News

The orientation for new Philosophy MA students takes place on Tuesday August 30th at 13:15 in room 336. During the orientation new students will have the opportunity to meet potential supervisors and get vital information concerning the new academic year and the study process in general.

Tuesday, August 23, at 14.15 Mari-Liis Madisson will defend her PhD thesis in Semiotics titled "The Semiotic Construction of Identities in Hypermedia Environments: The Analysis of Online Communication of the Estonian Extreme Right" at the Senat Hall, Main building of the university. Summary:

On August 17th at 14:15 Jaana Eigi will defend her PhD thesis in philosophy titled "The Social Organization of Science as a Question for Philosophy of Science". The defense will take place at the UT Senate Hall. Jaana Eigi's supervisor is Associate Professor Endla Lõhkivi and her opponent is University researcher Kristina Rolin, University of Helsinki, Helsinki Collegium of Advanced Studies (Finland).

From June 20th to 30th there is an additional admission period to the English language Philosophy MA program, only full tuition places (3520 euros per year) are available. Graduates of Estonian universities can apply via SAIS, graduates of foreign universities can apply via Dreamapply.

The ecosemiotics summer seminar ‘Ecological impoverishment as a collapse of sense’ takes place from the 9th to the 11th of July on the island of Muhu, in Tamse village. The language of the seminar will be English. Philosopher, biosemiotician and biologist Andreas Weber will be the keynote speaker of the seminar.

Huw Price: Naturalism, Pragmatism and Representationalism The 2016 Frege Lectures in Theoretical Philosophy will be held by Huw Price at the University of Tartu. The title of this year's lectures is “Naturalism, Pragmatism and Representationalism”. Huw Price is Bertrand Russell Professor of Philosophy at the University of Cambridge, a Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge and Academic Director of the Centre for the Study of Existential Risk (CSER).

Supervisor: Professor Kalevi Kull, (PhD) Opponent: Associate Professor Karel Kleisner (Charles University in Prague, Ph.D.) Summary: The present dissertation attempts a modeling of the evolutionary phenomenon of exaptation according to C. S. Peirce’s theory of signs and inference. To accomplish this, the first section (“Before exaptation: preadaptation and Chauncey Wright”) focuses on the meaning of the concept and reveals its vast historical background. Special attention is paid to C.

The aim of the course is to give an intensive introduction to Lotman’s semiotic theory of culture, its theoretical background and context as well as new developments and applications of his theory in current semiotics and cultural sciences. More specific aim is offer deeper understanding of cultural mechanisms and a set of tools for practical analysis of culture – cultural texts as well as cultural processes – that would afford new insights into contemporary cultural dynamics.

From June 1-4 the international seminar Semiofest Tallinn 2016 will take place at Culture Cauldron in Tallinn. Semiofest is a series of conferences dedicated to semiotic applications in enterpreneurship and business. Conferences take place every year in different locations all over the world. In addition to lectures with international speakers from both enterprises and the academic sphere, workshops and consultations take place. Topics include marketing, branding, and other spheres in which mainly sociosemiotic approaches are put in application.

Practical Philosophy Friday, May 27th at Jakobi 2-336 12:00 Beka Jalagania “Moral and Legal Status of Animals: Why Animals Should Have Legal Rights” juhendaja Francesco Orsi, retsensent Mats Volberg 13:20 Iuliia Krisheminska „The Problem of Dirty Hands in Transitional Justice“ juhendaja Kadri Simm, retsensent Siobhan Kattago 14:30 Marika Proover „The Non-Identity Problem: Accounting for Future People and Animals“ juhendaja Francesco Orsi, retsensent Karel Pajus

The topic of the conference is "Reintroducing the semiosphere". The language of the conference is English and Russian. Homepage and preliminary program can be found at https://www.tlu.ee/et/Humanitaarteaduste-instituut/Teadus/semiootikavaramu/uudised-syndmused The topics to be discussed include, but are not limited, to the following:

In the coming academic year, the position of Visiting Professor of Liberal Arts at the University of Tartu will be taken up by writer and semiotician Valdur Mikita, who is one of the most unique authors and essayists in modern Estonian literature. He is renowned by critics, award committees and the general public.

The Frege Lectures in theoretical philosophy 2016 will be delivered by professor Huw Price (University of Cambridge) on the topic "Naturalism, pragmatism and representationalism". The lectures will take place on June 27th and 28th in Tartu at Jakobi 2. Read more on Huw Price, the topic of the lectures and the schedule.

On the 9th of February (12:15, @Jakobi 2, III floor) visiting researcher Tatiana Golikova from Mari State University (Russia) will give a presentation "Formation of future foreign language teachers’ and school students’ values". Abstract Formation of future foreign language teachers’ and school students’ values.

Renowned media scholar John Hartley, currently Professor of Cultural Science at Curtin University, Australia, has been applying semiotic tools in media studies since his first, celebrated book "Reading Television" written together with John Fiske in 1978. Professor Hartley has published over twenty books about communication, journalism, media and cultural studies. Lotman's ideas on culture as a semiotic system have played an important part in his approach to media, cultural industries and innovation.

During a week-long seminar from May 2nd to May 6th on Ludwig Wittgenstein we will have our next Philosophical Film Club meeting where we will be watching Derek Jarman's 1993 movie "Wittgenstein". Discussion after the movie will be led by Giovanni Mion and Erik Thomsen. (Discussion will be in English)

On April 21-24 2016 Nordic Network for Philosophy of Science will hold its annual conference in Pärnu, with over 50 presenters from the Nordic countries and elsewhere from the world. Topics of the presentations will range from classical philosophy of science questions such as causality, scientific realism, construction on models as well as questions concerning special sciences, like biology and medicine. But other topics include history of science, philosophical aspects of science policy and the place of science in one's worldview.

On the 26th and 27th March 2016 the University of Tartu will host a graduate conference on topics that fall within the field of social epistemology. Excitingly, Professor Kristie Dotson from Michigan State University will be joining us as the keynote speaker for the conference.

FLFI.00.102 Critical Thinking (3 ECTS) Mats Volberg Tue 16-18, Jakobi 2-336 During the course we will look at the philosophical foundations of critical thinking (logic, common fallacies, etc.) and practice applying these to analyzing and reconstructing arguments both in academic and ordinary texts. All levels.

Senior researcher of philosophy Bruno Mölder has edited a book titled "Philosophy and Psychology of Time” that was published in the Springer series “Studies in Brain and Mind”. The co-editors of the volume are Valtteri Arstila (University of Turku) and Peter Øhrstrøm (Aalborg University). Contributers of the book include numerous philosophers and psychologists: Samuel Baron, Kristie Miller, Dan Zakay, Sean Enda Power, Marc Wittmann, Oliver Rashbrook-Cooper, Tamas Madl, Stan Franklin, Javier Snaider, Usef Faghihi, Kielan Yarrow, Derek H. Arnold and Colwyn Trevarthen.