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Recent PhDs – Spring 2026

Published: May 13, 2026

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The Philosophy Department congratulates the latest PhDs to defend their dissertations. David Rattray defended “Getting Purposes in Mind,” supervised by Denis Walsh in October 2025. Denis Walsh describes David Rattray’s work as a highly innovative dissertation that “draws out some of the implications of agent-centred evolutionary biology for traditional issues … Read More

Two images - one of an older man with gray hair and the other of a middle-aged man on a book cover. Text says in memorian and Hans George Herzberger with dates 1932 to 2026

In memoriam: Hans George Herzberger

Published: May 11, 2026

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It is with great sadness that the Department of Philosophy remembers our cherished colleague Professor Emeritus Hans George Herzberger, a philosopher and logician with a varied set of interests from Gottlob Frege’s inexpressible to the silence of Buddha. He passed away in the Rishi Valley, India, on January 30, 2026, … Read More

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Welcoming the Inaugural Michael & Virginia Walsh Chair in History of Philosophy: Stephen Menn

Published: January 9, 2026

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The Department of Philosophy is delighted to welcome Stephen Menn, the inaugural Michael & Virginia Walsh Chair in History of Philosophy. His main areas of research are in ancient Greek philosophy (with current projects in Aristotle, in the pre-Socratics, and in neo-Platonism), in medieval Arabic and Latin philosophy, and in … Read More

On a U of T blue background, a head shot of a young Filipino person with short hair and glasses standing in front of a bright green background wearing a white T-shirt underneath a heather cardigan. The name "Alexander de Guzman" floats in bright green on the U of T blue surface as well.

2025 Martha Lile Love Essay Award

Published: December 15, 2025

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We are delighted to announce Alexander de Guzman as the winner of this year’s Martha Lile Love Essay Award for his paper, “Outsourced Deliberation: Attention, Advertising, and the Myth of Control.” He wrote the essay for an independent study with Sara Aronowitz. The selection committee noted about the award-winning essay, … Read More

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Our Latest PhD

Published: December 10, 2025

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Congratulations to Liang Zhou Koh, the most recently minted PhD in the Department of Philosophy at U of T. He successfully defended his dissertation in the field of epistemology titled “Knowing Together,” written under the supervision of Jennifer Nagel. He has now taken on a postdoctoral fellowship in the Philosophy … Read More

On a U of T blue background, two photo vignettes, the one on the left showing Zifan Nameer, a young brown man with shoulder-length, wavy black hair and a beard wearing a black shirt under a black leather jacket, while the one on the right shows Matthew DeKock, a white person with straight blond hair smiling broadly into the camera and wearing glasses and a lumberjack shirt.

2025 Philosophy Undergraduate Essay Award Winners: Zifan Nameer & Matthew DeKock

Published: November 21, 2025

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Congratulations to the winners of the 2025 Undergraduate Essay Awards: Zifan Nameer claimed the Hypatia Award for advanced undergraduates with his essay titled “How Is Metaphysics Metaphysically Possible?” The Spinoza Award, which recognizes excellence in undergraduate philosophy writing for early-year students, went to Matthew DeKock for his paper titled “Do … Read More