Speaker Series 2026-27
This is the preliminary schedule for the 2026-2027 Philosophy Department Speaker Series.
ALL TALKS ARE FROM 4:00-5:30 PM, at the University of Guelph.
Titles and abstracts will be posted here 1-2 weeks in advance of the event.
For room locations, or other details about upcoming events, email rbell09@uoguelph.ca.
Wednesday, September 23: Regina Müller (Institute for Philosophy at the University Bremen)
Title: Toward a Structural Ethics: The Responsibility of Bioethicists to Address Structural Injustice in Health Care
Abstract: Bioethicists encounter forms of injustice that cannot be adequately understood as the result of individual actions or isolated institutional decisions. Health disparities, unequal access to care, and the systematic marginalization of particular groups are often shaped by structural processes. This raises questions about the role and responsibility of ethicists: Does the professional role of ethicists itself entail a specific responsibility to address structural injustices in health care? This talk argues that it does. Yet this claim exposes a significant conceptual and methodological gap within ethics. Although the notion of structural injustice has become increasingly prominent, we still lack a clear account of what makes a phenomenon structural, how structural phenomena should be evaluated in ethical terms, and which ethical theories are appropriate for addressing them. I therefore propose developing a Structural Ethics: an ethical framework designed to address and assess structural phenomena from an ethical perspective.
Thursday, October 22: Gwen Bradford (University of Toronto)
Title: Evil Artifacts and Extrinsic Value
Abstract: Nazi memorabilia, medieval torture devices, “old sparky,” anthropodermic books, and other such things are examples of what we might call evil artifacts – historical artifacts that are in some important sense bad or evil. This paper explores the contours of the values of evil artifacts. Although this sounds at first like a question of first-order axiology, in fact it gives occasion to explore a thesis concerning formal axiology — specifically, a thesis concerning the relationship between extrinsic and intrinsic value. I explain the value of evil artifacts by appealing to familiar first-order goods and bads that come to bear extrinsically in ways that give rise to intrinsic value, both positive and negative.
Thursday, December 3: Neri Marsili (University of Turin)
Title: The costs and benefits of hiding: anonymous testimony in online spaces
Abstract: Anonymous testimony is often taken to be epistemically weaker than ordinary testimony, givent that it (i) obscures the speaker’s track record and (ii) lowers reputational costs for dishonesty. Pseudonymity appears to fall in between. To test whether this “IPA hierarchy” (identified > pseudonymous > anonymous) is reflected in folk intuitions about source credibility, we conducted a preregistered experiment (N = 1,241). Participants preferred more identifiable sources across contexts, supporting the hypothesised hyerarchy. The findings provide empirical data points for philosophical theorising about testimony, trust, and persuasion in online environrments, and have implications for current debates over the regulation of anonymity in digital spaces.
Friday, February 5: Scott Metzger (University of Guelph/University of Toronto)
Friday, March 12: Jennifer Nagel (University of Toronto)