All talks will be held in person in South Ross 421. All talks will be on Fridays 3:30 - 5:30 p.m. All are welcome! For more information, please contact Claudine Verheggen (cverheg@yorku.ca).
Upcoming Events
January 16, 2026
Rahul Kumar (Queen's University)
Contractualism and Non-Identity: A Reassessment
January 30, 2026
Nick Stang (University of Toronto)
Abducting Metaphysics
March 6, 2026
Karsten Stueber (College of the Holy Cross)
A Smithian Vindication of the Moral Stance
March 27, 2026
Olivia Sultanescu (Haverford College)
Rule-Following and Finitude
Past Events
September 27, 2024
Johannes Mahr (York University): The structure of episodic representations
October 25, 2024
Zeyad El Nabolsy (York University): Edward Wilmot Blyden and Fichte’s Nationalist Philosophy of History
November 22, 2024
Laura Soter (York University): What could a process model of belief look like?
December 6, 2024
Wayne Wu (Carnegie Mellon University): Attunement and Reason
September 15, 2023
Johann Frick (University of California, Berkeley): The Value of Life, the Value of Virtue
October 6, 2023
John Hacker-Wright (University of Guelph): The Practical Unity of Practical Wisdom
October 30, 2023
Andrew Sepielli (University of Toronto): How Should We Conceptualize the World for the Purposes of Moral Theory?: The Case of Doing and Allowing
November 15, 2023
Kimberley Brownlee (University of British Columbia): The Razian’s Elephant in the Room: When Do Interests Give Rise to Rights?
November 24, 2023
Neil Levy (Macquarie University, Sydney, and University of Oxford): Measuring misbeliefs and their harms
September 30, 2022
Chike Jeffers, Dalhousie University: Eloquent Responses; An Interpretation of Some Great Works of Ancient Egyptian Philosophy
October 21, 2022
Allauren Forbes, McMaster University: Scudéry’s Portraits: Gender, Agency, and Genre
November 11, 2022
Rima Basu, Claremont McKenna College: Epistemic Ethics: Methods, Motivations, and the Malcontents
November 11, 2022
Sabine Tsuruda, Queen’s University: The Right to Strike
November 27, 2020
Nikhil Krishnan (University of Cambridge) Does Clarity Matter?
October 30, 2020
Michael Lynch (University of Connecticut) Truth as a Democratic Value
October 19, 2020
Tim Connolly (East Stroudsburg University) Doing Philosophy Comparatively with Zhuangzi
October 2, 2020
Emmalon Davis (University of Michigan) A Tale of Two Injustices: Epistemic Injustice in Philosophical Discourse
September 25, 2020
Agnes Callard (University of Chicago) Mandatory Questions
Fall Term Talks
September 13, 2019
Daniela Dover (UCLA) "Identity and Inquiry".
October 4, 2019
Bana Bashour (American University of Beirut) Title TBA.
October 25, 2019
Liam Murphy (NYU) "Nonlegislative Justification: Against Legalistic Moral Theory".
November 22, 2019
Devlin Russell, "The Three Dogmas of Action Theory"
Winter 2019 Talks
Wednesday, Jan 23, 4-6 pm
Sukaina Hirji (Virginia Tech)
"How Virtue is a Means to Contemplation"
Friday, Jan 25, 4-6 pm
Francey Russell (Yale University)
"Kantian Self-Conceit and the Two Guises of Authority"
Friday, Feb 1, 4-6 pm
Nicholas Smyth (Fordham University)
"Structural Injustice and the Emotions"
Friday, February 8, 3:30 - 5:30 p.m.
Dale Matthew (York University)
"Racial Integration and the Problem of Value".
Friday, Feb 15, 3:30-5:30 pm
William Seager (University of Toronto)
"The Woke World: A Panpsychist Manifesto"
Friday, March 1, 3:30-5:30 pm
Charles Goodman (Binghamton University)
"Buddhism, Retributivism, and the Reactive Attitudes"
Friday, April 5, 3:30 - 5:30 p.m.
Matthew Leisinger (PhD Yale, post-doc at Cambridge)
“Cudworth on Freewill”
Tuesday, April 23, 2:30 - 4:30 p.m.
