The meeting was called to order at 12:30 p.m. on Wednesday, August 9, 2006 by Jane McIntyre, President of the Hume Society, who announced the agenda:

1.  Approval of the minutes of the 2005 business meeting.

2.  Motions of Gratitude to the Conference Organizers

3.  Report of the President

4.  Report of the Secretary-Treasurer

5.  Report of Hume Studies Editors

6.  Updates on Future Conferences

7.  New business

 Under item 1, Approval of the of the 2005 minutes was moved and seconded.  The minutes were ratified by the members present.

 Under item 2, the following motions of gratitude were passed unanimously:

Motion One: I invite all here assembled to join me in expressing the Hume Society’s deepest gratitude to Koblenz-Landau University for its gracious hospitality as the host institution of the 32nd Annual Hume Society Conference, convened in Koblenz, August 7 – 10, 2006.

We also thank the the German Research Council, the Ministry for Science, Further Training, Research and Culture, the President of the University, the Freundeskreis of the University,and theFachschaft Philosophie.

It is  further moved that copies of this motion be sent to the appropriate officers of the University of Koblenz and to all of the co-sponsors named above.

Motion Two:  I invite all here assembled to join me in expressing our congratulations and acknowledgement of indebtedness to the Conference Co-directors,

Rachel Cohon, University of Albany, State University of New York

Lorne Falkenstein, The University of Western Ontario

Rudolph Luethe, University of Koblenz-Landau at Koblenz

 In particular, we commend:

(1) their willingness, despite being geographically separated, to undertake shared responsibility for planning and jointly organizing the conference;

(2) their judiciousness in creating a splendid conference program on the themes of Kulturphilosophie, Hume and the German-speaking Philosophers, and Hume’s Aesthetics.

(3) their resourcefulness in seeking and securing funding for the conference from a variety of sources:

(4)  their energy in overseeing the countless arrangements and details that contributed to the great success of the event; and especially;

 (5) ) their care to insure that Hume Society members from many different countries had a chance to become personally acquainted with one another, and with their respective ongoing intellectual activities.

I further move that the copies of the above expression of gratitude be sent to the appropriate administrators of the University of Western Ontario, Koblenz-Landau University, and the University of Albany, SUNY.

Motion Three: I invite all here assembled to join me in acknowledgement of indebtedness to Charlotte Brown, Illinois Wesleyan University.  Charlotte graciously served as a temporary replacement for one of the conference directors who was unable to serve due to illness. 

I further move that the copies of the above expression of gratitude be sent to the appropriate administrator of  Illinois Wesleyan University.

Under item 3, The Society’s President, Jane McIntyre, reported on the EC’s business in 2005-2006.

1.  This year (2006) is a presidential election year. Citing a desire to share the honor with other worthy candidates, the president announced that she would not seek re-election.

The president also announced that the search for a new Executive Secretary-Treasurer is underway. Interested candidates should contact her or any other member of the Executive Committee. The term of the new secretary-treasurer begins January 1, 2008.

2.  The EC has approved the following conference sites:  2007 Boston, and 2008 Iceland. We have an invitation for a 2010 conference in Antwerp.  Planning is underway for a 2011 conference  in Scotland.  2009 is still open.  We welcome invitations for that conference, which is to be held in North America. In the longer term, the Society has received queries concerning conferences in Brazil, Sicily, and New Zealand.

3. The EC selected a Representative from the Hume Society (Terence Penelhum) and Alternate (Ken Winkler)  for the recently established McGill David Hume Collection Research Grant. The Representative will serve on the grant committee.

4.  The EC appointed a new program chair for the joint meetings that the Hume Society holds with the Pacific APA.  Tom Holden will serve the remainder of the 2005-2007 term.

Under item 4, Corliss Swain presented the following reports from the Secretariat and from the Treasurer :

 Report from the Secretariat

1. Executive Committee Elections. In the 2005 Executive Committee elections, there were six candidates for three positions. In a close election, Lorne Falkenstein was re-elected, while Donald Ainslie and Livia Guimaraes were elected to their first terms as members of the Executive Committee.    

