News and Events
Department News
- Dr. Doolittle is one of 83 new appointments announced to the Order of Canada. Presented by the Governor General, the Order honours people from all sectors of society who’ve made “extraordinary and sustained contributions� to the country.
- The Austen and Hempel Lectures + Colloquium
The Austen and Hempel Lectures – a series of distinguished lectures sponsored by The Department of Philosophy, pilipiliÂþ», Halifax, NS presenting:
Professor Jennifer Saul. Professor and Waterloo Chair in Social and Political Philosophy of Language at the University of Waterloo.ÌýProfessor Jennifer Saul will present a lecture on Thursday and a colloquium talk on Friday.
Details for both events are below, including Zoom details for the colloquium.
Thursday:
Title: “Goodbye to Dogwhistles and Figleaves?�
Abstract: Dogwhistles and figleaves are techniques used by politicians to achieve some plausible deniability while violating widely held norms—for example, they help politicians get away with racist speech.Ìý Donald Trump’s second electoral victory, after a campaign filled with blatant racism, raises the depressing question of whether the US has now moved into an era without the need for to deny things like open racism.Ìý This talk will explore these issues and attempt to offer some thoughts toward building a broad base of resistance.
Thursday March 20th 2025 at 7:00pm
pilipiliÂþ»
5850 College St. F200 Theater A
Sir Charles Tupper Medical Bldg.
Halifax, NS B3H 4R2
Friday:
Title: “Near-relations of dogwhistles�
Abstract: This talk explores a collection of techniques for achieving deniability which are often mistaken for dogwhistles.Ìý It argues that they are importantly different from dogwhistles, and that properly understanding these differences is vital to finding ways to push back against manipulative communication.
Friday March 21st 2025 at 3:00pm
Seminar Room 1130, FASS Building
6135 University Avenue
Zoom for Friday:
Dal Philosophy is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.
Topic: Colloquium
Time: March 21, 2025 03:00 PM Atlantic Time (Canada)
Ìý Ìý Ìý Ìý
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84856149363?pwd=8rrsEjSjzjDcRTbLIU6NNZbparyuMF.1
Meeting ID: 848 5614 9363
Passcode: 022845
- Remembering Steven BurnsÌýThe Philosophy Department has collected some reminiscences of and tributes to our late friend and colleague, Dr Steven Burns. You can read themÌý.
- Steven A. M. Burns (1941-2024)ÌýWith sadness, the Philosophy Department acknowledges the passing on September 19, at home in the company of his family, of Dr. Steven A. M. Burns, a much-loved colleague who taught at pilipiliÂþ» and King’sÌýfor many years. Steven joined the Dalhousie Philosophy Department in 1969, not long before defending his D. Phil. dissertation entitled “Self-Deceptionâ€� under the supervision of Peter Winch at Birkbeck College, University of London. He was one of a wave of new hires who shaped the Department for over three decades.ÌýHe later liked to joke that he offered classes on people whose names began with ‘W’—Wagner, Weil, Winch, Wittgenstein—but he also taught, among other topics, Ancient Philosophy, Marxist Theory, and—one of his most popular classes—Philosophy of Art. He played a key role in developing the Department’s highly pilipiliÂþ»ful PhD program, and he supervised thirty-four graduate students, including two PhDs. He served as the Department’s Graduate Program Coordinator for thirteen years and also as Chair of the Department from 1988 to 1992. In 2006 he was given the Dalhousie Faculty of Graduate Studies Distinguished Service Award. During the 1990s he was instrumental in establishing the Contemporary Studies Program at the University of King’s College, serving as the program’s Director from 2001 to 2003. After his retirement from pilipiliÂþ» in 2006, he continued to teach in CSP until 2013. His publications range over a wide field of topics, from translations of Winch and Weininger and essays on Wittgenstein,ÌýHume and Plato, to papers on environmental ethics, the history of Canadian philosophy, Canadian literature (Alice Munro, Leonard Cohen, Robertson Davies), aesthetics, philosophy and film, and understanding jokes. (Wittgenstein reportedly remarked that “a serious and good philosophical work could be written that would consist entirely ofÌýjokes.â€� Steven proved this by writing one). He was the founder of the Atlantic Canada Wittgenstein Reading Group and a champion of Canadian bilingualism and of Canadian philosophy, both in his writing and in his long-time involvement with the Canadian Philosophical Association/ÌýAssociation canadienne de philosophieÌý(as Associate Secretary, Secretary and program Chair), and the Atlantic Region Philosophers’ Association (ARPA), at whose 2022 meetings he was celebrated in two special sessions devoted to his work and interests. Some of the essays from those sessions will soon appear in a special issue ofÌýDialogue, together with Steven’s responses. Steven was loved by everyone who knew him, and his colleagues, students and friends in the Department and beyond will miss him greatly. We extend our sympathies to his family, his partner Janet Ross, their children, Emma, Maggie and Ross, and their partners and children. A memorial concert, featuring some of Steven’s favourite music, performed by the Blue Engine String Quartet, will be held at St. George’s Round Church in Halifax on October 20 at 4:00pm. Donations in Steven’s memory can be made to the Steven Burns Undergraduate Essay Prize in the History of Philosophy, care of the Philosophy Department. Steven compiled a large library, and the Philosophy Department will be stocking shelves in the Office/Lounge area with some of them. If you knew Steven and would like a memento, please drop by the Department (McCain 1142) and select a book or two from Steven’s collection.
