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Rising stars in philosophy will get a chance to shine at the 12th annual����at ���ϲ�����.

SPAWN, which stands for “���ϲ����� Philosophy Annual Workshop and Network,” will run from Monday, June 26, to Wednesday, June 28, in the Kilian Room (500) in the Hall of Language.��

Kris McDaniel

Philosophers from around the world will participate in 10 workshop sessions, each of which features a paper on this year’s theme of first-order metaphysics.��

Given the small-workshop format, participation at SPAWN is by invitation-only. Those interested in attending, however, may contact Kris McDaniel, professor of philosophy in the , at 315.443.2245 or��krmcdani@syr.edu.

Each workshop session pits a young presenter (i.e., someone who has earned a Ph.D. in the past decade) against a senior commentator. Both engage in a spirited debate about a specific topic—in this year’s case, the fundamental nature of reality—addressing current, new and emerging issues.��

“By bringing together bright, young philosophers with experienced scholars, SPAWN helps shape the discussion and research about a range of issues”, says McDaniel, who is co-organizing the event with Ph.D. student Arturo Javier-Castellanos.��

This year’s SPAWN features 10 junior speakers, eight senior commentators and seven workshop chairs from a variety of institutions, including Stanford University, M.I.T., the University of Notre Dame, the University of Oxford (U.K.) and Yonsei University (Korea).��

Metaphysics is a division of philosophy that addresses fundamental questions about reality left unsettled by empirical scientific investigation.

First-order metaphysics focuses on topics such as free will; the nature of existence and being; and the nature of space, time, possibility and necessity.��

McDaniel says that, to understand first-order metaphysics, one must take into account something called��meta-metaphysics.��

“Every human activity is a source of philosophical questions, and is an appropriate subject for philosophical investigation. This includes the activity of doing philosophy,” he says. “Meta-metaphysics focuses on the activity of pursuing metaphysical questions; first-order metaphysics tries to answer these questions.”��

Case in point: A popular metaphysical question is “Do we have free will?” Meta-metaphysics, however, might ask “What is the proper methodology for attempting to answer the question of whether or not we have free will?”��

McDaniel continues: “In recent philosophical inquiry, there has been an intense focus on questions about metaphysics, rather than on questions of metaphysics. This conference focuses on the latter.”��

SPAWN is made possible by the Alice Hooker ’34 Endowed Fund for Philosophy. Additional support comes from the Central New York Humanities Corridor, thanks to a generous gift from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.