This year is a presidential election year for the Hume Society.  Jane McIntyre’s term expires at the end of the year. Jane has indicated that she is not willing to serve a second term.  The regular EC members whose terms will expire at the end of 2006 are Don Garrett and Michel Malherbe.  Both Don and Michel have already served two consecutive terms as regular EC members, so neither is eligible for re-election. 

A call for nominations will go out in early September. Elections, conducted electronically on the humesociety.org website, will take place in November.  Members must have usernames and passwords to vote. Continuing members of the EC are David Owen, Tatsuya Sakamoto, David Norton, Lorne Falkenstein, Donald Ainslie, Livia Guimaraes, and Corliss Swain, Executive Secretary-Treasurer, who serves ex officio.

The secretary-treasurer’s term expires at the end of 2007.  The secretary-treasurer is selected by the EC.  Anyone interested in serving in this capacity should contact an Executive Committee member.

2.  Membership Data. The Society currently has 554 members (up from 506 members last year). 

Members by Country.  The top ten countries in terms of membership are:  United States 303, Canada 59, UK 42 (England 32, Scotland 9, Wales 1), Japan 29, France 16, Italy 16, Germany 11, Brazil 10, Spain 9, Finland 7. 

Members by Regions.  (Using UN World Macro Regions):   Asia  40 (7.2%), Europe 120 (21.7%), Latin America 14 (2.5%), Northern America 372 (67.1%), and Oceania 8 (1.4%).

 Last year the Society welcomed 48 new members.  As of August 1, 2006 another 28 members had joined.  Names and affiliations of new members can be found at New Members. 

Dues.  As of 1 August 2006, 40.4%) of Hume Society members had yet to pay their dues for 2006.  32.1% have paid ahead (2007 or later). Dues may be paid electronically on the web using credit cards or PayPal.

As of 1 August 2006, 480 members (86.6%) had valid usernames and passwords.  Usernames and passwords are required for voting in elections, for member services, and for accessing the most recent volumes in the Hume Studies on-line archives.

3.  Conference Submissions.  71 papers papers were submitted for the Koblenz conference.   For last year’s conference in Toronto there were 65 submissions.  22 papers plus 3 alternates were selected, for an acceptance rate of 35.2%.  70.4% of the submissions were by members, and 81.8% of the papers accepted were by members.

4.  Hume Blog for members on the web at <http:x.humesociety.x>.  Since this blog is for members only, when you register, please enter your Hume Society e-mail address.  Use your real name for your username.  This name will appear on any entries you make. 

5. Hume Studies archives are available to members on a CD, which has more search options than the on-line archives.  The CD, which costs US $55 (including shipping), can be ordered on the website in the For Members Only section at  www.humesociety.org/members/membersonly/cd-sales.html. Special rates are available for students.

 Report from the Treasurer

 The treasurer reported that the Society is in good shape financially.  We began the year with assets equaling $30,657. (US).  Dues payments continue to be our major source of income ($12,643 in 2005).  Our major expenditures are support for Hume Studies ($7,500) and graduate student travel stipends ($2,500).   

Copies of the Annual Financial Report for 2004 and the Interim Financial Report for 2005, were circulated at the meeting and are available on the Society’s website at http://www.humesociety.org/about/minutes/annualfinancialreport-2005.html and http://www.humesociety.org/about/minutes/interimfinancialreport-2006.html

 Under item 5, Peter Loptson and Peter Millican, co-editors of Hume Studies circulated copies of the Hume Studies Editorial Report for 2006, which is available on-line at http://www.humesociety.org/about/editorial-report-06.html. 

 Under item 6, Future Hume Conferences

 Boston (2007)  Conference organizers are Manfred Kuehn, Kate Abramson,  and Aaron Garrett.  The themes of the conference will be the Four Dissertations, in celebration of the 250th anniversary of the publication of the Four Dissertations, and Economics and Politics.  The conference will be held at Boston University. Thereafter, plans are for

 Iceland (2008) Mikael Karlsson

North American site to be determined (2009)

Antwerp (2010)

Edinburgh (2011)

 Under Item 7: New Business. There was no new business.

 After a motion and second, the meeting was adjourned at approximately 1:15.

 Respectfully submitted,

Corliss Swain, Executive Secretary-Treasurer