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APA Conferences

2020 Eastern APA:
Thursday, January 9, 2020, 9:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m.
Session G5A, Society for Philosophy of Emotion Affiliated Group Session Title: “Author Meets Critics: Aaron Ben-Ze’ev, The Arc of Love
Chair: Cecilea Mun (Independent Researcher)
9:00 a.m. – 9:10 a.m.: Book Synopsis, Aaron Ben-Ze’ev (University of Haifa, Israel) (10 minutes) 9:10 a.m.– 9:30 a.m.: First Commentary, “The Ontology of Long-Term Profound Love: The Genus and Differentia,” Cecilea Mun (Independent Researcher) (20 minutes) 9:30 a.m. – 9:50 a.m.: Second Commentary, “Comments on Aaron Ben-Ze’ev’s The Arc of Love,” Iskra Fileva (University of Colorado, Boulder, CO)( 20 minutes)
9:50 a.m. – 10:10 a.m.: Third Commentary, “Comments on Aaron Ben-Ze’ev, The Arc of Love,” Troy A. Jollimore (California State University, Chico, CA) (20 minutes) 10:10 a.m. – 10:30 a.m.: Fourth Commentary, “Comments on The Arc of Love by Aaron Ben-Ze’ev,” Noël Carroll (The Graduate Center, CUNY, NY) (20 minutes)
10:30 a.m. – 10:40 a.m.: Short Break (10 minutes) 10:40 a.m. – 11:00 a.m.: Author's Response, Aaron Ben-Ze’ev (University of Haifa, Israel) (20 minutes) 11:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.: Audience Questions for Author and Panel of Critics (60 minutes) Note to Critics: Please note that the order of presenters may change depending on the comments that will be submitted, which should be emailed to all the participants (just so we’re all on the same page) by November 30, 2019 using the group email thread set-up by Cecilea. We also ask that you submit the final drafts of your comments to the Journal of Philosophy of Emotion, to be peer reviewed and published as a part of a book symposium in the 2020 summer or winter issue, no later than February 29, 2020. Your symposium paper should be between 1,500-3,000 words. Finally, please let Cecilea know if you will need a copy of Aaron Ben’Ze’ve’s book. She will be contacting the publisher to request review copies. Note to Author: We ask that you submit your response to your commentators to all the participants (just so we’re all on the same page) by December 31, 2020 using the group email thread set-up by Cecilea. We also ask that you submit the final drafts of your précis and response to the Journal of Philosophy of Emotion, to be peer reviewed and published as a part of a book symposium in the 2020 summer or winter issue, no later than February 29, 2020. Your symposium précis should be between 1,500-3,000 words, and we will leave it to you to determine the length of your response. Note to Presenters: You should make sure that you are a member of the SPE at the time of the conference and that you also register for the 2020 Eastern APA conference (which may be more cost effective if you are also a member). Furthermore, because the SPE does not currently have the funds to pay for video projectors, you should be prepared to present your paper without the use of a video projector. SPE Dinner/Social Event: The SPE will reserve seats at a local restaurant for a group dinner on an evening where all or most of the participants are able to attend. Cecilea will be sending out an email to find a suitable date for the dinner. Please make sure you respond to that email. Reservations will be made for all participants unless you have notified Cecilea that you will not be able to attend. Please also contact her regarding any dietary restriction, and please note that all participants will be responsible for their own bill.
