INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS

 

DARWIN’S IMPACT ON SCIENCE, SOCIETY AND CULTURE

A 21st CENTURY REASSESSMENT

 

200th anniversary of Darwin’s birth

150th anniversary of the publication of Origin of Species 

 

10-12 September 2009

Abstract Deadline: April 30, 2009

 

CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF PORTUGAL

Faculty of Philosophy

Braga – Portugal

 

The Centre of Philosophical and Humanistic Studies of the Faculty of Philosophy of Braga (Portugal) is organizing an International Congress to celebrate two remarkable anniversaries: the birth of Charles Darwin and the publication of his major work, Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection.

 

Needless to say, the world changed dramatically after Darwin, and we are still coming to terms with the Darwinian revolution, as well as its impact on virtually every domain of human culture. We will reassess this impact especially on science (Biology, genetics, Artificial Life, Psychology and Linguistics), philosophy (Anthropology, Ethics, Epistemology, Aesthetics), and religion (Christianity, Islam, Budhism, Hinduism and other religious faiths). The reception of Darwinism in the different countries and cultures will also be a major issue that is to be addressed in the Congress.

 

 

MAIN AREAS

 

1. DARWINISM

 

1.1-          Darwin and Evolution

1.2-          Origins of Life

1.3-          Origins of Species

1.4-          Natural Selection

1.5-          The Survival of the Fittest

1.6-          The Reception of Darwinism

1.7-          Neo-Darwinism

 

2.        DARWIN’S IMPACT ON SCIENCE

 

2.1-          Biology

2.2-          Psychology

2.3-          Genetics

2.4-          Linguistics

2.5-          Sociology

2.6-          Artificial Life

 

3. DARWIN’S IMPACT ON PHILOSOPHY

 

         3.1- Ethics

         3.2- Anthropology

         3.3- Epistemology

         3.4- Philosophy of Science

         3.5- Aesthetics

 

4. DARWIN’S IMPACT ON ARTS AND HUMANITIES   

 

         4.1. Literature

         4.2- Art

         4.3- Cinema

 

3.        DARWIN’S IMPACT ON RELIGION

 

4.1- The Evangelical Response

4.2- The Catholic Response

4.3- The Islamic Response

4.4- The Buddhist Response

         4.5- The Hindu Response

         4.6- Creationism

         4.7- Intelligent Design

         4.8- On the (in)compatibility of biological evolutionism and religion

 

 

PLENARY SPEAKERS

 

Alfredo Dinis

Associate Professor, Faculty of Philosophy of Braga

“Darwin’s impact on science, society and culture”

 

Ana Leonor Pereira

Auxiliary Professor, University of Coimbra

“The reception of Darwin in Portugal!”

 

Augusto Silva

Associate Professor, Faculty of Philosophy of Braga

 “Evolutionary linguistics”

 

Eric Charmetant

Centre Sèvres, Paris

“Darwin and ethics: the history of an early encounter”

 

Fiorenzo Facchini

Professor of Anthropology at the University of Bologna.

“Culture and its philosophical implications in an evolutionary view”

 

Francisco Ayala

Donald Bren Professor of Biological Sciences and Professor of Philosophy at the University of California, Irvine

“The biological foundations of ethics”

 

George Coyne

Vatican Observatory

“Evolution and Intelligent Design: What is science and what is not”

 

Godehard Bruentrup

Hochschule für Philosophie, München

Darwinism and Naturalism - a Perfect Fit?"

 

Isabel Varanda

Auxiliar Professor of the Faculty of Theology of Braga

Title to be announced

 

Ivo Chelo

Gulbenkian Institute of Science (Genetics)

“Reevaluating the Origin of Species: the genetic constraints of evolution”

 

Jim Salmon

Affiliate Professor of Chemistry and Theology, Loyola in Maryland, USA

“Evolution of information”

 

João José Fraústo da Silva

Departament of Chemical Engeneering, Higher Technical Institute, Technical University of Lisbon.

“Reevaluating the Origin of Species: the chemical constraints of evolution”

 

John F. Haught,

Senior Fellow, Science & Religion, Woodstock Theological Center, Georgetown University

“Darwin challenges to Christianity”

 

José Miguel Dias Costa

Auxiliar Professor of the Faculty of Philosophy of Braga

Title to be announced

“Evolutionary aesthetics”

 

Manuel Sumares

Associate Professor of the Faculty of Philosophy of Braga

Title to be announced

 

Michael Ruse

Lucyle T. Werkmeister Professor of Philosophy and Director of the Program in the History and Philosophy of Science, Florida State University.

