The purpose of this competition is to promote new work in the emerging interdisciplinary field of philosophy of cosmology, in particular by encouraging scholars at all career stages to consider the central questions in this area. We solicit papers on any topic concerning the philosophy of cosmology. We are particularly (but not exclusively) interested in work that addresses the main themes of the “New Directions in Philosophy of Cosmology” project.

We anticipate awarding up to three prizes. The first prize will be $ 1,500, with two additional prizes of $ 500 each. Winners of first prize will be invited to present their paper at a conference in summer 2020, with travel expenses paid, and the essay will be published in an edited volume that will be published following the conference.

Papers should be anonymized for blind refereeing, and should not be submitted to other venues. Papers under 9,000 words will be preferred. Women and underrepresented minorities are encouraged to submit papers, as are junior scholars.

Submission deadline extended to July 31, 2019

We aim to communicate the decisions in August 2019. Papers should be sent to dfox27@uwo.ca, as should all correspondence. The organizing committee (Smeenk, Weatherall) will select the winning essays, with the assistance of anonymous reviewers.

This competition is funded through a grant awarded by the John Templeton Foundation.

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