1.

2.
3. MA Student Conference
4. Fall 2015
5. Program with abstracts
6.
7.

Monday, December 7, Building 1455, room 127:

9:15-9:20 Welcome
9:20-9:50 Nirvana Islamagic
On Civil Disobedience
9:55-10:25 Mathias Linaa Lauersen
Cutting Up Your Mom!
Coffee Break
10:45-11:15 Rasmus Bruunshj Jokobsen
Nothing Sticks Like a Shadow
11:20-11:50 Lars Lodberg
Speculating in the Divine Economy The Reality and
Necessity of Speculation
12:00- 12:30 Felix Englert
Responsibility for Group Actions
Lunch
13:15-13:45 Jrgen Jensen
Phenomenal Experience as Functioning
13:50-14:20 Tobias Holm Andersen
Does Public Involvement Improve Democracy in the
Danish Political System?
14:30-15:00 Sren Kjrsgaard
Can Corporations be Held Responsible?
Coffee Break
15:20-15:50 Kasper Lindberg
Universal Suffrage and Citizenship
16:00-16:30 Michael Cannon
A Philosophical Critique of an Information-Based Account
of Consciousness
16:40-17:10 Kaspar Vestrup
Evaluating Society

Tuesday, December 8, Building 1455, room 127:

9:15-9:45 Jonas Bensrati
Social Ontology and Terrorism
9:55-10:25 Adrianna Kwiatkowska
On Suspension of Duty towards Dignity
Coffee Break
10:45-11:15 Mattias Skipper Rasmussen
Philosophy as Conceptual Engineering
11:20-11:50 Oliver Quick
Mathematical Entities, Physicalism, and the Indispensability Argument
12:00-12:30 Sille Stenild
Tensions of the Universal: A Critique of Ethical Cosmopolitanism
Lunch
13:15-13:45 Niels Wilde
Stumbling Blocks Place, Secrecy and Dancing Things
13:50-14:20 Mikkel Mrk
Thinking, Language, and Being
14:30-15:00 Tobias Lange
Punishment you deserve it!
Coffee Break
15:20-15:50 Martin Steffensen
Thick Cosmopolitanism or World Alienation?
16:00-16:30 Kit Kerrye
Ontological Presuppositions for the Attribution of Moral Responsibility

8.
9.
10. Abstracts

Tobias Holm Andersen (Track D)

Does public involvement improve democracy in the Danish political system?
All over the local authorities are implementing public involvement, apparently in an
effort to get the citizens closer to the political decision-making, promoting commitment
and democratic values. This analysis will be based on the Aarhus model for public
involvement, I will argue that public involvement in this form isnt truly democratic, and
can be seen as a weird mix of representative and direct democracy without the democratic
benefits of either, while retaining their disadvantages and creating problems of its own.
Jonas Bensrati (Track B)
Social Ontology and Terrorism
In the following paper, I have been analyzing Martin Heideggers social ontology and
some of its key terms primarily Mitsein and Das Man. After giving a short description of
Daseins basic structure, I started out by describing and analyzing the meaning of Mitsein,
and how it is a fundamental part of Daseins basic constitution. Afterwards, I did the same
with the other primary term, Das Man, in order to see whether these terms could be used
to the phenomenon, terrorism.
Michael Cannon (Track A)
A Philosophical Critique of an Information-Based Account of Consciousness
Is information the neutral ontological category in which mind and matter might be
united? Information Integration Theory (IIT), an Identity Theory account of
consciousness put forward by neuroscientist Guilio Tononi, takes exactly this
approach. It postulates information as an intermediate term between brain
architecture and phenomenal experience which allows formalisation of both the
quality and quantity of consciousness. The presentation will assess how IIT, with the
notion of information as its backbone, stacks up against some of the major
philosophical issues. In particular, I will critique their notion of information looking
at Chalmers Zombies, Kripkes Modal Argument, Russells Modes of Knowledge,
Computability and Turings Levels of Abstraction. I will draw attention to how these
issues might be solved.

Felix Englert (Track A)

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Responsibility for Group Actions

My talk takes issue with the ontology of responsibility attributions. Responsibility is
traditionally attributed to individual agents in relation to the outcome of their actions. In
our modern world nowadays, however, there is often a negative outcome of actions of
more than one individual agent who contribute to a non-linear (complex) dynamics. One
of the prime examples for this phenomenon is the human caused climate change. In these
situations it is very difficult to blame individual agents using the traditional model of
responsibility. The aim of my talk is to explore how to modify the traditional
responsibility model in order to attribute responsibility to individual agents also in these
cases. For this purpose I make use of distinctions in social ontology (by M. Bratman and
R. Tuomela) and a model of causation in complex systems (Fazekas et al, forthcoming).