 “The Origin, yesterday, today and tomorrow”

 

Rodrigo de Sá Nogueira Saraiva

Associate Professor of the Faculty of Psychology and Science Education, University of Lisbon –

“Evolutionary Psychology”

 

Roland Cazalis

École d’Ingénieurs of Purpan, Toulouse, France

“Darwin as a pedagogical principle in the interaction between biological evolutionism and religion”

 
 

SCIENTIFIC COMMITTEE

 

Carlos Fernandes, Aveiro University

Desiderio Murcho – Federal University of Ouro Preto - Brasil

Domingos Terra, Catholic University of Portugal

Eleonora Costa, Catholic University of Portugal

François Euvé, Centre Sèvres, Paris

João Duque, Catholic University of Portugal

João Manuel R. de Miranda Justo, University of Lisbon

José Henrique Silveira de Brito, Catholic University of Portugal

Leandro Sequeiros, Salamanca University

Luis Archer, New University of Lisbon

Roque Cabral, Catholic University of Portugal

 

 

ORGANIZING COMMITTEE

 

Ana Paula

Artur Galvão

Helena Palhinha

José António Alves

José Lobo

Miguel Gonçalves

Manuela Taveira

 

 

REGISTRATION FEES

Until August 31:

 

General Public: € 180 (€ 220 thereafter)

Former FacFil students: € 120 (€ 150 thereafter)

Graduate students: € 80 (€ 120 thereafter)

Undergraduate students: € 50 (€: 80 thereafter).

 

 

CONTRIBUTED PAPERS

GUIDELINES FOR SUBMISSION

To be considered for a paper presentation at the Congress, please submit all the following items in ENGLISH

 

  1. A separate COVER SHEET that lists the author(s) full name(s), name of institutions(s), complete postal address, telephone number(s), and email address, along with both the PAPER TITLE, and the THEMATIC AREA.

 

  1. On a different SEPARATE sheet, a 200 word BIOGRAPHY for each author of the paper, written in a third-person form (“She is professor….” rather than “I am professor…”)

 

  1. An ABSTRACT of between 500 and 1000 words. The ABSTRACT must not contain any self-references, in order to facilitate blind review. Include main bibliographical references 

 

The abstract should be as informative as possible:
 

a) state specific object of study

c) summarise results obtained

b) state method used, if pertinent

d) state conclusions reached

e) main references

f) thematic area 


Bibliographical references are included at the end of the abstract/paper according to the following examples:

Singer, P., “Ethics and Sociobiology”, Zygon 19 (1984) 142-151.

Moreland, J.P. and J.M. Reynolds, eds. Three Views on Creation and Evolution, Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1999.

Haught, J., God after Darwin, Philadelphia: Westview Press, 2008.

Maynard Smith, J. “A Darwinian View of Symbiosis”, in Symbiosis as a Source of Evolutionary Innovation: Speciation and Morphogenesis, ed. L. Margulis and R. Fester, Cambridge: MIT Press, 1991: 26-39.

 

 

ALL SUBMISSION ELEMENTS MUST BE SENT VIA EMAIL AS ATTACHMENTS written in WORD (NO .pdf files will be accepted). WE CANNOT ACCEPT ANY OF THIS INFORMATION IN THE BODY OF THE EMAIL MESSAGE.

 

As this is an international congress, the official language is ENGLISH. However, there will be some sessions of the congress that will be conducted in PORTUGUESE, SPANISH AND FRENCH. Please submit at least the ABSTRACT in ENGLISH. 

 

LENGTH LIMIT OF FULL PAPERS: 10,000 words (approximately 20 single-spaced 8.5”x11” typed in 12 pt. Arial or Times New Roman font).

 

READING TIME: approximately 20 minutes, followed by up to 10 minutes of question and answer.

 

DEADLINE for submitting abstract and biography:  APRIL 30, 2009.

 

DEADLINE FOR NOTIFICATION OF ACCEPTANCE:  MAY 30, 2009.

 

DEADLINE for completed versions of SELECTED papers: JUNE 30, 2009

 

FORMAT for papers: Final Papers must be submitted in ELECTRONIC format (WORD).

 

 

Please, submit cover sheets, abstracts, bios and (if selected) completed papers via email to darwinpapersbraga@gmail.com

 

 

 

CALL FOR POSTERS

 
GUIDELINES FOR SUBMISSION
 

To be considered for a poster presentation at the Congress, please submit all the following items in ENGLISH

 

  1. A separate COVER SHEET that lists the author(s) full name(s), name of institutions(s), complete postal address, telephone number(s), and email address, along with both the POSTER TITLE, and the THEMATIC AREA.

 

  1. On a different SEPARATE sheet, a 200 word BIOGRAPHY for each author of the poster, written in a third-person form (“She is professor….” rather than “I am professor…”)

 

  1. An ABSTRACT of between 250 and 300 words. The ABSTRACT must not contain any self-references, in order to facilitate blind review. Include main bibliographical references.

