Symposion on Evolution of Semantic Systems	sponsored by:
	October 5-6th, 2007 Jena, Germany

Complex systems in nature and culture use information for the development of their internal organisation and the control of their functional mechanisms. Without the storage, transmission, and processing of information, the evolution of complexity would have been impossible.
Information always has a semantic dimension, which can be described in terms of meaning, sense, reference, and function. The study of semantics must therefore play a decisive role in the analysis of complex systems.
Semantic topics are addressed by a large variety of scientific disciplines. This symposium attempts to foster a better understanding of semantic systems from an evolutionary perspective.

NEW:  Conference Programme and Important Questions

Organizers:

• Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena (Germany)
• Institute of Philosophy (Prof. Dr. Bernd-Olaf Küppers, Dr. Stefan Artmann)
• Jena University Language and Information Engineering (JULIE) Lab (Prof. Dr. Udo Hahn)
• Institute of Computer Science (Prof. Dr. Clemens Beckstein, Dr. Peter Dittrich, Dr. Harald Sack)
  
  

Invited Speakers (confirmed):

• Jon Doyle (North Carolina/USA): „Mechanics and Mental Change“
• Dagfinn Føllesdal (Stanford/USA): „The Emergence of Reference“
• Nicola Guarino (Trento/Italy): „Why Does an Ontology Change? Accounting for Ontology Change Rationale“
• Jerry R. Hobbs (Marina del Rey/USA): „Towards a Theory of Information Structure“
• Ian Horrocks (Oxford/UK): „What Can Ontologies Do for Us?“
• Rüdiger Inhetveen (Erlangen/Germany): „Talking about Structures“
• Alexa T. McCray (Harvard/USA): „Taxonomic Change as a Reflection of Progress in a Scientific Discipline“
• Christoph von der Malsburg (Frankfurt/Germany and  Los Angeles/USA): „About the Organization of Semantic Systems“
• Barry Smith (Buffalo/USA and Saarbrücken/Germany): „Evolving Ontologies: The Future of Biomedical Informatics“
   
  

 Participants

update: October 2nd, 2007 - Feel free to contact Stefan Artmann for further requests.