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Philosophy Department

Workshop Series

Philosophy Department Speaker Series

Since 2013, the Philosophy Department hosts an annual workshop on new work in philosophy, funded by the Ichabod S. Spencer Foundation. Typically held in the spring term, each workshop features a small group of scholars focusing on a focused topic in philosophy. Our 2013 inaugural workshop’s focus was ‘Race and the Enlightenment’, our 2014 workshop’s focus was ‘The Ethics of Forgiveness and Revenge’, and our 2015 workshop’s focus was ‘Critical Reflection and Belief’. The 2018 workshop was on “Physician Assisted Suicide/Medically Assisted Dying”.

Recent workshops have included "You Must Retrace The Paths" Workshop on Anti-Colonial Philosophy and its History in 2024, the UNYWMP Workshop at Union College in Fall 2024, sponsored by the Central New York Humanities Corridor, and most recently, the Mohawk Valley Metaphysics Workshop in Spring 2026.

Workshops

  • 2018 Workshop

    Full coverage of the 2018 Philosophy Workshop Physician Assisted Suicide/Medically Assisted Death, spearheaded by Professor Bob Baker with Panel Experts Cynthia Bruzzese, Executive Director of the Vermont Ethics Network, Mark Kuczewski, Director Neiswanger Bioethics Institute, Loyola Univ. Chicago Rosamond Rhodes, Director of Bioethics Education, Icahn-Mt. Sinai, NYC and Udo Schuklenk, Research Chair Bioethics, Queens CA, & co-editor Bioethics is available here.

    On behalf of the Philosophy Department you are invited to the Annual Philosophy Workshop Public Session from 3:30pm-5:00pm in Karp 105+. A reception in Karp Atrium will immediately follow. This year the event is spearheaded by Professor Bob Baker and the topic is Physician Assisted Suicide/Medically Assisted Death.

    Panel Experts: Cynthia Bruzzese, Executive Director of the Vermont Ethics Network, Mark Kuczewski, Director Neiswanger Bioethics Institute, Loyola Univ. Chicago Rosamond Rhodes, Director of Bioethics Education, Icahn-Mt. Sinai, NYC and Udo Schuklenk, Research Chair Bioethics, Queens CA, & co-editor Bioethics.

  • 2024 Workshop
    PHL Workshop Flyer

    "You Must Retrace The Paths"

    Schedule for Workshop on Anti-Colonial Philosophy and its History

    May 17-18, 2024

    Hosted by the Department of Philosophy, Union College
    In Everest Lounge, Hale House, Union College

    Each presentation will be around 45 minutes, followed by a 45 minute Q&A discussion.

    Friday May 17

    2:15PM: Introduction to the Workshop

    2:30-4:00PM: Adam Burgos (Bucknell), “The Anti-Colonial Political Philosophy of the Young Lords Party”

    4:00-4:30PM: Coffee Break

    4:30-6:00: Sabeen Ahmed (Swarthmore), “Juridical Power and the Coloniality of Whiteness”

    Saturday May 18

    10:00-11:30: Daniel Brinkerhoff Young (Union), "Profane Right: Fanon on Race in the Economic Structure and Legitimation of Colonialism”

    11:45-1:15: Arwa Awan (UChicago), "Work, Violence, and Alienation: Marxist Humanism in Fanon's Thought"

    2:30-4:00: Zeyad El Nabolsy (York), “African Socialism and the Critique of Marxism”

    4:00-4:30: Coffee Break

    4:30-6:00: Yarran Hominh (Bard), "The Stability of Bad Things"

  • Fall 2024 Workshop

    UNYWMP Workshop at Union College, Fall 2024
    Sponsored by the Central New York Humanities Corridor

    poster with presenters

    Friday September 20

    Union College Philosophy Department Speaker Series

    Everest Lounge (inside Hale House)

    4:30pm-6:30pm

    Hume’s Final Verdict on Skepticism:

    Evidence and Correction of Skeptical Doubts in Hume’s First
    Enquiry

    Don Garrett (NYU)

    Saturday September 21

    All talks will be in Everest Lounge (inside Hale House).
    Talks should be no longer than 50 minutes long, to allow for 40 minutes Q&A.

    10:10am-11:40am

    Rachel Cohon (SUNY Albany)

    The Role of Gossip in Hume’s Artificial Virtues

    Chair: Maité Cruz (Union)


    11:50am-1:20pm

    Ariel Zylberman (SUNY Albany)

    Kant’s Perfectionist Constitutivism

    Chair: Karin Nisenbaum (Syracuse)


    2:40pm-4:10pm

    Maité Cruz (Union)

    “The corollaries included in the impressions of sense”: Mary Shepherd’s Epistemology

    Chair: Justin Steinberg (Cornell)


    4:20pm-5:50pm

    Larry Jorgensen (Skidmore)

    Apperception and Monad Classification in Leibniz’s Monadology

    Chair: Don Garrett (NYU)


    Sunday September 22

    All talks will be in Everest Lounge (inside Hale House)


    9:30am-11:00am

    Stewart Duncan (SUNY Buffalo)

    Cudworth and Spinoza

    Chair: Karolina Hübner (Cornell)


    11:10am-12:40pm

    Marcus Adams (SUNY Albany)

    Two Principles of Hobbes’s Epistemology

    Chair: Larry Jorgensen (Skidmore)


    1:45pm-3:15pm

    Justin Steinberg (Cornell)

    Hobbes and Spinoza on the State as an Individual

    Chair: Michelle Kosch (Cornell)