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Head shot of Alexandra Gustafson on a gray-green background, with the words, "Curiosity, Creativity, Collaboration: In conversation with Alexandra Gustafson"

Curiosity, Creativity, Collaboration: In Conversation with Alexandra Gustafson

Published: December 19, 2022

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In 2022, the Martha Lile Love Teaching Award went to Alexandra Gustafson for her outstanding work teaching PHL388 – Literature and Philosophy. The committee singled out for praise her course’s design, timely theme, approach to accessibility, and innovative lecture format. Besides being a committed teacher, Gustafson, a published scholar of the philosophy of … Read More

Head shot of Spender Albert, a bearded white man smiling, with the words 2022 Winner Martha Lile Love Essay Award

Spencer Albert Wins the 2022 Martha Lile Love Essay Award

Published: December 15, 2022

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It is our pleasure to announce Spencer Albert as the winner of this year’s Martha Lile Love Essay Award. The prize committee described his essay, “How Commodity Fetishism Undermines Desert-Based Arguments against Redistribution and Reparations,” in the following manner: “Spencer argues that a significant barrier to shifting public opinion on … Read More

Wishing you the joys of the season, on U of T blue background with a red berry and blue leaf wreath

Happy Holidays 2022

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The Department of Philosophy wishes everyone a joyful and restorative holiday season, and a peaceful, healthy. and happy beginning to 2023. The department will be closed between 12 PM, December 20, 2022, and January 2, 2023. Between January 3 and 6, the administrative offices on the St. George campus will … Read More

Head shot of Alexandra Gustafson, a white woman with medium-length blonde hair, standing in front of a bookshelf wearing a beige turtleneck. She is surrounded by the words "Alexandra Gustafson, Winner, 2022 Martha Lile Love Teaching Award" in pink and white.

Alexandra Gustafson Honoured with 2022 Martha Lile Love Teaching Award

Published: December 2, 2022

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The department is delighted to announce the recipient of the 2022 Martha Lile Love Teaching Award: Alexandra Gustafson received the honour for her outstanding work teaching PHL388 – Literature and Philosophy. The committee was impressed with her course’s design, timely theme, approach to accessibility, and innovative lecture format. Alexandra joins a long list of award winners since … Read More

Portraits of, from left to right, John Bunke (a white, bearded man wearing a blue-checkered shirt and glasses), Seyed Yarandi, an Iranian man with glasses wearing a yellow T-shirt in front of a relief wall), Jack Beaulieu (a white bearded man wearing a blue button-down and scarf caught in conversation)

Our Latest PhDs

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Congratulations to the three latest PhDs to emerge from our program: John Bunke already successfully defended his dissertation in late September. Written under the supervision of Gurpreet Rattan, it was titled “Metaphysics in Context.” More recently, Jack Beaulieu passed his thesis defense with flying colours on November 29, 2022. He … Read More

From left to right, Elysa Din, Mathieu Duguay, Thomas Kaufman-Nash, and Rachel Barney in front of the 2022 World Philosophy Day lecture slides of Agnes Callard

St. George Undergraduate Awards 2022

Published: November 22, 2022

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November 17, 2022, marked not only the day of our much-applauded UNESCO World Philosophy Day Lecture with Agnes Callard (Chicago) but also the moment at which we announced the St. George undergraduate award winners for 2022. Congratulations to all successful candidates! Justin Gharibo, Scotia Capital Markets Bursary in Philosophy Aman … Read More

"SSHRC Doctoral Fellowships & Canada Graduate Scholarships 2022" on U of T blue background with headshots of the award winners in two rows.

Canada Graduate and SSHRC Doctoral Awards

Published: November 21, 2022

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Congratulations to the master’s and doctoral students in the Department of Philosophy who recently received Canada Graduate Scholarships and SSHRC (Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada) Doctoral Fellowships. Our award winners are: SSHRC Doctoral Fellowship—Andriy Bilenkyy CGS-D—Michael Law-Smith CGS-M—Marley Greenberg, Ariel LaFayette, Marybel Menzies, Aidan Perreault, Zachary Schauer, … Read More

"2022 CNRS-U of T Twin Research Scholars Award" in white on U of T blue background, with headshots of Michael Miller (l) and Vincent Ardourel (r)

CNRS—U of T Twin Research Scholars Award for Michael Miller and IHPST/Paris Colleague Vincent Ardourel

Published: November 17, 2022

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Congratulations to the department’s Michael Miller and his colleague Vincent Ardourel (Institute for the History and Philosophy of Science and Technology/Université de Paris 1) for receiving a 2022 CNRS—U of T Twin Research Scholars Award for their project titled “New Directions in Philosophy of Physics: Approximation, Precision, and Discreteness.” The … Read More

Two images of Donald Ainslie teaching, the one to the left in a full-length penguin costume, the one to the right as a UNICEF aid delivery box

The Thing with Feathers: Donald Ainslie Goes Penguin in Support of UNICEF

Published: October 27, 2022

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This morning, students enrolled in PHL100Y—Introduction to Philosophy (Historical) had a surprise waiting for them: their instructor, Professor Donald Ainslie, a Hume expert and the former principal of University College, showed up to class in a full-length penguin costume. Eliciting giggles and many a cell-phone photograph, Ainslie’s plumed suit also … Read More

In memoriam Barry F. Brown, 1934-2022 on gray background, with a black-and-white headshot of Brown

In memoriam Barry F. Brown, 1934-2022

Published: October 3, 2022

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The Department of Philosophy mourns Professor Emeritus Barry F. Brown, a cherished colleague, teacher, and long-time member and supporter of St. Michael’s College at the University of Toronto. Brown, who was born in small-town Manitoba in 1934 and raised in Vancouver, B.C., first joined U of T as a master’s … Read More

A smiling Christian Pfeiffer leaning into a summery fairground background

Christian Pfeiffer Promoted to Associate Professor

Published: September 19, 2022

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We are pleased to announce that Christian Pfeiffer was awarded tenure and promoted to the rank of associate professor, as of July 1, 2022. Pfeiffer specializes in ancient philosophy, in particular, in Aristotle’s theoretical philosophy. His 2018 book Aristotle’s Theory of Bodies (OUP) offers a ground-breaking study of Aristotle’s conception of … Read More