 

The abstract should be as informative as possible:

a) state specific object of study

d) summarise results obtained

b) state method used, if pertinent

e) state conclusions reached

c) include main references  

f) indicate the poster’s thematic area 

 

As this is an international congress, the official language is ENGLISH. However, posters may be presented also in PORTUGUESE, SPANISH AND FRENCH. Please submit at least the ABSTRACT in ENGLISH. 

 

 

DEADLINE for submitting abstract and biography:  APRIL 30, 2009.

 

DEADLINE FOR NOTIFICATION OF ACCEPTANCE:  MAY 30, 2009.

 

 

Please, submit cover sheets, abstracts, bios and (if selected) completed papers via email to darwinpostersbraga@gmail.com

 

 

GUIDELINES FOR PREPARING POSTER PRESENTATION FOR THE

 

INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS ON DARWIN’S IMPACT ON SCIENCE, SOCIETY AND CULTURE. A 21st CENTURY REASSESSMENT

 (18PT, ARIAL BOLD),

 

UPPERCASE

 

1Ayu Rahman, 2Teh Siew Cing,    (14pt.)

1Department of Information Technology & Quantitative Sciences, Universiti Teknologi MARA Pulau Pinang, Malaysia  ¬ 11pt.

2 School of Mathematical Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Pulau Pinang, Malaysia

e-mail:  1ayurahman@ppinang.uitm.edu.my, 2tehscing@usm.my

 

Abstract (14pt., Arial bold)

Abstract should be clear and written in 12 pt Arial, between 250 – 300 words.

 

1. Format (14pt., Arial bold)

 

The font type used in the content of poster is Arial. The font size is 12 point. The text is presented in 2 columns. Please note that there is a 10 pages upper limit on the length of each poster, in A4 size paper.

 

1.1 Margin (12pt., Arial bold)

 

The margin for the general text is 1 inch on the top, bottom, left and right.

 

1.2 Header

 

The following header is positioned at 0.5 inch from the top of the first page only. Font size is 8-point, regular.

 

“International Congress on

Darwin’s impact on science,

Society and culture  (2009)”

 

2. Content of Poster 

 

The content of the poster should include introduction, summary of literature review, methodology, analysis, discussion, summary and conclusion. References are also to be included.

 

2.1 Presentation of Poster

 

The poster should be printed in white A4 paper and laminated. The participants with an accepted poster (only one per participant) should report to the organizing committee of the Congress  on the first day of conference. An exhibition area will be assigned to the participants to paste their poster presentation.

 

 

VENUE
 

The venue of the conference is the Faculty of Philosophy of Braga (Faculdade de Filosofia de Braga) (http://www.facfil.ucp.pt), located in the center of the town.

 

Faculty of Philosophy of Braga

Praça da Faculdade de Filosofia, 1

4710-297 Braga - Portugal

 

GEOGRAPHICAL NOTE

 

Braga is the capital of Minho, the most northern and ancient province of Portugal. Having a history that goes back more than 2,250 years, the city is an important religious, social and cultural center, and is one of the oldest Christian towns, being known as “The Portuguese Rome”. Braga offers a very diversified touristic-cultural program, a civilizable route, provided with documents since the Pre-Historical period to our days. Here we can find the most different and important monumental concentration predominating the Romanic, the Baroque, the Religious Art presented in most of the Churches and Convents, the Civil Art of Palaces and Manor Houses, the "Castros" and Archaeological ruins where the unchangeable secular tranquility remains. The city is 50 km from Oporto and 75 km from the Spanish boarder, and is linked to other European cities via railway (with some shortcomings), highway and Oporto international airport (half an hour from Braga). Click here for a brief historical and geographical note on Braga and Minho.

 

The Catholic University of Portugal was established in 1967, and has a regional configuration. It was born in the North, extended to Lisbon, where the Rector’s office is located, and continued its expansion to Oporto, Viseu, Figueira da Foz, Leiria and Sintra (in that order) in response to local needs. It has a total of nearly 10,000 students.

 

The Faculty of Philosophy of Braga was founded by the Jesuits in 1945 and in 1967 it became the first Faculty of the newly created Catholic University of Portugal. It offers undergraduate studies in Philosophy and in Humanities (Portuguese and Classical languages, literatures and cultures). It also offers a first degree that combines Philosophy and Humanities, and another that combines Philosophy and Business Administration. The four main post-graduation areas are Bioethics, Portuguese Literature and Linguistics, Cognitive Sciences and Documental Sciences. There are two main Research Centers: Philosophy (which includes a Cognitive Sciences Group) and Humanities (Linguistics, Portuguese Literature and Classical Studies).

 

 

 

CONTACTS

darwinpapersbraga@gmail.com  (papers and posters)

ocdarwinbraga@gmail.com         (organizing committee)

infobragadarwin@gmail.com      (general information)

 

 

WEBSITE UNDER CONSTRUCTION. YOU WILL BE ABLE TO REGISTER ON-LINE IN A COUPLE OF WEEKS.