Nirvana Islamagic (Track C)

On Civil Disobedience
Was driving refuges to Sweden an act of Civil Disobedience? This is the main
question I will seek to answer in my presentation. By looking at John Rawls theory
of Civil Disobedience, I will clear out the lines for a civil disobedient act and relate it
to the case of driving refugees. Furthermore I will discuss the role of civil
disobedience in nearly just societies as formulated by Rawls.

Rasmus Bruunshj Jakobsen (Track B)

Nothing Sticks Like a Shadow
This paper wants to deepen the notion of anxiety in Martin Heideggers Being and
Time. I will argue that even though Dasein is individualized in individualization,
which is caused by anxiety, an indefinite connection between the Anyone and Dasein
is still maintained. It will be illuminated by a phenomenological investigation of the
shadow and by the establishing of the shadow as a metaphor. It will then be
plausible to defend that the human being is not individuated in anxiety, because
sociality always sticks like a shadow.
Jrgen Jensen (Track A)
Phenomenal experience as functioning
Functionalism is a position in the philosophy of mind that identifies mental entities
(thoughts, feelings, phenomenal experience) with functions of the brain.
Functionalist accounts typically conceive of functions as properties of brain states or
brain events (where events are not ongoing but results or upshotslike states). The
aim of this presentation is to propose a new path towards a functionalist identity
theory, based on a process ontology. This ontological switch changes the focus from
functions to functioning, where the latter is understood as a weakly emergent
process or dynamics. On the new account, what is identical to phenomenal
experience (or a thought or feeling etc.) is a functioning, a specific sort of process. As
I explain, that such functionings are causally potent is established by Bedaus (2007)
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claim that weakly emergent entities are incompressible or non-reducible. I defend

the new account against two common objections to the identity theory, namely, the
problem that phenomenal experience is not knowledge by description but by
acquaintance (McGinn 2003) and the problem that mental entities are said to be
multiply realizable.

Kit Kerrye (Track A)

Ontological Presuppositions for the Attribution of Moral Responsibility
This project will examine what the target is when we attribute moral responsibility:
Do we hold agents responsible because of their actions or because of their
characters? I begin with a puzzlecase to explore our intuitions. This leaves with the
question: can we attribute a moral responsibility and an accordingly punishment for
a presumably very bad future character? I argue that the puzzle case reveals
important insights about the ontology of character. Inspired by Angela Smiths
(1995) interpretation of our practices of blame, I suggest that character is not a
collection of essential personality traits but rather a construct of our moral practices
of blaming and praising, which at the same time plays an important role in our selfidentification.

Sren Kjrsgaard (Track C)

Can corporations be held responsible?
Contemporary notions of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) reflect the ways in
which corporations accommodate public concerns for the impact their actions have
on society. However, CSR policies remain voluntary rather than compulsory. This is
partly due to the characterization of corporations as private business entities. This
presentation aims to problematize such a characterization by way of historical
analysis. It proposes alternative, less private, modes of existence for corporations
and discusses their effects on CSR.

Adrianna Kwiatkowska (Track C)

On Suspension of Duty towards Dignity
Through reconsidering the relationship between the concept of dignity and
punishment through imprisonment I will try to point out the inconsistencies that
follow the usage of the term 'dignity' in the contemporary philosophical and political
discourse. The presentation is an attempt to point out that the current
interpretation of the term 'dignity' might be wrong.

Tobias Lange (Track C)

Punishment you deserve it!
In this presentation I want to claim that punishment is retributive at its core and
further that it is respecting of human dignity. The notion of human dignity used here
will be that of autonomy and rationality. To defend this claim I will use Morris
seminal paper from 1968 Persons and Punishment which will serve as the
foundation for this position. To strengthen this position R.A Duff (2005) and M.
Davis (1993) will also be used to draw out some important points regarding criminal
desert.

Mathias Linaa Laursen (Track C)

Cutting Up Your Mom!
I will propose my solution to the problem of organ shortage and try to defend it as
the most ethical solution. My proposal is simple: Everyone must donate their organs
when they died, if there is a need for it! In this system it is therefore impossible to
out-out and unnecessary to out-in. I will focus on countering the arguments there
has been put against my position.

