The John Locke Society

2022 John Locke Conference

2022 John Locke Conference

June 21–23, 2022

American University in Bulgaria – AUBG

Blagoevgrad, Bulgaria

Organized by the American University in Bulgaria and the John Locke Society

Endorsed by the British Society for the History of Philosophy, the International Society for Intellectual History, Locke Studies, and Studi Lockiani: Ricerche sull’Età Moderna

Keynote Speakers:

Sorana Corneanu (University of Bucharest, Romania)

Shelley Weinberg (University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, USA)

Convener:

Diego Lucci (American University in Bulgaria)

Scientific Committee:

Ruth Boeker (University College Dublin, Ireland)

Douglas Casson (St. Olaf College, USA)

Pierangelo Castagneto (American University in Bulgaria)

Patrick Connolly (Lehigh University, USA)

Giuliana Di Biase (D’Annunzio University of Chieti–Pescara, Italy)

Antonia LoLordo (University of Virginia, USA)

Diego Lucci (American University in Bulgaria)

Conference venue

The Conference takes place on the campus of the American University in Bulgaria (AUBG) in the town of Blagoevgrad, which is 100 km south of the Bulgarian capital, Sofia.

All sessions are held in the Andrey Delchev Auditorium, which is in the Balkanski Academic Center – BAC (Svoboda Bachvarova Street, 8, 2700 Blagoevgrad, Bulgaria). The Balkanski Academic Center is in the same building as the Panitza Library – the main library of AUBG.

Each paper presenter has 30 minutes to deliver their paper presentation. Each presentation is followed by a 10-minute Q&A session.

Buffet lunches are offered in the AUBG Restaurant “The Hungry Griffin,” which is located on the last floor of the America for Bulgaria Student Center. This building is in front of the Balkanski Academic Center, on the other side of the campus square.

The closing reception takes place in the AUBG Café, on the ground floor of the America for Bulgaria Student Center.

IMPORTANT NOTE: The conference can also be attended online in Zoom. For the links to attend the conference online in Zoom, please see the file provided by the convener, Prof. Diego Lucci, via email to all participants.

For more information and a downloadable info sheet, please see the conference webpage:

https://www.aubg.edu/2022-john-locke-conference

Email address of the convener, Diego Lucci: dlucci@aubg.edu

Conference program

Tuesday, June 21

8.45-9.15           Distribution of the printed conference program, name tags, AUBG guest badges, maps of Blagoevgrad (BAC foyer)

9.15-9.30           Conference opening:

  • Robert White (Provost, American University in Bulgaria)
    • Douglas Casson (Member, Executive Committee of the John Locke Society)
    • Diego Lucci (Conference Convener)

9.30-11.00         Keynote A:

                           Chair: Diego Lucci (American University in Bulgaria)

  • Sorana Corneanu (University of Bucharest, Romania), “Locke, the Art of Reasoning and the Freedom of the Understanding”
  • Response by Giuliana Di Biase (D’Annunzio University of Chieti-Pescara, Italy)
  1. Coffee break (BAC foyer)

11.30-13.30       Panel 1: Ideas:

Chair: Patrick Connolly (Lehigh University, USA)

  • Vili Lahtenmaaki (University of Oulu, Finland), “Ideas All the Way Down?”
    • Ville Paukkonen (University of Helsinki, Finland), “Locke’s Mixed Modes: Their Ontic Status and Function: An attempt at Classification (and Clarification)”
    • Jennifer Smalligan Marušić (University of Edinburgh, UK), “Locke on Knowledge of Moral Truths”
  1. Buffet lunch (AUBG Restaurant “The Hungry Griffin”)

14.30-16.30       Panel 2: Knowledge:

Chair: Shelley Weinberg (University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, USA)

  • Nicholas Westberg (Boston College, USA), “Knowledge and Justification in Locke’s Essay”
    • Kylie Shahar (University of Minnesota, USA), “Certainty in Locke’s Epistemology: A Spectrum View”
    • Brian Glenney (Norwich University, USA), “Can’t Touch This? Getting a Feel for Locke’s Idea of Solidity”

16.30-17.00       Coffee break (BAC foyer)

17.00-18.20       Panel 3: Personal Identity:

                           Chair: Antonia LoLordo (University of Virginia, USA)

  • Michael Jacovides (Purdue University, USA), “Hobbes’s Influence on Locke’s Theory of Personal Identity”
  • Anita Van der Bos (University of Groningen, Netherlands), “The Implications of Locke’s Theory of Personal Identity on the Belief of the Resurrection of the Same Body: The Debate between Whitby and Bold”

18.30-19.30       Walking tour of Blagoevgrad:

  • Total length: 2 km.
  • Places visited: AUBG Main Building, Blagoevgrad downtown, Varosha historic district.
  • Meeting point: main entrance of the Balkanski Academic Center.
  • The walking tour will end in the downtown of Blagoevgrad, near Macedonia Square, where many restaurants, pizzerias, cafes, bars, and fast food restaurants are located.