2020 Eastern APA:
January 9, 2020, 2:30 p.m-5:30 p.m. (CT)
Session G7B, Society for Philosophy of Emotion Affiliated Group Session Title: “Emotion, Binding, and Natural Psychological Kinds”

Abstract (Charles Starkey): Recent years have seen the rise of powerful arguments that emotions do not constitute a natural kind and that no sub-category of basic emotions exists (Barrett 2006; Barrett et al 2009; Russell 2003). This has challenged work in both philosophy and psychology arguing that emotions form some sort of natural class (Ekman 1977, Griffiths 1997). I argue that contrary to this, emotions constitute a natural class by way of a special kind of phenomenal binding, and that emotions are individuated by particular types of perceptions of self-environment relations that include this special binding. The core contention of this is that emotions do consist of a particular association of cognitive elements, physiological elements, and third element - relational theme information - which are bound together in an emotional state. The first component is affective arousal, akin to Russell and Barrett’s conception of core affect. Emotions are characterized by coordinated physiological changes, which can include changes in skin conductance, heart rate, facial expression, visceral responses, and feelings of the experience of these changes (Levenson, Ekman & Friesen, 1990; Panksepp, 1998). cognition, and relational theme information. The second component is cognition. Paradigm emotions involve cognitive recognition of at which the emotion is directed – the intentional object of the emotion (Kenny, 1963; Gordon, 1987; Lazarus, 1991; Scherer, 1988). The third component is relational theme information. This information is the product of the activation of a psychological mechanism which is attuned to detecting relations to the environment that bear upon fundamental concerns and which trigger emotional responses when such relations are present. Such basic types of concerns have been categorized by Richard Larzarus and termed core relational themes (Lazarus, 1991; Prinz 2004). Perceptual and emotional binding Perceptual binding is a common concept in cognitive science, and refers to the process by which a perceptual feature such as an object’s location is associated with another feature such as its shape in order to provide a unified representation of the object. Various types of perceptual information are processed independently in separate regions of the brain, and binding is necessary for the information to be unified into a coherent representation of the object. I propose that in addition to perceptual binding there is a type of emotional binding consisting of the psychological binding of affective arousal with specific cognitions with and with relational theme information. This is emotional binding. In such an association, the physiological arousal is bound with and affects the cognition (the object of the emotion) and the relational theme information, and vice-versa. An emotion then is a psychological trait consisting in the psychological binding of these three components. In an episode of anger while driving, physiological changes are associated with the driver of another car rather than with the air freshener hanging from one’s rear view mirror. And, the arousal and the cognition of the driver are also bound with the relational theme information of a demeaning offense (i.e. the core relational theme on which anger is based, see Lazarus 1991). This emotional binding is akin to the psychological binding that occurs in perception, and, as in the case of perceptual binding, there is an experiential unity which suggests that the brain binds together information in a coherent way.
Chair: Cecilea Mun (Independent Researcher) 2:30 p.m. – 3:00 p.m.: “Emotion, Synesthesia, and Natural Psychological Kinds," Charles Starkey (Clemson University, SC) (30 minutes) 3:00 p.m. – 3:25 p.m.: Audience Questions for Charles Starkey (25 minutes) 3:25 p.m. – 3:30 p.m.: Short Break (5 minutes) 3:30 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.: "Is Respect an Emotion?" Remy Debes (University of Memphis, TN) (30 minutes) 4:00 p.m. – 4:25 p.m.: Audience Questions for Remy Debes (25 minutes) 4:25 p.m. – 4:30 p.m.: Short Break (5 minutes) 4:30 p.m. – 5:00 p.m.: "Shame and Its Moral Significance," Charlie Kurth (University of Western Michigan, MI) (30 minutes) 5:00 p.m. – 5:30 p.m.: Audience Questions for Charlie Kurth (30 minutes) Note to Presenter: We ask that you submit your your paper drafts by December 31, 2020 to Cecilea Mun in order to make them available before the session. If you would like to submit your paper to the Journal of Philosophy of Emotion, we ask that you submit the final draft to be peer reviewed and possibly published in the 2020 summer or winter issue, no later than February 29, 2020. Your paper should be approximately 8,000 words. Note to ALL participants: You should make sure that you are a member of the SPE at the time of the conference and that you also register for the 2020 Eastern APA conference (which may be more cost effective if you are also a member). Furthermore, because the SPE does not currently have the funds to pay for video projectors, you should be prepared to present your paper without the use of a video projector. SPE Dinner/Social Event: The SPE will reserve seats at a local restaurant for a group dinner on the evening of the symposium. Reservations will be made for all participants unless you have notified Cecilea Mun that you will not be able to attend. Please contact her regarding any dietary restriction, and please note that all participants will be responsible for their own bill.
