Philosophy News - Graduate

News Categories

On a U of T blue background, three circles with head shots of Alexandra Gustafson (l), a white woman with long blonde hair, Samuella Ojo (r), a black woman with braids, and the pale pink and burgundy logo of the podcast called The Agora (c).

New Philosophy Podcast at UTSC

Published: March 3, 2025

Posted In: , , , , ,

On Valentine’s Day, the Association of Philosophy Students (APS) at UTSC launched the first episode of their new philosophy podcast, The Agora. The podcast is one of several initiatives APS executives undertook to revitalize undergraduate philosophy at UTSC. Hosted by Samuella Ojo, a second-year student, their debut episode delves deep into … Read More

Banner of Alexandra Gustafson, Bowen Chan, Andrew Lavigne, and Matthew Delhey. Their names appear in alternating blue squares

Recent PhDs

Published: February 24, 2025

Posted In: , ,

The Philosophy Department is proud to add four new PhDs to its roster:  Alexandra Gustafson defended “Arrested Attention: Essays on the Phenomenology of Love,” supervised by Andrew Franklin-Hall, in October 2024. Bowen Chan defended “The Spectrum of Virtue: From the Decent to the Excellent,” supervised by Tom Hurka, in November … Read More

On a U of T blue grid, headshots of, from left to right, Joshua Brecka, Schuyler Pringle, Julia Minarik, and Bowen Chan, alongside their names in light blue.

Four Students Win CPA Congress Graduate Merit Awards

Published: January 24, 2025

Posted In: , ,

For their essays, four graduate students from the department received Congress Graduate Merit Award (CGMA) Prizes at the 2024 Canadian Philosophical Association Conference: Joshua Brecka for “Social Knowledge and Rational Group Action”; Bowen Chan for “Tough Love, White Lies, Hard Truths, and Mixed Motives”; Julia Minarik for “The Imaginative Character of Text-to-Image … Read More

Headshots of Zain Raza, Matthew Delhey, Kayla Wiebe, Caitlin Hamblin-Yule, Zachary Weinstein. The headshots are in circles and divided by stripes of alternating blue and purple.

Recent Dissertation Defenses

Published: October 14, 2024

Posted In: , ,

In the past half year, several PhD candidates successfully defended their dissertation:   Zachary Weinstein wrote “The Galleristic Encounter: Communication as the Intrinsic End of Modern Art,” supervised by Jonathan Weisberg, in July 2024. Caitlin Hamblin-Yule wrote “Kant on Personhood”, supervised by Nick Stang, in August 2024. Kayla Wiebe wrote … 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

Posted In: , , , ,

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

Posted In: , , ,

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

Posted In: , ,

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

Posted In: ,

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, 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

Posted In: , ,

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