Kasper Lindberg (Track C)

Universal Suffrage and Citizenship
What is it in democracy that makes it valuable to us? In this presentation I will argue
that democracy only has extrinsic value through an analysis of universal suffrage. It
is in fact not universal, and I will be discussing whether there should be an even
further disenfranchisement of the citizens in democracies. I take a pragmatic
approach to the question on suffrage and will argue for further inclusion rather than
exclusion.

Lars Lodberg (Track B)

Speculating in the Divine Economy - The Reality and Necessity of Speculation
Today more than ever speculation is a reality. For better or worse speculation has
again gained prominence in both philosophy and economy, however not without
severe criticism (especially of the latter kind). I my presentation i wish to engage
with this criticism. Through Schelling and Agamben I present a theory of speculation
which can present a corrective to the common critique of speculation. Thus, I will
argue that the problem of speculation is not to be too free but rather to be too
necessary.

Mikkel Mrk (Track B)

Thinking, Language and Being
This presentation takes its departure in the claim that every categorical statement in
its essence is metaphysical. This means that the categorical statement conceals or
presupposes a certain notion of what it means to be. This in turn presents a problem
for establishing any system. The presentation seeks to show some of the
consequences of this idea taking departure in the letter on Humanism by Martin
Heidegger.
Mattias Skipper Rasmussen (Track A)
Philosophy as Conceptual Engineering
One common method in analytic philosophy is conceptual analysis: the study of our
actual concepts such as knowledge, justice, or personal identity. An alternative
method that has received attention in recent discussions on philosophical
methodology is conceptual engineering: the study of which possible concepts (i.e.
concepts we could use even if we dont) best serve the theoretical purposes of
philosophy. Among the promoters of conceptual engineering are Eklund (2015),
Cappelen et al. (2015), Chalmers (2011), and Floridi (2011). In my talk, I will be
taking some initial steps towards one way of framing this alternative methodological
outlook. I will also discuss whether conceptual engineering carries any controversial
theoretical commitments, and what the news value of conceptual engineering might
be.

Oliver Quick (Track A)

Mathematical Entities, Physicalism, and the Indispensability Argument
My presentation focuses on a question in metaphysics, namely, how the so-called
Indispensability Argument fits with a physicalist world view. The Quine-Putnam
Indispensability argument is intended to show that we ought to be committed to the
existence of the mathematical entities apparent in our best scientific theories.
Usually mathematical entities are considered to be abstract, which leads to a tension
with physicalist positions, as they would now be committed to the existence of
nonphysical objects in a physicalist world. I argue against Platonist positions that
claim the argument implies the existence of abstract entities, by embracing a
nominalist conception of mathematics. I consider how a physicalist can respond to
the Indispensibility Argument, and which two of three physicalist positions are
tenable.
Martin Steffensen (Track D)
Thick cosmopolitanism or world alienation?
In this presentation, I investigate the consequences of globalization on the possibility of
political action. To answer this question, I explore the phenomenon of "world alienation",
as described by Hannah Arendt, and I contrast this, with the more optimistic view of
"thick cosmopolitanism", as described by Ulrich Beck.
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Sille Stenild (Track D)

Tensions of the Universal: A critique of ethical cosmopolitanism
Ethical cosmopolitanism is universal in its scope: We ought to take every human
being as objects of moral concern, no matter their local affiliations, be they political,
national, religious, etc. But is this position really universal? I will present Martha
Nussbaum's cosmopolitanism and its ties to her capability approach. I will then
show how James Ingram criticizes this approach to cosmopolitanism for
compromising its own universality and therefore its own ambitions.
Kasper Vestrup (Track C)
Evaluating Society
In this talk, I wish to introduce two political liberal theories, political liberalism and
perfectionist liberalism. The aim of introducing these two political theories is to
discuss which values a liberal democratic society should encompass. I hope that
through the understanding of these positions, we can get to a point of departure in
discussing how we should evaluate societal values.
Niels Wilde (Track B)
Stumbling Blocks - Place, Secrecy and Dancing Things
This paper examines the notion of things in the later Heidegger. The aim is to show
how the relationship between Dasein and things can evoke a more varied and
complex dynamic if we take the point of departure in things rather than Dasein. The
paper argues that both Dasein and things must be understood in terms of a
topological event and that the tension between them points to the very inexhaustible
secrecy of Being itself that makes up the very drive of existence.