Ned Markosian of the Philosophy Department at Western Washington University has written in about BSPC 2006. Information is available here:
The Bellingham Summer Philosophy Conference is an annual festival of philosophy, featuring several days of formal philosophy sessions, informal discussions, and various non-philosophical activities, all in and around scenic Bellingham, Washington, in the beautiful northwest corner of the U.S. (Click here to see a map of the region.)
The BSPC is a general philosophy conference, with no particular philosophical theme. For the past four years, Philosophical Studies has agreed to publish selected papers from the BSPC (see here and here), and there is some reason to think that will happen again with BSPC 2006.
In addition to numerous exciting philosophy papers, previous BSPCs have featured barbecues, lots of enjoyable meals and late-night revelry, and various other activities (including basketball, ultimate frisbee, hiking, and sea kayaking).
BSPC 2006 will feature ten formal philosophy sessions, taking place over three days, together with various informal philosophical and recreational activities, taking place over a span of about five days.
Each of the formal philosophy sessions of BSPC 2006 will be devoted to a single paper. It is likely that all of the papers will be "pre-reads" -- papers that have been made available to conference participants in advance. Each of these sessions will consist of the presentation of prepared comments on the relevant paper followed by a discussion of that paper.
BSPC participants are encouraged to bring their families and friends, to arrive early and stay late, and to take advantage of the many recreational activities in the region, including hiking, biking, boating, island-hopping, and visits to Vancouver and Seattle.
Bellingham, Washington is located on Puget Sound, 55 miles from Vancouver and 85 miles from Seattle. It is a pleasant town of about 80,000, with lots of nice scenery, restaurants, bookstores, and coffee shops. In the immediate vicinity there are beaches, mountains, lakes, numerous local and state parks, all manner of biking and hiking trails, ferries to Victoria and the San Juan Islands, and opportunities for kayaking, sailing, and whale watching.
Please note that BSPC 2006 is not open to the general public. It is, instead, an invitation-only affair. (This is partly due to funding and logistical constraints, and partly due to the fact that the BSPC is a workshop-style conference that involves in-depth discussions of works-in-progress.)
The method for determining conference participants this year will be similar to the one that was used last year. Attendance at the conference will be limited to (a) people on the program as either authors, commentators, or session chairs, and (b) the members of Western's philosophy department. But everyone in the world is welcome to submit a paper, or volunteer to be a commentator or session chair.
For paper submission guidelines, and information about how to volunteer to be a commentator or session chair, click here.
Note to potential conference participants with children: For information on the availability of childcare during the BSPC, click here.
Here is a page with some information about BSPCers who are interested in sharing rides to and from one of the local airports.
Here is a page with various pieces of information pertaining to arriving for the BSPC.
Bellingham is a lovely town, and the folks at WWU have in the past always generated a relaxed, philosophically rich atmosphere. How have they done it? I dunno! But philosophers should seriously consider submitting papers or volunteering to comment or chair.
