25.09.2024, ITI Event
Academics from all over the world traveled to Trumau this August to attend a workshop entitled “Alternative Concepts of God and the Problem of Unconceived Alternatives,” hosted by Dr. Simon Maria Kopf, Associate Professor of Fundamental Theology at the ITI and Prof. Georg Gasser from Augsburg University. Throughout the two-day workshop (August 1-2, 2024), participants gave presentations and engaged in discussion surrounding the “problem of unconceived alternatives,” originally formulated by philosopher P. Kyle Stanford in his book, “Exceeding Our Grasp” (2006).
Stanford introduced the problem of unconceived alternatives in the first two sessions of the conference, followed by 10 contributions by experts in different fields. The topic was considered from multiple vantage points, including Philosophy of Science, History and Philosophy of Religion, and Theology. The participants were professors and researchers from the University of Oxford, University of California, Irvine, University of Fribourg, University of Innsbruck, University of Augsburg, and University of Queensland, among others.
“In my view,” P. Kyle Stanford commented after the conclusion of the event, “the conference richly succeeded in its primary goal of showing that there is a wide range of extremely interesting things to say about how the problem of unconceived alternatives might or might not apply in a theological context…The conference was a perfect model of successful interdisciplinary collaboration—importing ideas from one domain to another both to see what can be learned in the new domain and also to expand our understanding of the original ideas.” His report expresses the goal of the SET Foundations of the Loyola University Maryland well, whose generous grant made this project possible. The organization encourages and facilitates open interdisciplinary conversation between the sciences and theology, with the goal of finding points of reconciliation between the truths arrived at by empirical research and truths derived from authentic theological sources.
The participants will contribute to a special peer-reviewed issue on the workshop’s topic. The publication date is yet to be determined, but it will surely display the fruits of the success of this Summer’s workshop.
Thursday, August 1, 2024: Philosophy of Science – History and Philosophy of Religion
· 09.00-11.00: P. Kyle Stanford (University of California, Irvine): The Problem of Unconceived Alternatives
· 11.30-12.30: Peter Harrison (University of Queensland): Historical Perspectives on Unconceived Alternatives in Science and Theology
· 15.00-16.00: J. L. Schellenberg (Mount Saint Vincent University): How to Avoid a Problem of Unconceived Alternatives in Both Science and Religion
· 16.30-17.30: Winfried Löffler (University of Innsbruck): Explanations, Theistic Explanations, and the Problem of Unconceived Alternatives
· 17.30-18.30: Georg Gasser (University of Augsburg): (Modern) Philosophy of Religion as Conceptual Space for Unconceived Alternatives
Friday, August 2, 2024: Philosophy of Religion – Theology
· 09.00-10.00: Jessica Frazier (University of Oxford): Divine Turtles, Diamonds, and Dreams: Conceiving Alternative Ontologies of Creation
· 10.00-11.00: Mohammad Saleh Zarepour (University of Manchester): Ineffability and Unconceived Alternative Concepts of God
· 11.30-12.30: Simon Maria Kopf (ITI): Unconceived Alternatives of “God”: A Challenge for Philosophy of Religion and Theology?
· 15.00-16.00: Veronika Weidner (PTH Brixen): Is there a Theological Problem of Unconceived Alternatives?
· 16.30-17.30: Bruno Niederbacher (University of Innsbruck): Unconceived Alternatives, Christian Faith and Epistemic Permissivism
· 17.30-18.30: Barbara Hallensleben (University of Fribourg): Revelation and Singularity