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A head shot of a smiling Alexandra Gustafson, a blonde woman with shoulder-lgth hair, blue eyes, and wearing a black turtle neck, on a background of U of T blue and her name in white lettering

FAS Superior Graduate Student Course Instructor Teaching Award for Alexandra Gustafson

Published: March 31, 2023

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Alexandra Gustafson has added another feather to her awards and recognition cap: the Philosophy PhD candidate, researcher of love, popular teacher, and mental health advocate has received a Superior Graduate Student Course Instructor Teaching Award for 2022–2023 from the Faculty of Arts & Science. Nominations are received from across the … Read More

Lu-Vada Dunford, a woman with long, ash-blonde hair in an updo and wearing round glasses, a black top and a gray blazer, smiling and gesticulating into the camera, a home-office setting in the background.

Congratulations to Lu-Vada Dunford, Our Latest PhD

Published: March 30, 2023

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Heartfelt congratulations to Lu-Vada Dunford, the latest PhD to emerge from our department. The award-winning teacher and popular Ethics Bowl judge who already holds a position in the Philosophy Department at St. Francis Xavier University of Antigonish, Nova Scotia, today passed her doctoral defense with flying colours. Her dissertation titled … Read More

Acts of Listening: The 2023 Ontario High School Ethics Bowl

Published: March 28, 2023

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By Petra Dreiser   A lone, forest-green banner fluttered in the breeze outside the University of Toronto Mississauga’s (UTM) Instructional Building on the morning of Saturday, March 4, 2023. It offered a rare flash of colour in a landscape blanketed in layers of frosty white by the season’s most intense … Read More

Black-and-white head shot of a bearded, middle-aged Taras Lyutyi in a circle in the middle of a U of T blue banner bearing his name in white.

Welcoming Taras Lyutyi, Visiting Professor

Published: March 16, 2023

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The department extends a warm welcome to visiting professor Taras Lyutyi from Ukraine. An expert in the work of Friedrich Nietzsche, he hails from the Faculty of Philosophy and Religious Studies at the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy (NaUKMA). His academic interests further extend to philosophical anthropology and the philosophy … Read More

A black-and-white head shot of John G. Slater in the middle of a gray background, with the words (in blue and white), "In memoriam John G. Slater, June 1, 1930-November 19, 2022"

In Memoriam John G. Slater (1930-2022)

Published: February 27, 2023

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The Department of Philosophy mourns the death of Professor Emeritus John Greer Slater, a formidable scholar of Bertrand Russell, former chair of the department, esteemed teacher, and cherished colleague. Slater passed away from complications of COVID-19 on November 19, 2022. Born in the United States on June 1, 1930, Slater … Read More

On a U of T blue background, headshots in circles of Manish Oza, Caitlin Hamblin-Yule, and Logan Ginther (left to right)

2022 Prize-Winning CPA Essays

Published: February 13, 2023

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We are delighted to see included in the latest issue of Dialogue (61.3), a special issue on the Prizes of the Canadian Philosophical Association, three names associated with our program. Caitlin Hamblin-Yule, one of our current PhD students, won a prestigious Congress Graduate Merit Award (CGMA) for her essay “The Gallows … Read More

Dark blue-and-cream-colored illustration of a robot-human sitting in a courtroom, a hat on the desk in front of them, alongside a black-and-white headshot of Mark Kingwell

Singular Creatures: Mark Kingwell Discusses His Latest Book

Published: February 8, 2023

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Anxiety about non-human intelligent machines has been a longstanding theme of cultural production and consumption (think anything from Frankenstein to Black Mirror and beyond). It is rooted in the possibility that non-conscious entities may turn out superior to biological life forms, ultimately surpassing and possibly subjugating biological forms of intelligent … Read More

From left to right: Mary Frances Ellison, Margaret-Opoku-Pare, and Joanne Hurley smiling in the offices of the Department of Philosophy

Margaret Opoku-Pare Retires

Published: February 2, 2023

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January 31, 2023, marked a day of mixed feelings at the Department of Philosophy: After almost two decades of exemplary service and unwavering dedication, our  graduate administrator Margaret Opoku-Pare for the last time closed her door in the Department of Philosophy to begin her well-deserved retirement. Margaret had joined the … Read More

Head shot of a bearded and bespectacled Fred Wilson in the middle of a U of T blue banner and the words, "In memoriam Fred F. Wilson, December 27, 1937 - January 10, 2023"

In Memoriam Fred F. Wilson (1937-2023)

Published: January 13, 2023

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The Department of Philosophy is deeply saddened by the death of our colleague, Professor Emeritus FRSC Fred F. Wilson, on Tuesday, January 10, 2023, from complications of Parkinson’s disease. Wilson—an indefatigable scholar and dedicated teacher who also found time for a series of active service roles—worked in, and helped shape, … Read More

From left to right: Marleen Rozemond, Martin Pickavé, Michaela Manson, and Donald Ainslie smiling broadly and holding champagne glasses in a restaurant

Two New Philosophy PhDs

Published: January 3, 2023

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We are delighted to announce that two more of our PhD students, Lisa Doerksen and Michaela Manson, have successfully defended their dissertations and thereby concluded their graduate studies. Lisa wrote her thesis, titled “Finding Oneself in the World,” under the supervision of Gurpreet Rattan. Michaela, writing under the guidance of … Read More

Head shot of Avia Pasternak wearing glasses in a circular frame on a U of T blue background

Welcome, Avia Pasternak

Published: December 19, 2022

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We are thrilled to announce that on January 1, 2023, Avia Pasternak will join us as a tenured associate professor in the Department of Philosophy at UTSC and in the Graduate Department of Philosophy on the St. George campus. Professor Pasternak is a political philosopher whose work has centred on … Read More