TFAP
Tokyo Forum For Analytic Philosophy
Program
Inclusive Materialism as an Alternative to Physicalism and Idealism
Speaker: Javier Pérez Jara
From: Yale University
URL: https://ccs.yale.edu/profile/javier-perez-jara
Abstract: Despite the central place of materialism in the history of philosophy, there is no universal consensus on the meaning of “matter” or on the doctrine of philosophical materialism itself. Dictionaries of philosophy often identify materialism with its most reductionist, and even eliminative, versions, aligning it with Robert Boyle’s seventeenth-century use of the term. Yet if we trace the concept from Indian and Greek philosophy to the present, we encounter more inclusive forms of materialism, as well as complex interactions between materialist and non-materialist accounts of matter’s place in reality.
I define philosophical materialism in its most general sense both positively and negatively: positively, as identifying reality with matter, understood in terms of legal changeability and plurality; and negatively, as rejecting disembodied living beings and Platonic ideas. This inclusive approach sheds new light on the history of the concepts of matter and materialism while remaining attentive to scientific developments. On this basis, I propose and defend a form of inclusive materialism that rejects both idealism and dualistic metaphysics without collapsing into physicalism. Central to this account are emergence, systems, the complex interplay of continuities and discontinuities that structure reality, and the diverse forms of causality. My aim is to show that a philosophically and scientifically informed updated materialism can provide a coherent and well-grounded ontological framework.
Toward a Generative View of Testimonial Justification
Speaker: Sui Shimizu
From: Hokkaido University
URL: --
Abstract: The debate between transmissive and generative views of testimony is usually framed in terms of knowledge. According to the generation view, testimony can generate knowledge even when neither the speaker nor the testimonial chain previously possessed that knowledge. However, Wright (2016) argues that the real issue underlying the dispute concerns justification rather than knowledge, particularly propositional justification. Despite the significance of this challenge, a generative account of testimonial justification remains largely unexplored.
Interestingly, a similar debate in the epistemology of memory has developed in a different direction. While early discussions focused on the generation of memorial knowledge, subsequent work has centred on whether memory preserves or generates propositional justification, yielding increasingly refined accounts of the preservative/generative distinction.
In this talk, I draw on these developments in the epistemology of memory to reconsider the testimonial case. Using the framework proposed by Miyazono and Tooming (2025), I examine existing generative accounts of testimony and sketch a more precise way of understanding the distinction between the transmission and generation of testimonial justification.
Rule-based theories and wrong-makers
Speaker: Yoshiki Yoshimura
From: University of Tokyo
URL: https://researchmap.jp/yoshikiyoshimura
Abstract: When a moral theory aims to align with people’s strong intuitions, it must consider not only which actions are deemed wrong, but also what makes those actions wrong. Some critics argue that rule-based theories—such as rule-consequentialism—sometimes fail to accommodate intuitive wrong-makers. In my presentation, I will address this criticism as it applies to rule-consequentialism. I will begin by suggesting that a certain framework allows rule-consequentialism to avoid this problem. This framework is based on two main ideas: (a) the ideal code specifies normative reasons for action, and (b) some of these reasons serve as right- or wrong-makers. I will then offer tentative rationales for believing that, within this framework, rule-consequentialism would indeed accommodate intuitive wrong-makers.
TBA
Speaker: Yair Levy
From: Tel Aviv University
URL: https://www.yairlevy.sites.tau.ac.il/
Abstract: TBA
TBA
Speaker: Alexandre Declos
From: Université de Neuchâtel
URL: https://www.unine.ch/philo/alexandre-declos/
Abstract: TBA
TBA
Speaker: Chris Letheby
From: University of Western Australia
URL: https://research-repository.uwa.edu.au/en/persons/chris-letheby/
Abstract: TBA
TBA
Speaker: Tomoya Kubota
From: University of Tokyo
URL: https://researchmap.jp/kubotatomoya?lang=en
Abstract: TBA
TBA
Speaker: Gurpreet Rattan
From: University of Toronto
URL: https://discover.research.utoronto.ca/5751-gurpreet-rattan/about
Abstract: TBA
TBA
Speaker: Sam Clarke
From: University of Southern California
URL: https://sampclarke.net/
Abstract: TBA