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Headshots of Angela Li, Jackson Rosenhek, Vivianna Grade (top row), Shingo McCook, and Najiha Rahman (bottom row) on a U of T blue background, alongside their names and the words "Aristotle Contest 2024"

Artificial Intelligence, Aesthetic Value, and Animal Rights: The 2024 Aristotle Contest Offers Fresh Takes on Old Debates

Published: November 1, 2024

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Congratulations to Angela Li, Jackson Rosenhek, and Vivianna Grande, the winners of the 2024 Aristotle Essay contest! In this year’s competition, again co-sponsored by the Department of Philosophy at the University of Toronto and the Ontario Philosophy Teachers’ Association (OPTA), high school students from across Canada submitted essays on three … Read More

Headshot of Alice Huang, an East Asian woman with long black hair wearing a light-colored blouse and smiling slightly, in the middle of a U of T blue background, with her name surrounding her in bright green, the color that matches the backdrop in the headshot

2024 David Savan Dissertation Prize for Alice Chao-Wei Huang

Published: September 30, 2024

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With great pleasure we announce that Alice Chao-Wei Huang has been selected as the winner of the 2024 David Savan Dissertation Prize for her dissertation “Diversity in the Time of Data,” supervised by Jonathan Weisberg. An honorable mention goes to Henry Krahn for his dissertation “Protest as Holding Others Accountable,” supervised by … Read More

On a U of T blue background, a headshot of Eric Fishback, a young white man with short curly blond hair and a beard, wearing an checkered button-down and standing in front of a bookshelf. His name surrounds him in beige letters.

From the Aristotle Contest to a Master’s Degree in Philosophy

Published: July 15, 2024

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Each year, the University of Toronto (in collaboration with the Ontario Philosophy Teachers’ Association) administers the Aristotle Contest, which recognizes the best philosophical essays by current Canadian high school students. Entrants choose their subject from one of three different prompts relating to contemporary issues in philosophy. The winner receives a … Read More

Head shots of Alice Huang (l), an Asian woman with long black hair, and Eric Shoemaker (r), a white man with a beard and shaved head, atop a U of T blue background alongside their names

Recent Dissertation Defenses

Published: June 18, 2024

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The Philosophy Department is proud to add two new PhDs to its roster. On June 4, Alice Chao-Wei Huang defended a thesis titled “Diversity in the Time of Data,” supervised by Jonathan Weisberg. Eric Shoemaker also passed his doctoral defense for “The Rule of Ordinary People: The Case for a Sortition-Based … Read More

On U of T blue, head shorts of (from top left to bottom right): Julia Minarik, Cameron Yetman, Tessa Ng, Andriy Bilenkyy, Jasmine Tremblay D'Ettorre, Alex Drusda, and Nate Oppel

2024 Graduate Student Service Awards

Published: June 14, 2024

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In May, students Andriy Bilenkyy, Joshua Brecka, Alex Drusda, Julia Minarik, Tessa Ng, Nate Oppel, Jasmine Tremblay d’Ettorre, and Cameron Yetman each received a Graduate Student Service Award. The annual prize celebrates initiatives undertaken by graduate students to support and improve the community. The honourees bargained for better conditions through … Read More

On a U of T blue background, head shots in circles of, from top left to right, Michael Miller, Avia Pasternak, and Nick Stang. Miller is a white man with short blond hair and glasses, Pasternak is a white woman with long brown hair and glasses, and Stang is a white man with glasses and a scruffy beard, as well as short, thinning brown hair.

Faculty Promotions

Published: June 5, 2024

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The Department of Philosophy extends its warmest congratulations to faculty members Avia Pasternak and Nick Stang for their promotion to the rank of professor. A member of the Graduate Department of Philosophy at St. George, Pasternak also teaches at the University of Toronto Scarborough campus. Her research centers around questions … Read More

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NSERC for Ingrid Stefanovic

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Professor Emerita Ingrid Stefanovic recently received an NSERC Alliance grant for her work looking at the problem of reducing greenhouse gases (GHGs), as part of a team headed by Ali Bayat at the University of Alberta. Canadians rely daily on underground infrastructure delivery services and utilities: water and wastewater, energy, … Read More

On a U of T blue background, with their names in powder blue, head shots of, from left to right: Henry Krahn, Michael Kirley, Felix Lambrecht, all white men.

New Philosophy PhDs

Published: May 14, 2024

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Congratulations to our most recently minted PhDs! In April, Michael Kirley successfully defended “The Cognitive Conception of Intentional Action,” written under the supervision of Sergio Tenenbaum and Philip Clark. In the first half of May, his success was followed by that of Henry Krahn and Felix Lambrecht. Krahn brought to … Read More