Wednesday, June 22

  • Coach trip to the Rila Monastery:
  • Entrance to the monastery and its church is free. The monastery also hosts a History Museum (entrance fee: 8.00 BGN) and an Ethnographic Museum (entrance fee: 5.00 BGN), both of which are worth visiting.
  • Meeting time and meeting point to depart from AUBG: h. 9.00, at the main entrance of the Balkanski Academic Center.
  • Meeting time and meeting point to return to AUBG: h. 11.30, in the front parking of the Rila Monastery, next to our coach.

12.30-13.30       Buffet lunch (AUBG Restaurant “The Hungry Griffin”)

13.30-15.30       Panel 4: Religion:

Chair: Riccardo Pozzo (University of Rome Tor Vergata, Italy)

  • Nathan Rockwood (Brigham Young University, USA), “Locke on the Authority of Scripture”
  • Paul Lambdin (Exeter University, UK), “The Role of John Locke’s Doctrine of Sin in His Argument for Universal Human Equality”
  • Alexander Henri Barrientos (University of Utah, USA), “Curb Your Enthusiasm: Locke on the Evidential Role and Objective Nature of Miracles”

15.30-15.40       Short break

15.40-17.00       Panel 5: Liberty and Moral Agency:

                           Chair: Giuliana Di Biase (D’Annunzio University of Chieti-Pescara, Italy)

  • Lex Newman (University of Utah, USA), “Defense of a Libertarian Reading of Locke on Freedom”
  • Emilio Maria De Tommaso (University of Calabria, Italy), “Unexpected Lockean Resonances in Eighteenth-Century Southern Italy”

17.00-17.30       Coffee break (BAC foyer)

17.30-19.00       Roundtable: Recent monographs on Locke:

Chair: Svetoslav Malinov (Sofia University, Bulgaria)

  • Ruth Boeker (University College Dublin, Ireland), Locke on Persons and Personal Identity (Oxford University Press, 2021)
  • Jeffrey R. Collins (Queen’s University, Canada), In the Shadow of Leviathan: John Locke and the Politics of Conscience (Cambridge University Press, 2020)
  • Diego Lucci (American University in Bulgaria), John Locke’s Christianity (Cambridge University Press, 2021)

Thursday, June 23

9.00-11.00         Panel 6: Natural Philosophy and Natural Reason:

                           Chair: Sorana Corneanu (University of Bucharest)

  • Konstantin Skripnik (Southern Federal University, Russia), “Why Σημιωτική?”
    • Peter Anstey (University of Sydney, Australia), “Locke and Early Modern Theories of Definitions”
    • Shigeyuki Aoki (Chuo University, Japan), “Locke and Toland on Authority and Reason”
  1. Coffee break (BAC foyer)

11.30-13.30       Panel 7: Toleration:

Chair: Douglas Casson (St. Olaf College, USA)

  • Nathaniel Mull (Princeton University, USA), “John Locke’s Early Tolerationism: A Critique of the Conversion Narrative”
  • Bryan Hall (Regis University, USA) and Erica Ferg (Regis University, USA), “Orthodoxy, Orthopraxy, and Locke’s Arguments for Toleration”
  • Daniel Layman (Davidson College, USA), “Hypocrisy and Punishment in the Locke-Proast Controversy”
  1. Buffet lunch (AUBG Restaurant “The Hungry Griffin”)

14.30-15.50       Panel 8: Civility and Education:

Chair: Robert White (American University in Bulgaria)

  • Marzia Marconi (University of Pavia, Italy), “Outward Behavior and ‘Inward Civility’: Locke on Decorum and Virtue”
  • Katarzyna Wrońska (Jagiellonian University, Poland), “John Locke and His Disciples in a Circle of Friendly Gentlemen”

15.50-16.00       Short break

16.00-17.20       Panel 9: Locke’s Legacy:

                           Chair: Nikola Krestonosich (KU Leuven, Belgium) (TO BE CONFIRMED)

  • Evangelos Sakkas (Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece), “Josiah Tucker and the Myth of John Locke”
  • María José García Castillejos (Panamerican University, Mexico), “Revaluing Lockean Philosophy in the Feminist Agenda”

17.20-17.45       Coffee break (BAC foyer)

17.45-19.15       Keynote B:

Chair: Diego Lucci (American University in Bulgaria)

  • Shelley Weinberg (University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, USA), “TITLE TBA”
    • Response by Patrick Connolly (Lehigh University, USA)

19.30                  Closing reception (AUBG Café)

The 2022 John Locke Conference gathers scholars interested in any aspect of Locke’s oeuvre, with the purpose of encouraging research on this important author and promoting interaction between experts in different disciplines, such as philosophy, theology, education, political theory, intellectual history, and economic thought.

This event is made possible by the generous financial and logistical support of the following departments and offices of AUBG: Democratic Citizenship Center, Department of History and Civilizations, Department of Philosophy and Psychology, Department of Politics and European Studies, Panitza Library, Conferences and Events Office, Office of Communications and Marketing, Office of Communications and Computing, Dining Services, Facilities Office.

For more information and a downloadable info sheet, please see the conference webpage:

https://www.aubg.edu/2022-john-locke-conference

Email address of the convener, Diego Lucci: dlucci@aubg.edu

*

%d bloggers like this: