Duke University will host an international conference on European receptions of the thought of the French philosopher Descartes in the century following his death in 1650. The conference is co-sponsored by the Philosophy Department, the Franklin Center, and the Institute for French and Francophone Studies, and it is made possible by the generous support of The Florence Gould Foundation. The official languages of the conference are English and French, and simultaneous translation will be available. Speakers for the conference are invited, but there will be a call for chairs of sessions. The Department has is organizing reading groups, and new groups sometimes form in conjunction with graduate seminars.
Some groups meet more regularly than others.
During the 1996- 97 academic year, these reading groups met on alternating Tuesday evenings in the Philosophy Department lounge. There is a newly revived Triangle Circle Philosophy of Mind Reading Group . The group meets monthly or bi-monthly. Periodically the Department holds lunchtime talks given by members of the faculty and graduate student body. The lunches are primarly intended for intradepartmental audiences.