2020 Central APA:
February 27, 2020, Thursday, 7:30 p.m.-10:30 p.m. (CT)
Session G3E, Society for Philosophy of Emotion Affiliated Group Session Title: “Author Meets Critics: Michael S. Brady, Emotions: The Basics
Abstract: Human beings might be rational animals; but we are emotional animals as well. For emotions play a central role in all areas of our lives: in our believing, planning, decision-making, and acting; in our personal relationships, social and political movements, and institutional structures; in artistic production and appreciation, sport and play, religious practice and devotion, and scientific inquiry; indeed, in pretty much every distinctively human activity. This short introductory book attempts to answer two basic questions – What are emotions? What do emotions do? In doing so, it aims to illustrate the importance of emotion along all of the previous dimensions, and show how emotion is involved in our believing, deciding, acting, personal and social relationships, and the many activities that constitute a distinctively human life. Chair: Cecilea Mun (Independent Researcher) 7:30 p.m. – 7:40 p.m.: Book Synopsis, Michael S. Brady (University of Glasgow, Scotland) (10 minutes) 7:40 p.m.– 8:00 p.m.: First Commentary, Alycia W. LaGuardia-LoBianco (Stockdale Center for Ethics, United States Naval Academy, MD) (20 minutes) 8:00 p.m. – 8:20 p.m.: Second Commentary, Charles Starkey (Clemson University, SC) (20 minutes) 8:20 p.m. – 8:40 p.m.: Third Commentary, Arron Ben-Ze’ev (University of Haifa, Israel) (20 minutes) 8:40 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.: Fourth Commentary, Paniel Reyes Cárdenas (Universidad Popular Autónoma del Estado de Puebla, Mexico) (20 minutes) 9:00 p.m. – 9:20 p.m.: Fifth Commentary, Paul Bloomfield (University of Connecticut, CT) (20 minutes) 9:20 p.m. – 9:30 p.m.: Short Break (10 minutes) 9:30 p.m. – 10:00 p.m.: Author's Response, Michael S. Brady (University of Glasgow, Scotland) (30 minutes) 10:00 p.m. – 10:30 p.m.: Audience Questions for Author and Panel of Critics (30 minutes) Note to Critics: Please email your comments to all the participants (just so we’re all on the same page) by December 31, 2019 using the group email thread set-up by Cecilea Mun. We also ask that you submit the final drafts of your comments to the Journal of Philosophy of Emotion, to be peer reviewed and published as a part of a book symposium in the 2020 summer or winter issue, no later than March 31, 2020. Your symposium paper should be between 1,500-3,000 words. Note to Author: We ask that you submit your response to your commentators to all the participants (just so we’re all on the same page) by January 31, 2020 using the group email thread set-up by Cecilea Mun. We also ask that you submit the final drafts of your précis and response to the Journal of Philosophy of Emotion, to be peer reviewed and published as a part of a book symposium in the 2020 summer or winter issue, no later than March 31, 2020. Your symposium précis should be between 1,500-3,000 words, and we will leave it to you to determine the length of your response. Note to Presenters: You should make sure that you are a member of the SPE at the time of the conference and that you also register for the 2020 Central APA conference (which may be more cost effective if you are also a member). Furthermore, because the SPE does not currently have the funds to pay for video projectors, you should be prepared to present your paper without the use of a video projector. SPE Dinner/Social Event: The SPE will reserve seats at a local restaurant for a group dinner on the evening of the symposium. Reservations will be made for all participants unless you have notified Cecilea Mun that you will not be able to attend. Please contact her regarding any dietary restriction, and please note that all participants will be responsible for their own bill.
