The Sixth Principia International Symposium will be held in Florianopolis, Brazil, from 3 to 6 August, 2009, focusing on Charles Darwin and his impact on philosophy and science.

The five previous symposia in this series have been devoted respectively to Principles in Philosophy and in the Sciences (1999), The Philosophy of Bertrand Russell (2001), The Philosophy of Willard van Orman Quine (2003), The Philosophy of Donald Davidson (2005), and The Philosophy of Bas van Fraassen (2007).

This Symposium is being organized by the Epistemology and Logic Research Group (NEL-UFSC), in association with Principia, and supported by the Graduate Program in Philosophy and the Philosophy Department of Federal University of Santa Catarina (UFSC), Brazil.

General Program

Besides the main session about Darwin, we are also planning to have parallel sessions dealing with the following subjects:

• Philosophy and History of Science,
• Logic and Philosophy of Language,
• Epistemology,
• Ethics and Philosophy of the Human Sciences,
  
• Metaphysics and Philosophy of Mind.
  

There will also be meetings of the following research groups belonging to the Brazilian National Association of Graduate Studies in Philosophy (ANPOF):

• Logic
• Philosophy of Science
• Ethics

Invited Speakers

Alejandro Rosas (Universidad Nacional de Colombia)
Carlos López Beltran (Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México - UNAM)
Jean Gayon (Université Paris I)
Jorge Martínez Contreras (Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana - UAM)
João Paulo Gomes Monteiro (New University of Lisbon and University of São Paulo)
Hugh Lacey (Swarthmore College)
Michel Ghins (University of Louvain-la-Neuve)
Michel Paty (University of Paris VII-Denis Diderot)
Oswaldo Chateaubriand Filho (Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro)

Submission format

Contributed papers to the symposium can be written in English, French, Portuguese, or Spanish. An extended abstract (about 500 words, in any of these languages) of the paper must be submitted by January 31, 2009 to the organizing committee. Submissions must be made by e-mail only to the following address: nel@cfh.ufsc.br.

[**NB: members of ANPOF research groups must send their contributions
directly to the group coordinator. The deadline is the same.]

Abstracts must give enough detail to allow the scientific committee to assess the merits of the work. Please, include an identification page with the author's name, e-mail, his/her professional category (professor, associate professor, researcher, or student), and full institutional address.

Papers submitted by undergraduate students, even if in collaboration with their supervisors or other professionals, will not be accepted.

Authors will be notified of acceptance or rejection by February 28, 2009. Abstracts will be available for participants by the time of the conference.

Contributed papers will be invited for submission (in full version) to a special issue of Principia.

Financial Support to Speakers

In order to provide a partial aid to the speakers in the Sixth Principia International Symposium, the organizing committee will do its best to obtain financial support from Brazilian funding agencies. However, participants must not rely only on this source, and are strongly encouraged to try to get support from their universities, especially with regard to their flight tickets.

Inscriptions and Fees

Participants living in Brazil, including speakers, will benefit from progressive reductions for the symposium's fees (click here for additional information, in Portuguese). Because of the high charges for sending international money orders and some local banking difficulties, foreign participants won't benefit from such reductions.

Organizing Committee

Gustavo Caponi, chair (Federal University of Santa Catarina, Brazil)
Cezar Mortari, secretary (Federal University of Santa Catarina, Brazil)
Alberto Cupani (Federal University of Santa Catarina, Brazil)

Scientific Committee

Ana Barahona (UNAM)
Elliott Sober (University of Wisconsin - Madison)
Hugh Lacey (Swarthmore College, USA)
Jean Gayon (Université Paris I)
Luiz Henrique de Araújo Dutra (Federal University of Santa Catarina, Brazil)
Paulo Hofmann (Federal University of Santa Catarina, Brazil)