Each semester, the department offers a series of lectures given by a mix of guest speakers from around the world and 51吃瓜网万能科大 professors, presenting current research on a broad range of philosophical issues. These lectures expand on topics covered in philosophy classes. There is also a course (PHIL 482) centered on the Colloquium Series itself.

Colloquium Series Archive Download the Entire Fall 2024 Schedule

Fall 2024 Colloquia

  • Sep 05: University Forum Lecture Series - What are Latin[a/o/x/e]s Anyway?

    Speaker: Manuel Vargas, Professor of Philosophy, University of California San Diego A variety of philosophers and social theorists have thought that Latinxs don鈥檛 fit the usual identity categories in the United鈥

  • Sep 06: 鈥淓choes of Agency: Mexican Existentialism and Ecological Agency鈥

    Manuel Vargas, Dept. of Philosophy, University of California, San Diego鈥擟ontemporary approaches to agency and responsibility have tended to be individualistic in two ways, that is, in focusing on individual agents and in鈥

  • Sep 20: "Normativity and Arbitrariness"

    Lisa Cassell, Dept. of Philosophy, University of Maryland, Baltimore County鈥擨t鈥檚 a widely held idea that logic is normative. But defending this idea is complicated. On a particularly strong view, to say that logic is鈥

  • Oct 11: 鈥淐ompositional Abduction and Mental Representation鈥

    Ken Aizawa, Dept. of Philosophy, Rutgers University鈥擳his talk will introduce a theory of compositional abduction as an account of some instances of scientific confirmation. I will then show how this theory is relevant to鈥

  • Oct 18: 鈥淒elusions, Experience, Rationality, and Non-Literal Thought鈥

    Quinn Hiroshi Gibson, Dept. of Philosophy, Clemson University鈥擲ubjects with monothematic delusions believe apparently incredible things, e.g., that they are dead or that their spouses have been replaced by impostors or鈥

  • Nov 01: 鈥淟ater Wittgenstein on the Analysis of Experience: A Problem for Early Modern Empiricism?鈥

    Philip Bold, Dept. of Philosophy, University of Minnesota, Twin Cities鈥擯hilosophical Investigations 47 offers a compelling critique of the metaphysical notion of 鈥榓bsolute simples鈥欌攅ither of language, reality, or of (visual鈥

  • Nov 15: 鈥淟ogic is Not Logic鈥

    Jean-Yves Beziau, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazilian Research Council and Brazilian Academy of Philosophy鈥擨n this talk I will examine the very nature of logic by distinguishing between Logic as鈥

  • Dec 06: 鈥淪implicity and the Underintellectualization of Everyday Life鈥

    Eric Mandelbaum, Dept. of Philosophy, City University of New York鈥擬aximally simple models of the mind have dominated both empiricist and rationalist theorizing. From behaviorism to associationism to Chomskian Minimalism to鈥