Final Conference

The Final Conference of the project will be held at the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, 25-27 September 2017, after the conclusion of the workshop on “The Place of the Person in the Cosmos“.

The general theme will be the same as that of the workshop, namely the place of the person in the cosmos, but the scale of this event will be much larger. The conference, which will host four international plenary speakers, will have two main sections:

1. As the conference will be the final event of the three-year long project, it will include the presentations of the research produced by the different project grantees:
   • The 10 Oxford Templeton Latin American Scholars;
   • The 9 hosts of the Templeton Visiting Fellows to Latin America;
   • The 10 project leaders of the Project Grants
2. The conference will also host a number of contributed papers from scholars working at Latin America institutions.  Please find below the call for papers for this section of the conference.

Are persons irreducible in the cosmos, and are persons irreducibly important? Can God be conceived as a person? Does the notion of ‘person’ promote in any way our understanding of the cosmos? Is a personal theistic perspective be detrimental or beneficial for the study and motivation to study the cosmos, and ultimate questions regarding the cosmos? What is it to be a person?

The relations between the notions of person and cosmos has been seldom studied, and this conference hopes to provide a space for discussing these issues from different perspectives including cosmology, physics, philosophy of mind, philosophy of religion, and theology. It is expected that accepted papers will engage with these themes from an interdisciplinary perspective including philosophical, scientific, and theological insights on the place of the person in the cosmos.

We are pleased to host as plenary speakers:

• Prof Karin Öberg, Associate Professor of Astronomy, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (US)
• Dr William E. Carroll, Research Fellow, Blackfriars Hall, University of Oxford (UK)
• Prof Claudia Vanney, Director, Institute of Philosophy, Universidad Austral (Argentina)
• Dr Mariano Asla, Biomedics Faculty, Universidad Austral (Argentina)
• Mr José M. Hernández, the first NASA astronaut from a Mexican migrant family (Mexico)

It is expected that, by drawing together the work of the full project, showcasing the achievements, especially of award winners, this conference will provide opportunities for networking, and further stimulating regional interest in scientifically-informed questions pertaining to philosophy and theology.

The call for contributed papers is now closed. You can register for free as an attendee here. Those presenting papers do not need to register.

Timetable

25 / 09 / 17

9:00 Inauguración
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9:15 PLENARY: William E. Carroll (University of Oxford, UK)
“Cosmological Apologetics: For and Against Creation”
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10:45 Coffee Break
11:30 CONTRIBUTED PAPERS (3×3)
13:00 Free time for lunch
15:00 GRANTEES PRESENTATIONS: Projects – Scholarships – Visiting Fellowships
16:30 Coffee Break
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17:30 PLENARY: Rafael Vicuña (Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile)
“La Vida en el Cosmos más allá de la Tierra”
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26 / 09 / 17

9:15 PLENARY: Mariano Asla (Universidad Austral, Argentina)
“Transhumanismo: Legítimas Aspiraciones y Peligros Efectivos”
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10:45 Coffee Break
11:30 CONTRIBUTED PAPERS (3×3)
13:00 Free time for lunch
15:00 GRANTEES PRESENTATIONS: Projects – Scholarships – Visiting Fellowships
17:00 Coffee Break
______________________________
18:00 OPEN LECTURE: José M. Hernández (Former Astronaut NASA, Tierra Luna Engineering)
“La Persona en el Cosmos”
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27 / 09 / 17

9:15 PLENARY: Claudia Vanney & Juan Francisco Franck (Universidad Austral, Argentina)
“Investigación Interdisciplinar: Ciencia, Filosofía y Teología en Diálogo”
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10:45 Coffee Break
11:30 CONTRIBUTED PAPERS (3×3)
13:30 Free time for lunch
15:00 GRANTEES PRESENTATIONS: Projects – Scholarships – Visiting Fellowships
16:30 Coffee Break
______________________________

17:30 CLOSING SESSION: Ignacio Silva & Andrew Pinsent (University of Oxford, UK)
“Science, Philosophy and Theology in Latin America”
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Contributed Papers Timetable

The languages of the conference will be English, Spanish and Portuguese.