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DTSTART;TZID=America/Toronto:20250313T150000
DTEND;TZID=America/Toronto:20250313T170000
DTSTAMP:20260420T190634
CREATED:20241009T183819Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250220T164548Z
UID:31851-1741878000-1741885200@philosophy.utoronto.ca
SUMMARY:Colloquium (Jocelyn Benoist\, Sorbonne)
DESCRIPTION:As speaker for our first Spring 2025 colloquium\, the department is delighted to welcome Jocelyn Benoist\, a professor of Philosophy at the University of Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne. He works in the areas of metaphysics\, philosophy of language\, and philosophy of mind and is the author of\, most recently\, Toward a Contextual Realism (Harvard University Press\, 2021). He is also a recipient of the Gay-Lussac Humboldt Prize. \nTalk Title\nA Plea for Reality \nTalk Abstract\n\nI’d like to open a discussion on the concept of reality. I will argue against its dismissal by some postmodern thought. I will contend that while “reality” can be an uncomfortable concept\, we cannot do without it. I will distinguish the usage of “reality” as a general concept and as applied in specific instances (e.g.\, “a real duck”). I will criticize Markus Gabriel’s “New Realism\,” which focuses on “existence” rather than “reality\,” and by so doing possibly blurs crucial ontological lines. From Gabriel’s criticism of the concept of reality I will return to Austin’s work on the adjective “real” that emphasizes the contextual relativity of this concept to a particular class of things. Ultimately\, I will show the limits of such an approach and argue that the question of reality does not come down to the mere belonging of something to a definite class of things. Thus\, I will argue for the metaphysical irreducibility of this notion.
URL:https://philosophy.utoronto.ca/event/colloquium-jocelyn-benoist-sorbonne/
LOCATION:Centre for Ethics\, 200 Larkin\, 15 Devonshire Place\, Toronto\, ON\, Canada
CATEGORIES:Alumni,Graduate,St. George,UTM,UTSC
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://philosophy.utoronto.ca/wp-content/uploads/jocelyn-benoist-philosophy-utoronto-guest-lecturer.jpg
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Toronto:20250320T150000
DTEND;TZID=America/Toronto:20250320T170000
DTSTAMP:20260420T190634
CREATED:20240110T173148Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250314T154244Z
UID:29963-1742482800-1742490000@philosophy.utoronto.ca
SUMMARY:Global Philosophy Research Interest Group Talk (Kara Richardson\, Syracuse)
DESCRIPTION:The Global Philosophy Research Interest Group is delighted to welcome as guest speaker Kara Richardson\, an associate professor of Philosophy at Syracuse University. Dr. Richardson works primarily in the history of philosophy. She focuses on medieval Aristotelians\, especially Avicenna\, Aquinas\, and Suarez\, as well as on Descartes. Her research interests lie in the history of metaphysics\, with a focus on causality. Dr. Richardson is also affiliated with Women’s and Gender Studies\, Medieval and Renaissance Studies\, and Middle Eastern Studies at Syracuse. \nThis is an online-only event.  \nJoin the Zoom meeting: https://utoronto.zoom.us/j/86317534593 \nPassword: 799756 \nTalk Title\n Avicenna on the Principle of Sufficient Reason and the “Same Cause-Same Effect” Principle \nTalk Abstract\nThe “same cause-same effect” principle is usually associated with Hume\, who regarded it as empirically supported. In this paper\, I argue that Avicenna attempts to establish the “same cause-same effect” principle by appeal to the Principle of Sufficient Reason (PSR). The context is a discussion of voluntary motion in Metaphysics IX.2 of The Book of Healing. The main aim of the paper is to advance research on Avicenna’s use of the PSR and its role in his account of (efficient) causation. A second aim is to examine the role of the PSR in his account of the cognitive principles of voluntary agency. \nThe Global Philosophy Research Interest Group explores the benefits of drawing on diverse traditions of thought in approaching philosophical questions. These include novel insights into familiar problems\, new questions and research directions\, and fresh methodologies. We work to deprovincialize and decolonize all aspects of philosophy in the academy. The group currently has strengths in Sanskrit philosophy\, and Chinese philosophy\, Indian philosophy in English\, and classical Islamic philosophy.
