The Department of Philosophy is pleased to invite you to join, in person, the upcoming meeting of its regular colloquium series, which will welcome David Friedell (Union) to give a talk, titled, "Are People Abstract?" The abstract can be found on the poster below.

Departmental Colloquium: David Friedell (Union) | PDF Poster

The Department of Philosophy is pleased to invite you to join, in person, the upcoming meeting of its regular colloquium series, which will welcome Emily Carson (McGill) to give this year's Lorne Maclachlan Lecture on Kant, titled, "Kantian construction in context". The abstract can be found on the poster below.

The annual Lecture on Kant was established by Dr. Lorne Maclachlan to allow Queen’s students to hear from experts on the philosopher whose challenging ideas were the subject of Dr. Maclachlan’s teaching and research throughout his career at Queen’s. An accomplished philosopher, as well as a beloved colleague and teacher, Dr. Lorne Maclachlan passed away in October 2020.

Emily Carson (McGill) | Lorne Maclachlan Lecture on Kant

The Department of Philosophy is pleased to invite you to join, in person, the upcoming meeting of its regular colloquium series, which will welcome Whitney Schwab (Maryland) to give this year's Gregory Vlastos Memorial Lecture, titled, "Epistemic Luck in Ancient and Contemporary Epistemology". The abstract can be found on the poster below.

Whitney Schwab (Maryland) | Gregory Vlastos Memorial Lecture

The Department of Philosophy is pleased to invite you to join, over Zoom, the upcoming meeting of its regular colloquium series, which will welcome Shelbi Nahwilet Meissner (Georgetown), whose talk is titled, "Indigenous Feminist Philosophy of Language: Reclamation, Post-Traumatic Relationality, and Transformative Justice". The talk's abstract can be found on the poster linked below.

Zoom details will be distributed to the colloquium mailing list the day of the event. If you are not on the mailing list but wish to receive Zoom or other details, please contact philug@queensu.ca.

Departmental Colloquium: Shelbi Nahwilet Meissner (Georgetown) | Poster (PDF 200KB)

The Department of Philosophy is pleased to invite you to join, over Zoom, the upcoming meeting of its regular colloquium series, which will welcome Avia Pasternak (University College London), whose book talk is titled, "Responsible Citizens Irresponsible States: Should Citizens Pay for their State’s Wrongdoings?". The talk's abstract can be found on the poster linked below.

The Zoom link can be found on the poster linked below. Zoom details will also be distributed to the colloquium mailing list the day of the event. If you are not on the mailing list but wish to receive Zoom or other details, please contact philug@queensu.ca.

Departmental Colloquium: Avia Pasternak (University College London) | Book Talk Poster (PDF)

The Department of Philosophy is pleased to invite you to join the upcoming meeting of its regular colloquium series, which will welcome Markus Gabriel (U of Bonn & The New School), whose talk is titled, "Being Wrong – Subjectivity and Fallibility". The talk's abstract can be found on the poster below.

For those who cannot join us in person, Zoom details will be distributed the morning of the event. If you are not on the colloquium mailing list, please contact philug@queensu.ca to receive updates.

Departmental Colloquium: Markus Gabriel (U of Bonn & The New School) | Poster (PDF 345KB)

The Department of Philosophy is pleased to invite you to join the upcoming meeting of its regular colloquium series, which will welcome Nicholas Wiltsher (Uppsala), whose talk is titled, "Relations of Power in Aesthetic Communities". The talk's abstract can be found on the poster below.

For those who cannot join us in person, Zoom details will be distributed the morning of the event. If you are not on the colloquium mailing list, please contact philug@queensu.ca to receive updates.

Departmental Colloquium: Nicholas Wiltsher (Uppsala) | Poster (PDF 307 KB)

The Department of Philosophy is pleased to invite you to join the upcoming meeting of its regular colloquium series, which will welcome Jessica Nihlén Fahlquist (Queen’s & Uppsala), whose talk is titled, "Moral responsibility and public health risks in the context of the Coronavirus pandemic". The talk's abstract can be found on the poster below.

For those who cannot join us in person, Zoom details will be distributed the morning of the event. If you are not on the colloquium mailing list, please contact philug@queensu.ca to receive updates.

Departmental Colloquium: Jessica Nihlén Fahlquist (Queen’s & Uppsala) | Poster (PDF 305 KB)

The Department of Philosophy is pleased to invite you to join, over Zoom, the upcoming meeting of its regular colloquium series, which will welcome Renée Jorgensen (Michigan & Harvard), whose talk is titled, "Moral and Political Obligations Under Normative Opacity". The talk's abstract can be found on the poster linked below.

Zoom details will be distributed to the colloquium mailing list the day of the event. If you are not on the mailing list but wish to receive Zoom or other details, please contact philug@queensu.ca.

Departmental Colloquium: Renée Jorgensen (Michigan & Harvard) | Poster (PNG 152 KB)

The Department of Philosophy is pleased to invite you to the upcoming meeting of its regular colloquium series, which will welcome Colin Chamberlain (Temple). The colloquium will be held in Kingston Hall, Room 201. Those who cannot join in person are invited to tune in via Zoom. Zoom details will be distributed to the colloquium mailing list the day of the event. If you are not on the mailing list but wish to receive Zoom or other details, please contact philug@queensu.ca.

Talk title: “Pears, Witches and Werewolves: Malebranche on the Imagination”

Abstract: Malebranche holds that the proper function of the senses is to help us preserve our bodies. The senses tell us what we need to do to survive, and they represent the world in such a way that we can easily do it. But Malebranche also holds that the senses share this function with the imagination and passions. This combination of views generates a puzzle about the division of labor between these mental faculties. If the senses tell us virtually everything we need to know to survive, nothing seemingly remains for the imagination and passions to contribute to the preservation of the body. In this paper, I focus on Malebranche’s account of the imagination’s contributions to self-preservation. I argue that the imagination’s contributions are threefold. First, the imagination allows us to adapt to different circumstances through a process of associative learning. Second, it allows us to form reliable expectations about what the future holds for us, e.g. that if we touch the fire, it will hurt. Third, the imagination underwrites our capacity for sympathy, which is a prerequisite for surviving in the distinctively social world we inhabit.

Departmental Colloquium: Colin Chamberlain (Temple) | Poster (PNG 135 KB)