SACP International Meeting

 
Desåa (place), Kaµla (time), Paµtra (person)
and Paristhiti (situation) in Metaphysics and Morals
 
January 4-7, 1999
Department of Philosophy
Utkal University
Bhubaneswar, Orissa, India

The next International Meeting of the Society for Asian and Comparative Philosophy (SACP) will be held in Bhubaneshwar, Orissa, India on January 4-7, 1999. This conference is hosted by the Department of Philosophy at Utkal University.

The theme of the conference is: "Place, Time, Situation, and Person  in Metaphysics and Morals."  The following are some of the general questions which may be raised in order to throw light on the theme of the conference; they are intended to guide, rather than to limit, the range of inquiry--

The concepts of place, time, situation, and person are supposed to limit the claim to universality of moral laws, to individuate metaphysical principles, and to determine the application of abstract laws to concrete situations in life. The general theme of this conference is to examine the extent to which the classical philosophies of Asia and the West make room for these ideas. It is obvious that this large question would involve looking into the concepts of space, time, and history, into particular situations, and into individual needs and abilities in order to assess how these might figure in moral judgments and metaphysical thinking.

Questions which then arise include: Does an individual have his or her own svadharma in making moral judgments about personal actions and deeds? Is it permissible to overlook the particular circumstances, spatial and temporal, in which these actions are performed? How does the history of a society enter into the form that moral principles assume in an age? Is it not necessary that some principles which are relevant at one particular time become irrelevant subsequently? It may still be necessary to ask whether or not there are invariant moral principles which are not affected by place, time, and history. Similar questions may be raised about metaphysical concepts and principles, as well as about the interpretation of texts, e.g., do the classical philosophical texts have an invariant meaning? Or, is it the case that their interpretations change depending on the historical contexts?

Abstracts of papers are due by September 15, 1998. Abstracts of papers and conference registration forms should be mailed to the following address:

SACP International Conference
Professor Bina Gupta
Department of Philosophy
437 General Classroom Bldg.
University of Missouri-Columbia
Columbia, Missouri  65211-4160
USA

www.umaine.edu/~sacp/IM99/announce.html
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Last updated March 12, 1999.