William Child (University of Oxford)
"Meaning, Use, and Supervenience"
Fall 2018 Talks
Sept 21: Nomy Arpaly (Brown) “Deliberation and Fetish”
Oct 19: C. Thi Nguyen (Utah Valley) “Games and Autonomy”
Oct 26: Lori Gruen (Wesleyan) “Challenging Disposability”
Nov 23: Daniel Silvermint (UConn) “Costly Bodies in an Ill-Fitting World”
Winter 2018 Talks
Wednesday, January 24, 2018
Denis Buehler (University of Antwerp)
"Guidance of Visual Attention"
Friday, January 26, 2018
Kevin Lande (University of California, Los Angeles) "The Spatial Commitments of Perceptual Structure"
Monday, January 29, 2018
Ben Phillips (University of the Pacific) "Visual Perspective Taking and Gaze Perception"
Wednesday, January 31, 2018
Jona Vance (Northern Arizona University) "Visual Precision and Representation"
Friday, February 2, 2018
Peter Epstein (Cambridge University), "A Priori Concepts in Spatial Experience"
Friday, March 9, 2018 (Talk cancelled due to the strike)
Vitaly Kiryushchenko (York University), "Signs, Maps, and Diagrams: Charles Sanders Peirce on Science, Virtuality, and Character"
Friday, March 23
Adam Pautz (Brown University), "Are Sensory Qualities in the Head or in the World?"
Friday, April 6
Daniela Dover (UCLA), "Conversation and Self-Constitution"
Fall 2017 Talks
Friday, Sept 22, 2017
Ron Mallon (Washington University, St Louis)
"Accumulation Mechanisms and the Construction of Social Kinds"
Wednesday, Oct 11, 2017
Peter Langland-Hassan (University of Cincinnati)
"Attitude Agnosticism"
Friday, Oct 13, 2017
Laura Franklin-Hall (New York University)
"Why Are Some Kinds Historical, and Others Not?"
Friday, Oct 20, 2017
John Doris (Washington University, St Louis)
"Talking to Our Selves: Reflection, Ignorance, and Agency"
Thursday, Oct 26 and Friday, Oct 27
Workshop on Normative Folk Psychology: Tad Zawidzki (George Washington University), Raymond Mar (York), Victoria McGeer (Princeton, ANU), Kristin Andrews (York), Shannon Spaulding (Oklahoma), Heidi Maibom (Cincinnati)
Friday, Nov 10, 2017
Ishani Maitra (University of Michigan)
"Lying and Deception: A Happy Marriage"
Friday, Nov 17, 2017
Sandford Goldberg (Northwestern University)
"Value-Reflecting Reasons"
January 20, Michael Hannon, Queen’s University
"What's the Point of Understanding?"
Wednesday, Jan 25, at 2:30 pm in Ross S 421, Shyam Ranganathan (York University)
Interpretation vs. Explication; Truth vs. Objectivity
February 3, Anandi Hattiangadi, Stockholm University
"Is Intentionality Determined by Phenomenology?"
March 3, Dorit Bar-On, University of Connecticut
"Crude Meaning, Brute Thought (Or: What Are They Thinking?!)"
March 10, Alex Miller, University of Otago
"Rule-Following Quietism"
March 31, Charles Siewert, Rice University
"Consciousness and Self-Expression"
All talks will be held from 3.30–5.30 pm in Ross Building S421.
Johann Frick (Princeton), "Conditional Reasons and the Procreation Asymmetry"
Friday, October 7, 3:30-5:30 pm in Ross S 421
Sharon Street (NYU), "Meditation, Metaethics, and the View from Everywhere"
Friday, October 14, 3:30-5:30 pm in Ross S 421
Paul Katsafanas (Boston), "Fanaticism and Sacred Values"
Friday, November 4, 3:30 - 5:30 in S421 Ross
Krister Bykvist (Stockholm), "Values, Norms, and Changing Attitudes"
Friday, November 11, 3:30 - 5:30 in S421 Ross
Friday, September 25, 2015, 3:30 - 5:30 p.m., 010 Vanier College, Senior Common Room
Barry Stroud, Univesity Of California At Berkeley
"Davidson And Wittgenstein On Meaning And Understanding"
Friday, October 9, 3:30-5:30, S421 Ross Building
Victor Kumar, University of Toronto
"Empirical Vindication of Moral Luck"
Friday, November 6, 3:30-5:30, S421 Ross Building
Stephen Yablo, MIT
"How (not) to Derive an Is from an Ought"
Friday, November 13: Full day symposium (in S421 Ross)
Title: Beyond Critical Thinking
Catherine Hundleby, University of Windsor
Michael Gilbert, York University
Chris Tindale, University of Windsor
Harvey Siegel, University of Miami
Tuesday, November 17, 4:00-5:30, S421 Ross Building
Wayne Sumner, University of Toronto
"The Worst Things in Life"
Friday, November 27, 3:30-5:30, S421 Ross Building
Julia Nefsky, University of Toronto
"Individual Consumption and Collective Impact"
Wednesday, May 11 at 3:30 pm, in Ross S 421
Regina Rini (New York University), "The Science of Values and the Values of Scientists"
Thursday, May 19 at 3:30 pm, in Ross S 421
Kristoffer Ahlstrom-Vij (University of Kent, Canterbury), "Procedural Justice and the Problem of Intellectual Deference"
Wednesday, May 25, 3:30-5:30 pm in Ross S 421
Wesley Buckwalter (University of Waterloo), "Epistemic Injustice in Social Cognition"
Monday, June 6, 3:00 pm, in Ross S 421
Kourken Michaelian (University of Otago), "Collective Mental Time Travel: Ontology and Epistemology"
Wednesday, April 6, 3:00-5:00 pm in Ross S 421
Paul Simard Smith (University of Connecticut), "Pluralism As A Bias Mitigation Strategy"
Monday, April 11, 3:00-5:00 pm in Ross S 421
Janelle Derstine (Rutgers University), "Material Object Metaphysics and the Special Composition Question"
Monday, April 18, 3:00-5:00 pm in Ross S 421
Gülberk Koç Maclean (Mount Royal University), "Bertrand Russell's Bundle Theory of Particulars"
Wednesday, June 8, 2:30 pm in Ross S 421
Sarah Vincent (York University), "Death's Harm and the Subject's Life"
Friday, June 10, 2:30 pm in Ross S 421
Alex Manafu (University of Paris-1), "Is the Theory of Everything a Theory of Every Thing?"
Wednesday, September 10, at 3:00 in S421 Ross Building
Otavio Bueno, University of Miami
"What does a mathematical proof really prove?"
(joint session with the Cognitive Science Speaker Series)
Friday, September 12, at 3:30 in S421 Ross Building
Christoph Lumer, University of Siena
"An epistemological approach to argumentation-the practical theory of
argumentation"
Friday, September 19, at 3:30 in S421 Ross Building
Michael Bratman, Stanford Univerity
"Acting and Thinking Together"
Friday, November 7, at 3:30 in S421 Ross Building
Stefan Sciaraffa, McMaster University
"Collectivist Authority: It's Not Personal"
Friday, November 14, at 3:30 in 001 Vanier College, Senior Common Room
David Copp, University of California at Davis
"Normative Concepts; Natural Properties"
(co-sponsored with Vanier College)
Friday, February 6, 3:30-5:30 pm, Ross Building S421*
Ernie Lepore (Rutgers University)
"On the Perspective-Taking and Open-Endedness of Slurring"
Wednesday, March 25, 3:30-5:30 pm, Ross Building S421* CANCELLED
Peter Pagin (Stockholm University)
"Semantic Theory and Linguistic Processing"
Friday, March 2
Workshop: Wittgenstein and Davidson on Mind and Language
William Child (University of Oxford)
Kathrin Glüer (Stockholm University)
Paul Horwich (New York University)
Asa Wikforss (Stockholm University)
Meredith Williams (Johns Hopkins University)
October 4, 2013: Frank Cunningham (University of Toronto)
October 11, 2013: Susan Haack (University of Miami)
November 6, 2013: Rick Benitez (University of Sydney)
November 8, 2013: Harvey Cormier (State University of New York, Stony Brook)
November 15, 2013: Workshop on Intuitions and Reference
Hermann Cappelen (University of St. Andrews)
Daniel Cohnitz (University of Tartu, Estonia)
Imogen Dickie (University of Toronto)
Jussi Haukioja (Norwegian University of Science and Technology)
December 6, 2013: Stephen White (Northwestern University)
January 24, 2014: Jason Bridges ( University Of Chicago)
January 31, 2014: Robert McCauley (Emory University)
February 12, 2014: Marc Champagne (York University)
March 5, 2014: Roslyn Weiss (Lehigh University)
March 14, 2014: Slobodan Perovic (University of Pittsburgh/University of Belgrade)
March 28, 2014: Henry Jackman (York University)
September 14, 2012: Kirk Ludwig (Indiana University)
September 19, 2012: John Heil (Washington University, St. Louis)
October 26, 2012: Dan McArthur (York University)
November 16, 2012: Christine Tappolet (University of Montreal)
January 25, 2013: Kerah Gordon-Solmon (Queen's University)
March 6, 2013: Hakob Barseghyan (University of Toronto)
March 22, 2013: Victor Tadros (University of Warwick)
April 5, 2013: Tyler Burge (University of California, Los Angeles)