Philosophy News - General - Department of Philosophy

Carefully Balancing Caution and Creativity: The Winners of the 2021 Aristotle Contest

Published: November 17, 2021

Posted In: Awards and Honours, General, St. George, UTM, UTSC

Every year in the late summer, a special kind of excitement hovers over the Department of Philosophy at the University of Toronto—it’s when the time has come to read the submissions to the annual Aristotle Contest, a Canada-wide high school philosophy essay-writing competition co-sponsored by the department and the Ontario … Read More

Global Philosophy: “Philosophy as It Was Meant to Be”

Published: October 22, 2021

Posted In: Faculty, General, Graduate, St. George

Anyone following events and courses at the Department of Philosophy for the past year and a half will have noticed something besides the pandemic preponderance of Zoom: lots of activity (including new hires) around topics and approaches often referred to as “global philosophy.” But what, precisely, constitutes global philosophy, who … Read More

Catherine Rioux Wins 2020 David Savan Dissertation Prize

Published: September 27, 2021

Posted In: Alumni, Awards and Honours, General, Graduate

The Graduate Department of Philosophy is happy to announce that the 2020 David Savan Disseration Prize has been awarded to Catherine Rioux for her dissertation Rational Hope. The dissertation brings together insights from epistemology, philosophy of mind, decision theory, and normative ethics to explore the nature of hope as a doxastic … Read More

In memoriam: Charles Mills (1951-2021)

Published: September 21, 2021

Posted In: Alumni, General, Graduate, St. George

The Department of Philosophy is saddened to announce the passing of one of our most eminent alumni, Professor Charles Mills (MA 1975, PhD 1985). Professor Mills began his graduate work in philosophy at Toronto in 1973, after completing an undergraduate degree in physics at the University of the West Indies, … Read More

Support and Solidarity: The GPSU Mental Health & Disability Caucus

Published: February 18, 2021

Posted In: Announcements, General, Graduate, St. George

It was at the July 2020 meeting of the Graduate Philosophy Student Union (GPSU) that Andriy Bilenkyy and Alexandra Gustafson, both PhD students in the Department of Philosophy at the University of Toronto (U of T), decided to address the elephant in the room: more needed to be done to … Read More

In the News: Listen to Mark Kingwell on Risk & Sophia Moreau on Inequality

Published: December 3, 2020

Posted In: Faculty, General, In the News, St. George

Members of the department have been in the news! Take a moment to listen to Sophia Moreau discuss the complex mechanisms of discrimination (and her book on the subject, Faces of Inequality: A Theory of Wrongful Discrimination [Oxford University Press]) on the Rights Review podcast. Alternatively, Mark Kingwell has appeared in … Read More

From Aristotle Contest to Dialexicon: An Interview with Elizabeth Zhu

Published: August 10, 2020

Posted In: Announcements, General, St. George, UTM, UTSC

Elizabeth Zhu is a name to remember. Last year, as a 16-year-old Grade 11 student, Elizabeth genuinely impressed the judges with her submission to the 2019 Aristotle Contest, an annual essay-writing competition co-hosted between U of T’s Department of Philosophy and OPTA, the Ontario Philosophy Teachers’ Association. The adjudicating committee … Read More

David Dyzenhaus on the Background of Strongman Politics

Published: June 12, 2020

Posted In: Faculty, General, St. George

In the current moment, strongmen once again abound in global politics. David Dyzenhaus, the Albert Abel Chair of Law and a professor of both law and philosophy at U of T, moves beyond facile ideas of “populism” to examine the intellectual foundations and constitutional ideas behind the phenomenon in a … Read More

Alumna Valerie Tiberius on How to Achieve Happiness during the Pandemic

Published: May 19, 2020

Posted In: Alumni, General, In the News

Alumna Valerie Tiberius, who graduated from U of T with a specialist in Philosophy in 1990 and is now the Paul W. Frenzel Chair in Liberal Arts and a professor of Philosophy at the University of Minnesota, has published a timely piece on the pursuit of happiness during pandemic times. … Read More

In the News: Paul Gooch on Face Masks

Published: May 5, 2020

Posted In: Faculty, General, In the News, St. George

They are becoming more prevalent on our streets and in grocery stores: face masks, some of them medical grade, many of them homemade. And while some countries, such as Vietnam, Argentina, and Germany, have made the wearing of masks in public settings mandatory, their use remains a mere recommendation in … Read More

Philosophy Publication Celebration 2019-2020

Published: April 30, 2020

Posted In: Announcements, Faculty, General, Graduate, St. George, Undergraduate, UTM, UTSC

Every year, the Department of Philosophy hosts a Book Launch and Spring Party to celebrate major publications by faculty members, bring closure to one academic year, and welcome the possibilities of a new one. In 2020, things have turned out a little different—but that doesn’t mean we cannot acknowledge the … Read More

A Sense of Hope: An Interview with Award-Winning Graduate Student Course Instructor Emma McClure

Published: April 13, 2020

Posted In: Awards and Honours, Faculty, General, Graduate, St. George, Undergraduate

Emma McClure gives it her all in the classroom. While the Philosophy graduate student working at the intersections of feminism, critical race theory, and the ethics of conversation would not deny that teaching comes with its challenges, she finds the work of guiding undergraduates in their learning and thinking too … Read More

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