (not completely constructed yet): www.seminars.ir/icrm

Invited Speakers:

1. Charles Taliaferro, St. Olaf College

2. Lynne Rudder Baker, Amherst, Massachussets

3. Edward Wierenga, Rochester, New York

4. Uwe Meixner, Regensburg, Germany

5. Richard Taylor, Marquette University

6. Sajjad Rizvi, Exeter, UK

The Topic of the Conference

The conference is centered on the following problem:

Which theory of the mind-body relation can give the best account of relevant religious doctrines, such as resurrection and purgatory?

Definitions:

1) Religious Doctrines: beliefs that have been stated as foundations of the religion in reliable sources and their obvious logical implications.

2) Relevant religious doctrines: religious doctrines that imply a specific conception of the nature of man and his characteristics, for example, the doctrine of an intermediate state (purgatory) implies a conception of the nature of man according to which he can survive the physical death, communicate with other persons in that world, etc.

3) mind-body problem: a metaphysical problem concerning the existence/non-existence or mode of existence of the minds in the world: do minds or mental states exist? If they exist, do they exist in a physical or a non-physical form?

Statement of the problem

The conference is NOT concerned with the following two problems:

1) Proving the religious doctrines through philosophical arguments, for example, trying to prove the truth of resurrection by some philosophical arguments. Papers concerning this will NOT be accepted.

2) Mere philosophical discussion of the mind-body problem, for example, formulating an argument for dualism without its implications for religious doctrines is NOT accepted in our conference.

Only the following approach IS accepted:

3) Statement of philosophical views about the mind-body relation and their implications for some relevant religious doctrines. For example, one can formulate a version of dualism (Avicenna, Augustine, Descartes, or his/her own version), then examine how that view can account for a religious doctrine, such as resurrection. In this approach, a particular philosophical theory of the mind-body relation is examined to see (1) whether it implies resurrection –for instance- or not, and (2) if so, what kind of resurrection –for instance- it implies: a physical version of resurrection or a non-physical.

Or one can state the religious details of a particular religious doctrine and find a mind-body theory that can provide the best explanation for it. One can –for instance- state the doctrine of resurrection with its scriptural details, and then examine a mind-body theory that gives the best account of those details. This way, some alternative theories should be compared to see which one is the best explanation.

The Website will be launched completely very soon; the English section is not available yet.
The Farsi Poster: