News and Events


The Department of Philosophy 51福利社 Michigan University hosts speakers, conferences and other events.

EVENTS

2023-24

"The Idea of Prison Abolition: Slavery and Its Legacy"

3 p.m., Friday, December 8th 2023
Tommie Shelby, Caldwell Titcomb Professor of African and African American and of Philosophy, Harvard University

17th Annual Philosophy Graduate Conference

Dr. Chandra Sripada (University of Michigan)
Dr. Meghan Sullivan (University of Notre Dame)
Joel Ballivian (University of Wisconsin-Madison)
Lorenzo Manuali (University of Michigan)
Yuan Tian (Harvard University)
Kevin Gausselin (University of Rochester)
Darien Santmyer (Purdue University)
Xinting Liu (University of Illinois)
Nathan Lauffer (Northwestern University)
Lauren Perry (University of Pennsylvania)
Joseph Bernardoni(University of California-Riverside)

51福利社 Workshop on the Tragic Emotions:

Hannah Arendt and the Limits of Compassion (Ashley Atkins)
A Crack Runs Through It: Disordered Love for a Disordered World (Matthew Shockey)
Blood, Betrayal, and Difference in H茅l茅ne Cixous' Theater Works (Agatha Slupek)

News

2023-24

 Dr. has been awarded a Fellowship for her project: A Philosophical Exploration of Grief Through the Lens of Contemporary Memoir

Jimmy Martin鈥檚 paper has been accepted for a special issue of Topoi.

Dr. Marc Alspector-Kelly published

 

Archived NEWS

2022-23

16th Annual Philosophy Graduate Conference

Quayshawn Spencer (University of Pennsylvania)
Justin Clark-Doane (Colombia University)
Xiaomeng Bu (University of Illinois)

March 15 - Grasslands, Garbage Islands, and Plastic Trees: Working Towards a Future Ecology, 6 p.m. 105 Bernhard. Alec Koppers, master鈥檚 student, Department of Philosophy. Part of the 51福利社 Climate Change Working Group鈥檚 events for Climate Emergency Month: Creating a Just and Sustainable Future. Co-sponsors: 51福利社 Climate Change Working Group, Department of Philosophy.

March 21 - 鈥淚s Ignoring Climate Change Akin to Mass Murder? Troubling Ethical Conclusions about Climate Change and its Effects,鈥 6 p.m. 208 Bernhard Center. Jonathan Milgrim, faculty specialist in the 51福利社 Department of Philosophy. Part of the 51福利社 Climate Change Working Group鈥檚 events for Climate Emergency Month: Creating a Just and Sustainable Future. Co-sponsors: 51福利社 Climate Change Working Group, 51福利社 Department of Philosophy.

  • Congratulations to Alec Koppers and Dale Brown for the 51福利社 All-University Award
  • Ashley Atkins places three(!) journal articles: 鈥淥n Grief's Sweet Sorrow鈥 coming out in the European Journal of Philosophy, 鈥淩age and the Politics of Loss鈥 in Ergo, and 鈥淟ove and Death in Democracy鈥 with Contemporary Political Theory.
  • Jacob Castleberry鈥檚 paper, 鈥淓xpanding the Facilitator鈥檚 Toolbox: Vygotskian Mediation in Philosophy for Children,鈥 is published in Analytic Teaching & Philosophical Praxis.
  • Charlie Kurth discusses  in Scientific American
  • Two Philosophy MA students win Grad College Research Awards: Grecia S谩nchez Blanco and Lulu Cao. 
  •  Charlie Kurth鈥檚 paper, 鈥,鈥 is published in Emotion Review.
  • Ashley Atkins has organized a symposium on the art of grief in the upcoming  (St. Anne's Oxford). Sandra Shapshay (CUNY) and Kathleen Higgins (University of Texas at Austin) are co-participants.
  • Charlie Kurth has been selected as one of 51福利社鈥檚 2022-23  recipients. Charlie has also been awarded a 2-year residential fellowship at the  and will be on leave from 51福利社 until August 2024.
  • Mike Pritchard has published  through Anthem Press. 
  • Jimmy Martin鈥檚 paper, "Indeterminacy, Coincidence, and 鈥楽ourcing Newness鈥 in Mathematical Research," is accepted at Synthese!
  • Jimmy Martin鈥檚 paper 'On Certainty, Change, and "Mathematical Hinges"' has been accepted at .
  • Noa Dahan has been accepted to present a poster on her paper "Anorexia Nervosa, Oversized Experiences, and Systemic Anti-fatness" at the biannual meeting of the  taking place in Pittsburgh in November 2022. 
  • Henry Curcio has been invited to present his paper "Making Sense of Socratic Disobedience: Irony in Plato鈥檚 Crito" at the  being hosted in San Francisco in April of 2023
  • Xiaolong Wang has had his paper "Does Rational Sentimentalism Solve the Wrong Kind of Reason Problem" accepted at the  2023 Central Division meeting! 

2021-22

  • Fritz Allhoff interviewed for article, "Unmasking the Stigma Surrounding Face Coverings".
  • Chance Lacina was awarded the 51福利社 William Ritchie Prize for the best paper in political theory for his essay, 鈥淎gainst the Need for Greed.鈥
  • Jimmy Martin has his paper,Prolegomena to Virtue-Theoretic Studies in the Philosophy of Mathematics, accepted in the journal Synthese!
  • Daniel Kosacz was awarded a Summer Research Assistantship from the College of Arts and Science to assist Charlie Kurth with a project on emotions.
  • Graduate student Henry Curcio has his paper, 鈥淟ack of Self in Plato: The Tragedy of a Rhapsody鈥 accepted at the along with The Ohio Philosophical Association's annual meeting.
  • Graduate student Xiaolong Wang has his paper, 鈥淲hat Should Rational Sentimentalists Say about Fittingness,鈥 accepted at the 24th Annual Rocky Mountain Philosophy Conference!
  • Graduate student Grecia S谩nchez has named the graduate student winner of the 2021-2022 . Her submission, Grecia, will be published on the College of Arts and Sciences Awards website and she will be recognized for her accomplishment at a ceremony on campus in April 2022.
  • Philosophy Professor Charlie Kurth's upcoming book will be published in March 2022.
  • Jimmy Martin鈥檚 paper, "Indeterminacy, Coincidence, and 鈥楽ourcing Newness鈥 in Mathematical Research," is accepted at Synthese!
  • Graduate student Sydney Maxwell has her paper, 鈥淎vowal Under Oppression,鈥 accepted at the APA-Central!
  • Ashley Atkins鈥 paper, 鈥"On Grief's Wandering Thought: A Philosophical Exploration," was accepted for publication in Pacific Philosophical Quarterly.
  • Charlie Kurth talks about the upside of pandemic-related anxiety in a  opinion piece.
  • Master's student placement: We鈥檙e delighted to announce that CJ Oswald will be joining the Ph.D. program at the University of Virginia; TJ Broy is headed to the Ph.D. program at the University of Connecticut (where he was awarded the prestigious Jorgensen Fellowship); and Kaleb TerBush will be going to Michigan Law School (having been awarded a 2/3rd scholarship there).
  • Fritz Allhoff talks about the ethics of online shopping during the pandemic in .
  • Undergraduate philosophy major Levi Durham had his paper accepted at the University of Toronto's Graduate Philosophy Conference.
  • Graduate student CJ Oswald had his paper, "Being Realistic about Metaethics," accepted for the APA-Pacific.
  • Levi Durham, a 51福利社 philosophy major, will be headed to the Ph.D. program at Baylor University in the fall.
  • Congratulations to CJ Oswald for the 51福利社 All-University Award

15th Annual Graduate Philosophy Conference

Kari Hanson-Park (University of Miami) "A Relational View of Literary Interpretation"
Dr. Elizabeth Schechter (Indiana University, Bloomington) "Two Candidate Cases of Plural Personhood"
Dr. Matt Stichter (Washington State University) "The Moral Psychology of Virtue as Skill"

October 28 - "A Conversation about Ethics and Carceral Higher Education," 4 p.m. on Webex. Rebecca Ginsburg, Education Justice Project, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, with Dale Brown, Prison Education Outreach Program, Western Michigan University.  Co-Sponsors: Department of Philosophy and the Educational Foundations M.A. program in the Department of Teaching, Learning and Educational Studies. Download flier

2020-21

14th Annual Graduate Philosophy Conference

Julia Driver (University of Texas-Austin) "Blame and the Suberogatory"
Lawrence Shapiro (University of Wisconsin-Madison) "What is it like to feel like a Self?"
Min Tang (University of North Carolina) "Phenomenal Transformation and Language Attachment"
Adrian Liu (Stanford University) "Asexuality as a Critical Sexual Orientation"
Matt Rosen, (Oxford University) "Virtue and Particularism in Scheler"
Alexander Carty, (Wilfrid Laurier University) "Our Desire to Be Complete: Escaping a Euthypro Dilemma for Moore's Bestowal Love"
Marie Kergulen Feldblyum Le Blevennec (Boston University) "Do Victims of Injustice Have a Fairness-Based Duty to Resist Them?"
Anthony Nguyen, (University of Southern California" "Gricean Secrets"
Dario Cecchini, (University of Genova) "Why are Emotions Evaluative?"
Tez Clark (New York University) "Strawson's Reactive Attitudes and the Nature of Epistemic Blame"
Levi Durham (Baylor University) "Assessing the Evidence in the Evidential Problem of Evil"

2019-20

March 10 - Ashley Atkins, Philosophy, Western Michigan University "Love, Death, Democracy"
September 20 - Jason Marker, M.D., Memorial Hospital (South Bend, IN), 鈥淚f the United States Promised Health Care as a 鈥楻ight,鈥 What Would We REALLY Have to Deliver?" Keynote, 2019 51福利社 Medical Humanities Conference, 5 p.m., Auditorium, Western Michigan University Homer Stryker M.D. School of Medicine, 300 Portage Street. Co-sponsors: 51福利社 Medical Humanities Workgroup, 51福利社 Homer Stryker M.D. School of Medicine.
October 4 - Ashley Atkins, Philosophy, Western Michigan University, 鈥淩ace and the Politics of Loss: Revisiting the Legacy of Emmett Till,鈥 3:30 p.m., 2008 Richmond Center for Visual Arts. Co-sponsors: Richmond Center for Visual Arts, Frostic School of Art, Lewis Walker Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnic Relations. 
 

13th Annual Graduate Philosophy Conference

Saba Bazargan-Forward (University of Southern California) "Justifying the Beneficiary Pays Principle"
Ishani Maitra (University of Michigan)
Zachary Milstead (University of Oklahoma)

Colloquium Talks

Laura McMahon (Eastern Michigan University) 鈥淓ssential Insecurity: Humanism, Violence, and Political Action in Merleau-Ponty and Fanon鈥
Margaret Graver ( Dartmouth College) 鈥淚mpassivity and Human Nature鈥
Noel Swanson (University of Delaware) 鈥淥n Theoretical Equivalence鈥
Heidi Maibom (Cincinnati) "Why Empathy Matters to Morality"  
Jada Twedt Strabbing (Wayne State) 鈥淏lame and Fitting Attitudes鈥  

2018-19

Department of Philosophy and MAP Chapter
, (University of Pittsburgh)

12th Annual Graduate Philosophy Conference 

John Doris (Washington University in St. Louis) "The Future of Character"
Justin Clark "Plato's Dialogues of Definition: What is Socrates Looking For?"
Jerrold Levinson (University of Michigan) "Defense of Authentic Performance: Adjusting Your Ears, Not the Music"

Colloquium Talks

Nevin Climenhaga (Australian Catholic University) 鈥(Epistemic) Probabilities are Degrees of Support, not Degrees of (Rational) Belief鈥
Hrishikesh Joshi ( Bowling Green State University) 鈥淭he Epistemic Costs of Political Polarization鈥
Laura Quinney (Brandeis University, Waltham, MA) 鈥淭he Bewilderment of the Self in Beckett and the Romantics鈥

2017-18

The Department of Philosophy and MAP Chapter 51福利社 Michigan University hosted a day-long workshop on political philosophy.

Colloquium talks

Nataliya Palatnik (Harvard)
Caleb Perl (Shandong University)
Kathryn Lindeman (University of St. Louis)
Alexandra Plakias (Hamilton College), "Relativism: The Most Ecumenical Metaethics"
Charlie Kurth (Washington University in St. Louis), "The Anxious Mind: An Investigations into the Varieties and Virtues of Anxiety"
Gaile Pohlhaus, Jr. (Miami): "Gaslighting, Echoing, and Gathering"
Gabriel Richardson Lear (Chicago): "Forms and Appearances"
Gayle Salamon (Princeton): 鈥淐ritical Phenomenology鈥
Joshua Wilburn (Wayne State): "Friendship and the Tripartite Soul in Plato's Republic"
Jonah Schupbach (Utah): "When Do Hypotheses Compete?"
Katharina Kraus (Notre Dame): "Kant鈥檚 Conception of Person: Personal Identity, Psychological Continuity, and the Idea of the Soul"

11th Annual Graduate Philosophy Conference

Charles Mills (CUNY): 鈥淟iberalism and Racial Justice鈥
Derrick Darby (Michigan): 鈥淒ignity and Voting Rights鈥
Talia Mae Bettcher (Los Angeles): 鈥淔rom Embodiment to Empersonment: Starting Points for a New Theory of Trans Gender (Dis)Satisfaction鈥

2016-17

Colloquium talks

Susan Vineberg (Wayne State): 鈥淚ndispensability Arguments and Mathematical Explanation鈥
Matthew Mandelkern (MIT): 鈥淏ounded modality: Epistemic Modals and Local Contexts鈥
Anya Plutynski (Washington St. Louis): 鈥淩isk and Reasons: Cancer Screening and Pathological Uncertainty鈥
Alexander Guerrero (Rutgers): 鈥淎gain Toward Perpetual Peace: Elections, World Government, and Lottocracy鈥
Rachel Cristy (Princeton): 鈥淐ommanders and Scientific Laborers: Nietzsche on the Relationship between Philosophy and Science鈥

10th Annual Graduate Philosophy Conference

Hallie Liberto (Connecticut): 鈥淐oercion and Moral Power鈥
Jennifer Lackey (Northwestern): 鈥淚ntellectual Humility and the Norms of Credibility鈥
Matthew Childers (Iowa): 鈥淚ndividuation, Substance, and Supersubstantivalism鈥

2015-16

Colloquium talks

Dave Baker (Michigan): "Free Will in the Many-Worlds Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics"
Mor Segev (South Florida): "Aristotle on Nature, Human Nature and Human Contemplation"
Helga Varden (Illinois at Urbana-Champaign): "Giving Him a Second Chance; Talking with Kant on Sex"
Avner Baz (Tufts): "Ordinary Language Philosophy"
Maria Lasonen-Aarnio (Michigan): 鈥淭he New Evil Demon Problem and Virtuous Failure: Accommodating Internalist Judgments with an Externalist Epistemology鈥

9th Annual Graduate Philosophy Conference

Helen Frowe (Stockholm)
Jonathan Schafer (Rutgers): "Causal, Metaphysical, and Mathematical Explanation: Towards Unification"
Edouard Machery (University of Pittsburg): "The Geography of Philosophy Project"
Ishani Maitra "Unsettling Speech"

  • Zachary Milstead "Turning Disagreement on its Head:  Inverting the problem of Rational Peer Disagreement"