URL:https://philosophy.utoronto.ca/event/global-philosophy-research-interest-group-talk-kara-richardson-syracuse/
LOCATION:Online
CATEGORIES:Graduate,St. George,UTM,UTSC
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://philosophy.utoronto.ca/wp-content/uploads/kara-richardson-philosophy-utoronto-guest-lecturer.jpg
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Toronto:20250321T150000
DTEND;TZID=America/Toronto:20250321T170000
DTSTAMP:20260420T190634
CREATED:20250108T214604Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250319T191514Z
UID:32193-1742569200-1742576400@philosophy.utoronto.ca
SUMMARY:Continental Philosophy Research Group Talk (James Bahoh\, Memphis)
DESCRIPTION:The Continental Philosophy Research Group is pleased to welcome as guest speaker James Bahoh\, an assistant professor at the University of Memphis\, where he also serves as the Department of Philosophy’s director of undergraduate studies. Dr. Bahoh’s main research is in phenomenology\, post-phenomenological Continental philosophy\, and ontology/metaphysics in the context of German and French thought from Kant to today. He is especially interested in Heidegger and Deleuze and is a proponent of drawing on the history of philosophy to advance and address issues in 21st-century postanalytic/continental divide philosophy. He also has interests in social and political\, as well as early modern philosophy. \nDr. Bahoh is author of Heidegger’s Ontology of Events (2020) and is currently working on a new book on the relation of the concept of event to the metaphysics and ontology of identity\, difference\, and representation. The book focuses on the theories of events advanced by Heidegger and Deleuze\, and ways these theories engage Kant and post-Kantian thought. Since May 2024\, Dr. Bahoh has served as Presiding Officer of the Heidegger Circle Executive Committee. \nIn addition to his talk on March 21\, Dr. Bahoh will also be giving an all-day workshop the following day\, Saturday\, March 22\, 2025\, in JHB 418. To register for the workshop and for more information\, please contact Tarek Dika. \nTalk Title\nHeidegger on Fundamental Principles \nTalk Abstract\nIn this paper\, I examine the role of Grundsätze or ‘fundamental principles’ in Heidegger’s critique of metaphysics and in his larger ontology. I outline his distinction between ‘positive’ and ‘radical’ modes of science to show a major problem that the ‘recuperative’ dimension of his critique of metaphysics raises: that of simultaneously differentiating between and establishing the systematic unity of metaphysics and ontology. I focus on the way key principles like identity\, non-contradiction\, and reason are suggested to have a foundational position in metaphysical inquiry but simultaneously an openness to deeper ontological grounding. And on this basis\, I argue that these principles act as liminal concepts that help to solve the difference/unity problem. \nAbout the Continental Philosophy Group\nOne of six departmental research interest groups\, the Continental Philosophy Group works in the traditions of textual interpretation of human consciousness\, phenomenology\, and post-structuralist critical theory\, among other related traditions of thought.
