Philosophy News

Our recent PhD graduate, Daniel Harris, has just (February 2014) been awarded a two-year SSHRC postdoc, which he will take up at Hunter College of the City University of New York.  Congratulations Daniel!

Our Associate Professor Karen Houle has published (December 2013) Responsibility, Complexity, and Abortion: Toward a New Image of Ethical Thought (Lexington Books, publisher).

Blurb:  "…draws from feminist theory, post-structuralist theory, and complexity theory to develop a new set of ethical concepts for broaching the thinking challenges that attend the experience of unwanted pregnancy. "

Our Emeritus Professor John Leslie has published (May 2013) The Mystery of Existence (Wiley-Blackwell, publisher), which he co-edited with Robert Lawrence Kuhn.

Our Professors Jay Lampert and John Russon gave plenary addresses at the recent Congress of the Canadian Society for Continental Philosophy, October 10-12 at the University of Toronto.

Congratulations to Patrick Di Salvo, an incoming MA student, who won a Joseph-Armand Bombardier Canada Graduate Scholarship.

At the 2013 MA Seminar, graduate students in the Department of Philosophy presented papers concerning a range of topics with conclusions relevant to various academic fields. Philosophy majors in their final year were involved as 'guest-commentators'. The conference provided a valuable learning experience for first-year graduate students, providing them an opportunity to engage ideas with both professors and peers in a professional setting. This event took place on Saturday, April 6th, 2013 in the Florence Partridge Room, McLaughlin Library.

The 2013 Guelph Lecture in Philosophy, titled "What is morality?", was given by Professor Thomas Scanlon of Harvard University on March 21.  The lecture was well attended by a diverse audience of students, faculty and the general public and was followed by a lively question and answer session and a reception.  More information on the Guelph Lecture in Philosophy

The 2012 Guelph Philopolis was a festival that manifested how Philosophy engages with every facet of life.  It achieved this through panel discussions, workshops and activities of many kinds. Find out more at the festival website.

In late August 2012, the new Philosophy Field Course undertook its inaugural expedition to Tofino, B.C. under the guidance of Professor Stefan Linquist. The mixed group of philosophy and biology students met with representatives from environmental groups, fishing and logging industries and First Nations. They inquired into these stakeholders' views on sustainability, conservation and economic development.