2020 Central APA:
February 28, 2020, Friday, 7:00 p.m.-10:00 p.m (CT)
Session G4G, Society for Philosophy of Emotion Affiliated Group Session Title: “Author Meets Critics: Rami Gabriel and Stephen T. Asma, The Emotional Mind: The Affective Roots of Culture and Cognition
Abstract: An affective approach to culture and cognition may hold the key to uniting findings across experimental psychology and, eventually, the Human Sciences. Many accounts of the human mind concentrate on the brain’s computational power yet for nearly 200 million years before humans developed a capacity to reason the emotional centers of the brain were running the show. To attain a clearer picture of the evolution of mind, we challenge the cognitivist and behaviorist paradigms in psychology by exploring how the emotional capacities that we share with other animals saturate every thought and perception. Many of the distinctive social and cultural behaviors of our species, including: bonding, social learning, hierarchy, decision-making, self-identity can be integrated if we use an affective approach. Even the roots of so much that makes us uniquely human—art, mythology, religion—can be traced to feelings of caring, longing, fear, loneliness, awe, rage, lust, and playfulness. An affective framework is developed through elaborations upon biological intentionality, an ecological model of social intelligence, and biocultural loops in the ontogeny of affective systems. Furthermore, we explain the evolution of imagination through its early manifestations in body grammar, dreams, and spatial cognition, also revisiting the evolution of language debate to suggest its associative and analogical forbearers. Drawing from research in anthropology, we describe how affect is domesticated through social and cultural technologies like norms, ceremonies, and goods. We critically analyze the homo economicus model to emphasize the constitutive role of affect in decision-making and acts of passion. Finally, we explore the spiritual emotions in how art, religion, and mythology create ecological niches for belief, commitment, and solidarity. By organizing an analysis of behaviors from an affective perspective, the mind is naturalized and further research into disparate findings across the Human Sciences is enabled. Chair: Cecilea Mun (Independent Researcher) 7:00 p.m. – 7:25 p.m.: Book Synopsis, Stephen T. Asma (Columbia College Chicago, IL) and Rami Gabriel (Columbia College Chicago, IL) (25 minutes) 7:25 p.m.– 7:45 p.m.: First Commentary, “Whither Humanity? Emotional Mind Begs Rational Assessment,” Ann E. Cudd (University of Pittsburgh, PA) (20 minutes) 7:45 p.m. – 8:05 p.m.: Second Commentary, “Emotional Correctness,” Owen Flanagan (Duke University, NC) (20 minutes) 8:05 p.m. – 8:25 p.m.: Third Commentary, Jea S. Oh (West Chester University of Pennsylvania, PA) (20 minutes) 8:25 p.m. – 8:45 p.m.: Fourth Commentary, Bongrae Seok (Alvernia University, PA) (20 minutes)
8:45 p.m. – 8:55 p.m.: Short Break ( 10 minutes) 8:55 p.m. – 9:25 p.m.: Authors' Response, Stephen T. Asma (Columbia College Chicago, IL) and Rami Gabriel (Columbia College Chicago, IL) (30 minutes) 9:25 p.m. – 10:00 p.m.: Audience Questions for Author and Panel of Critics (35 minutes) Note to Critics: Please email your comments to all the participants (just so we’re all on the same page) by December 31, 2019 using the group email thread set-up by Cecilea Mun. We also ask that you submit the final drafts of your comments to the Journal of Philosophy of Emotion, to be peer reviewed and published as a part of a book symposium in the 2020 summer or winter issue, no later than March 31, 2020. Your symposium paper should be between 1,500-3,000 words. Note to Author: We ask that you submit your response to your commentators to all the participants (just so we’re all on the same page) by January 31, 2020 using the group email thread set-up by Cecilea Mun. We also ask that you submit the final drafts of your précis and response to the Journal of Philosophy of Emotion, to be peer reviewed and published as a part of a book symposium in the 2020 summer or winter issue, no later than March 31, 2020. Your symposium précis should be between 1,500-3,000 words, and we will leave it to you to determine the length of your response. Note to Presenters: You should make sure that you are a member of the SPE at the time of the conference and that you also register for the 2020 Central APA conference (which may be more cost effective if you are also a member). Furthermore, because the SPE does not currently have the funds to pay for video projectors, you should be prepared to present your paper without the use of a video projector. SPE Dinner/Social Event: The SPE will reserve seats at a local restaurant for a group dinner on the evening of the symposium. Reservations will be made for all participants unless you have notified Cecilea Mun that you will not be able to attend. Please contact her regarding any dietary restriction, and please note that all participants will be responsible for their own bill.
2020 Central APA:
Society for Philosophy of Emotion Affiliated Group Dinner
Saturday, February 29, 2020, 6:00-8:00 p.m.
The Gage (Restaurant): 24 South Michigan Avenue, Chicago, IL 60603