The Nature of Belief: a Hybrid Workshop with Great Results

Eleven lectures complemented by more than twenty critical comments and very lively discussions. “The Nature of Belief” workshop was held at the University of Warsaw on May 18-20 and gathered participants from all over the world online and on site, and resulted in fruitful and vivid discussions, as well as high quality publications.

In addition to researchers from the University of Warsaw, the workshop was attended by scholars from Azim Premji University, Concordia University, University of Genoa, University of Groningen, University of Guelph, IT University of Copenhagen, Jagiellonian University, University of Lisbon, Pedagogical University of Krakow, Rutgers University, Shanxi University, University of Toronto, among others. The workshop had a hybrid character with both in-person and remote (Zoom) participation available.

The main guest of the workshop was Professor Mark McCullagh from the University of Guelph (Canada), who discussed in his lectures selected aspects of the so-called Mates’ problem: formulated by the eminent American philosopher Benson Mates (1919-2009) the puzzle of non-interchangeability of even the simplest synonyms in certain belief reports. The Mates problem was not the only issue addressed at the workshop. Other topics included: the question of the nature of beliefs about time, the status of group beliefs, the nature of our psychological concepts (such as the concept of belief), the ontology of beliefs, the content of beliefs, the role of context in determining the content of beliefs, Moore’s paradox and its relationship to the concept of lying.

All workshop participants prepared draft versions of the articles before the workshop (while commentators had the opportunity to read these versions). This ensured that the discussion and comments would translate directly into the final versions of the published texts. Significant contributions to the workshop were made by scholars and researchers connected with the Faculty of Philosophy, University of Warsaw: both younger ones (doctoral students of the UW Doctoral School of Humanities and the UW Philosophy Department): Agata Machcewicz-Grad., Jakub Rudnicki, Maciej Tarnowski., as well as more experienced ones: Professor Joanna Odrowąż-Sypniewska, Dr. Maria Matuszkiewicz and Dr. Marta Zaręba.

Considering the excellent scholarly quality of the workshop, its significant role in integrating scholars from all over the world, and its measurable impact on research results in the form of publications, one can certainly say that the workshop was a great scientific success.

The workshop program is available at: http://thenatureofbelief.pts.edu.pl/

Text by: Prof. Tadeusz Ciecierski, Faculty of Philosophy, University of Warsaw.