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THE CONFERENCE REGISTRATION TABLE will be located on the fifth floor of Cashion Academic Center from Wednesday April 12th at 1:00pm until Friday evening. Saturday registration will be on the second floor of the Bill Daniel Student Center (respectively Buildings #47 and #25 on campus map). Parking is conveniently located in the new Baylor parking garage on Speight Avenue between Fourth and Fifth Streets (not on campus map). Conference summary, lodging, and travel information is given below. Click here for complete conference schedule including concurrent sessions as well as biosketches of plenary speakers and one-sentence descriptions of their talks. Title: THE NATURE OF NATURE Subtitle: An Interdisciplinary Conference on the Role of Naturalism in Science Date: April 12-15, 2000 Place: Baylor University   OVERVIEW: Is the universe self-contained or does it require something beyond itself to explain its existence and internal function? Philosophical naturalism takes the universe to be self-contained, and it is widely presupposed throughout science. Even so, the idea that nature points beyond itself has recently been reformulated with respect to a number of issues. Consciousness, the origin of life, the unreasonable effectiveness of mathematics at modeling the physical world, and the fine-tuning of universal constants are just a few of the problems that critics have claimed are incapable of purely naturalistic explanation. Do such assertions constitute arguments from incredulity -- an unwarranted appeal to ignorance? If not, is the explanation of such phenomena beyond the pale of science? Is it, perhaps, possible to offer cogent philosophical and even scientific arguments that nature does point beyond itself? The aim of this conference is to examine such questions. REGISTRATION: The conference registration fee is $95 for non-students, $55 for students if received before March 10th. Thereafter add another $10 to the registration fee. If you wish to attend the conference for just one day (either Thursday, Friday, or Saturday), the cost will be $35 for non-students and $20 for students. The Wednesday evening session is $20 for non-students and $10 for students. Please make out a check or money order to Baylor University and address it to The Michael Polanyi Center, Baylor University, P.O. Box 97130, Waco, TX 76798-7130, Attn.: Conference Registration. Except for the banquet lecture Friday evening (4.14.2000), Baylor students, faculty, and staff may attend the conference without charge. MEALS: The banquet on Friday evening (4.14.2000) is included in the cost of registration for everyone who preregisters for the entire conference. If you register at the door, the cost of attending the banquet will be an additional $20. No other meals are included in the registration fee. Meals vouchers will be available for lunch and dinner ($6 and $12 respectively) at the conference registration table for those who wish to eat on campus. Complimentary continental breakfasts are available at most of the conference hotels. No dinner will be provided on campus at the close of the conference on Saturday (4.15.2000); however, there will be a special dinner hosted for the conference speakers (plenary and concurrent) at an off-campus site. Complimentary coffee and snacks will be available outside the main auditorium throughout the conference. TRAVEL & LODGING: Flights into Waco will typically pass through the Dallas-Ft. Worth Airport. Dallas is only an hour and a half drive from Waco, so conferees may prefer simply to fly into Dallas and then rent a car. Baylor has arranged with four hotels to lodge conferees. Baylor will provide complimentary shuttle service between the conference and the Clarion, Holiday Inn, and Hampton Inn. The schedule for the shuttle will be available at the check in desk of these hotels. La Quinta is located next to campus, and is brief walk to any session of the conference. If attendees have special needs, we will do everything we can to accommodate them. Conferees will need to make reservations with the hotels directly: Hampton Inn 800-426-7866 $75 1-2 individuals April 1 Cut off date Clarion Inn 800-275-9226 $69 1-4 individuals April 1 Cut off date La Quinta 800-531-5900 Conf 51145029 $72 for 1-4 individuals March 29 Cut off date Holiday Inn 800-465-4329 Request Code 2/NON $62 March 28 Cut off date   ***WEDNESDAY, APRIL 12, 2000*** Conferees arrive late afternoon. Buffet dinner served. EVENING PLENARY 7:00-9:30pm: The Nature of Nature Moderator: Alvin Plantinga, University of Notre Dame Michael Williams, Northwestern University Michael Tooley, University of Colorado, Boulder Robert Koons, University of Texas, Austin   ***THURSDAY, APRIL 13, 2000*** PLENARY SESSION 8:00-10:00am: Metaphysics: Are Evolution and Naturalism Incompatible? Moderator: Bruce Gordon, Baylor University Alvin Plantinga, University of Notre Dame William Talbott, University of Washington, Seattle BREAK 10:00-10:30am PLENARY SESSION 10:30am-12:30pm: Naturalism and the History of Science Moderator: Stuart Rosenbaum, Baylor University Everett Mendelsohn, Harvard University Ronald Numbers, University of Wisconsin, Madison Ernan McMullin, University of Notre Dame LUNCH 12:30-1:30pm CONCURRENT SESSIONS 1:30-3:30pm BREAK 3:30-4:00pm PLENARY SESSION 4:00-6:00pm: Does Science Support Naturalism? Moderator: Robert Koons, UT Austin Henry F. Schaefer III, University of Georgia, Athens Steven Weinberg, University of Texas, Austin DINNER 6:00-7:30pm   ***FRIDAY, APRIL 14, 2000*** PLENARY SESSION 8:00-9:00am: Biological Complexity I Simon Conway Morris, Cambridge University BREAK 9:00-9:30am PLENARY SESSION 9:30am-12:30pm: Biological Complexity II Moderator: Simon Conway Morris, Cambridge University Michael Behe, Lehigh University Christian de Duve, Université Catholique de Louvain Mark Ptashne, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center LUNCH 12:30-1:30pm PLENARY SESSION 1:30pm-3:30pm: The Origin of Biological Information Moderator: Horace Freeland Judson, George Washington University Stephen Meyer, Whitworth College Sahotra Sarkar, UT Austin BREAK 3:30-4:00pm PLENARY SESSION 4:00-6:00pm: Cosmology Moderator: Robin Collins, Messiah College Howard Van Till, Calvin College William Lane Craig, Biola University Alan Guth, MIT CONFERENCE BANQUET AND BANQUET LECTURE 6:30-9:30pm Keynote Speaker: Horace Freeland Judson, George Washington University   ***SATURDAY, APRIL 15, 2000*** PLENARY SESSION 8:00-10:00am: Naturalism and Ethics Moderator: J. Budziszewski, UT Austin Dallas Willard, USC Larry Arnhart, Northern Illinois University BREAK 10:00-10:30am PLENARY SESSION 10:30am-12:30pm: Naturalism and the Effectiveness of Mathematics Moderator: William Dembski, Baylor University Edward Zalta, Stanford University Mark Wilson, University of Pittsburgh LUNCH 12:30-1:30pm CONCURRENT SESSIONS 1:30-3:30pm: BREAK 3:30-4:30pm PLENARY SESSION 4:30-6:30pm: Neuroscience and Consciousness Moderator: David Berlinski, Université Interdisciplinaire de Paris Nancey Murphy, Fuller Theological Seminary John Searle, University of California, Berkeley Howard Ducharme, University of Akron, Ohio   DINNER FOR CONFERENCE SPEAKERS 6:30-9:00pm End of Conference