The Emmy Noether research group "Understanding and the A Priori" is hosting an 
author-meets-critics workshop with David Chalmers to critically discuss themes 
from his new book, "Constructing the World" (Oxford University Press 2012). The 
book concerns "scrutability," the thesis that all the truths about the world 
can, in principle, be known on the basis of knowledge of just a limited class 
of basic truths. Chalmers argues for the scrutability thesis and investigates 
which sorts of basic truths can serve as the relevant "scrutability base". The 
book explores the implications of scrutability for a range of central 
philosophical issues: meaning and mental content, the existence of the analytic 
and the a priori, the refutation of skepticism, and the methodology of 
metaphysics, among others.

The workshop will include invited sessions with the following speakers:

Magdalena Balcerak Jackson (Cologne)
Alex Byrne (MIT)
Robin Jeshion (USC)
Hannes Leitgeb (Munich)
David Liebesman (Boston)
Barbara Vetter (HU Berlin)
Mark Wilson (Pittsburgh)

Two sessions for the workshop will be determined on the basis of blind review 
of submissions, and so interested researchers working in all areas of 
philosophy are encouraged to submit abstracts for 45-minute presentations 
devoted to critical discussion of any of the themes of the book. To have a 
presentation considered for the workshop, please submit a 2-page abstract, 
prepared for blind review (i.e. author's name and any identifying information 
removed), along with a separate cover sheet with the title, author's name, 
affiliation and contact information. These should be submitted by email as two 
separate pdf files to: fkreitlo@smail.uni-koeln.de.

The deadline for submissions is March 31, 2012; we aim to make decisions by 
April 15. Questions about the workshop or about submissions can be directed to 
the email address above.