URL:https://philosophy.utoronto.ca/event/continental-philosophy-research-group-talk-james-bahoh-memphis/
LOCATION:Jackman Humanities Building 519
CATEGORIES:Graduate,St. George,UTM,UTSC
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://philosophy.utoronto.ca/wp-content/uploads/james-bahoh-philosophy-utoronto-guest-lecturer.jpg
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Toronto:20250327T150000
DTEND;TZID=America/Toronto:20250327T170000
DTSTAMP:20260420T190634
CREATED:20250129T053520Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250129T053520Z
UID:32249-1743087600-1743094800@philosophy.utoronto.ca
SUMMARY:Logic and Philosophy of Science Group Talk (Will Davies\, Oxford)
DESCRIPTION:The Logic and Philosophy of Science Group is pleased to welcome as guest speaker Will Davies\, an associate professor and Gabriele Taylor fellow in Philosophy at St. Anne’s College\, University of Oxford. Dr. Davies’s research interests lie in the philosophy of mind – including philosophy of psychology and psychiatry – and related areas of epistemology and metaphysics. His work examines colour constancy\, social mechanisms in psychiatry\, and biosychosocial psychiatry. \nTalk Title\nSeen the Light? The Nature\, Spatial Structure\, and Perception of Illumination \nTalk Abstract\nIn viewing a city scene\, one sees many material objects of varying sizes\, shapes\, and colours. One sees light-emitting objects\, like billboards and street lights. Plausibly\, one also sees the scene as illuminated in certain ways: shadowed here\, brightly lit there; a swathe of gloom here\, a shaft of sunlight there; and so forth. In perceptual theory\, however\, the orthodoxy is that we do not strictly see illumination; we see only illuminated objects\, or objects with such-and-such illumination-dependent properties. This scepticism is linked to the assumption that illumination is simply light. For physics tells us that light is photons or electromagnetic waves\, and these are not candidate objects of perception. Photons are massless\, immaterial parts of the quantum world. Streams of photons lack surfaces and are not organised into parts. Photons propagate effectively instantaneously\, hence are not trackable. Experimentalists ‘observe’ photons\, only by detecting their effects on matter. Contrary to the assumption\, however\, illumination and light are nonidentical: they are different kinds of stuff. Illumination is a macroscopic part of natural environments\, constituted by accretions of light reverberating between earth\, sky\, and everything in between. These reverberations produce stable\, coarse-scale systems of aggregate light flow. These systems are informationally rich and ecologically significant\, being structured by matter and light sources within the environment. Drawing on Gershun’s (1939) geometrical optics and Gibson’s (1986) ecological optics\, I develop an account of the nature and spatial structure of illumination. I use this account to characterise familiar features of illumination\, such as its flow through space and across surfaces; its co-location or interpenetration with material objects; and its often amorphous or unbounded character. I argue that the account meshes with the visual phenomenology of illumination\, and that this mesh is substantiated by models in computational vision science. Contrary to popular belief\, then\, illumination deserves a place among the ‘ordinary’ objects of visual perception. \nAbout the Logic and Philosophy of Science Group\nOne of six departmental Research Interest Groups\, the Logic and Philosophy of Science Group hosts talks on logic\, general philosophy of science\, and philosophy of the particular sciences\, as well as talks in allied areas such as formal epistemology\, decision theory\, and the metaphysics of science.
URL:https://philosophy.utoronto.ca/event/logic-science-will-davies-oxford/
LOCATION:Jackman Humanities Building\, Room 418\, 170 St. George Street\, Toronto\, Ontario\, M5R 2M8\, Canada
CATEGORIES:Graduate,St. George,UTM,UTSC
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://philosophy.utoronto.ca/wp-content/uploads/will_davies_website_photo-2.jpg
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Toronto:20250329T140000
DTEND;TZID=America/Toronto:20250329T180000
DTSTAMP:20260420T190634
CREATED:20250319T162019Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250321T204248Z
UID:32494-1743256800-1743271200@philosophy.utoronto.ca
SUMMARY:Kant & Post-Kantian Philosophy Group Workshop (Matthew Delhey & Jelscha Schmid\, Toronto)
DESCRIPTION:The Kant & Post-Kantian Philosophy Group is delighted to welcome Matthew Delhey and Jelscha Schmid as workshop guest presenters. Both are current postdoctoral fellows with the Department of Philosophy\, Matthew on the St. George campus\, Jelscha at UTM\, working with Owen Ware. \nSchedule\n2:00–3:30 PM\nJelscha Schmid\, “Fichte and the Conceptual Problem of other Minds”\n\n4:00–5:30 PM\nMatthew Delhey\,”Visions of Community at the University of Berlin: Kant\, Fichte\, Schleiermacher”\n  \nThe Kant & Post-Kantian Philosophy Group is a a subgroup of the History of Philosophy Research Group\, which focuses on European philosophy in Kant and post-Kantian traditions.
URL:https://philosophy.utoronto.ca/event/post-kantian-workshop-matthew-delhey-jelscha-schmid-toronto/
LOCATION:Jackman Humanities Building\, Room 418\, 170 St. George Street\, Toronto\, Ontario\, M5R 2M8\, Canada
CATEGORIES:Graduate,St. George,UTM,UTSC
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://philosophy.utoronto.ca/wp-content/uploads/DelheySchmid.jpg
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