Events at: BUCH A103

Philosophy Colloquium – Dr. Alan Hájek: ‘Consequentialism, Cluelessness, Clumsiness, and Counterfactuals’

Abstract: According to objective consequentialism, a morally right action is one that has the best consequences. (These are not just the immediate consequences of the actions, but the long-term consequences, perhaps until the end of history.) I will argue that on one understanding this makes no sense, and on another understanding, it has a startling metaphysical presupposition concerning […]

Philosophy Colloquium – Dr. Elanor Taylor: ‘Explanatory Substantivity’

Abstract: “Substantivity” is the metaphysician’s term for the legitimacy of metaphysical inquiry. In light of the worry that extant accounts of substantivity do not accommodate social metaphysics I develop an account of substantivity in terms of explanatory power. I show that this approach accommodates social metaphysics and offers a plausible basis for a general metametaphysics. […]

Philosophy Colloquium – Dr. Jennifer Wang: ‘A Social Constructionist Account of Rén (仁) in the Analects.’

Title: A Social Constructionist Account of Rén (仁) in the Analects. Abstract: According to the Analects, it is only possible to become rén as part of a social community. McLeod takes this idea even further: rén is primarily a property of communities and only derivatively a property of individuals. Being a rén community is defined […]

Philosophy Colloquium – Prof. Mark Johnson: “The Greatest (Philosophical) Story Ever Told”

Title: “The Greatest (Philosophical) Story Ever Told” Abstract: John Dewey’s Experience and Nature (1925) is one of the greatest and most profound philosophical manifestos of all time. Why? Because he provides the most exemplary model of how philosophy and the sciences can work together collaboratively to provide an empirically responsible conception of nature and our […]