- Letitia Meynell and Clarisse Paron’sÌý, theÌýApplied Ethics Primer, is now available inÌý
- Congratulations to Richmond Campbell (Professor Emeritus) and Victor Kumar (BA Hons, Dalhousie; Assistant Professor, Boston University) whose book,ÌýÌý(2022), was the topic of a symposium session at the annual meeting of the Canadian Philosophical Association.
- CongratulationsÌýto Callahan Laing, who is the 2023 recipient of the F. Hilton Page Memorial Prize, awarded to a graduating student whose thesis is judged to be outstanding. Callahan’s thesis, supervised by Dr. Stephanie Kapusta, is entitled “Gender Under Construction: Building a Better Framework.â€�Ìý
- CongratulationsÌýto Alexis Amero, who is the 2023 recipient of the Roland Puccetti Memorial Award for the best essay submitted by a student in a 3000- or 4000-level class. Alexis’s essay is entitled “On Monogamy and Adaptive Preference Formation: An Argument for Classifying Mononormality as an Autonomy Impairment.â€�Ìý
- CongratulationsÌýto Ford Doolittle, emeritus professor in the Department of Microbiology and Biochemistry and cross-appointed in Philosophy, who has just been elected to theÌýRoyal Society.
- Congratulations to Stephanie Kapusta, who has been awarded tenure and promotion to associate professor, effective July 1. 2023!
- Congratulations to Francoise Baylis and Andrew Fenton for co-authoring anÌýÌýin 'The Conversation'
- The department notes with sadness the passing of Terrance Tomkow. Terry was a professor in the department from the mid-70s to the early 90’s. He was a forceful influence on many of the professors and students in the department in that period, as well as in Canadian philosophy generally. He helped shape the minds of students who later became professors in various positions across the country. A brief obituary is available here: ÌýSome of his work, published and in manuscript form, much of it co-authored with his partner, Kadri Vihvelin, who also held a position in our department, and the bulk of whose career has been in the philosophy department at the University of Southern California, can be read here:
- Andrew Fenton was recently interviewedÌýfor an animal studies podcast -ÌýBuddhist animal research ethics, on the subject,
- CongratulationsÌýto Kate Sutherland Hartling, who has been selected as this year’s winner ofÌýthe KimRilda LeBlanc Memorial Award, which recognizes outstanding interdisciplinary initiatives between the arts and the health sciences, in honour of the memory of this former graduate student in English. Kate, who received her MA in October 2022, was nominated for her MA thesis entitled “Condoms and Conditions on Consent: Upholding Intentions, Understanding, and Agency for Consensual Sex.â€�
- Duncan MacInosh was recently interviewed for the CRAM Podcast—Extraordinary Ideas Unleashed, on the subject,
- Duncan MacIntoshÌýrecently delivered a guest lecture to the Naval Warfare Officer Symposium, Royal Canadian Navy, Canadian Fleet, Atlantic, on philosophical theories of the self as applied to emotional intelligence, self-awareness and leadership.
- Congratulations to Dr. Francoise Baylis,
- Congratulations our PhD Student Lara Millman is one of the Open Thinkers 2022. More information can be found via theÌý.
- Clarisse Paron (PhD); and Tejas Pandya (MA) participated in theÌý
Watch Tejas' videoÌý
Watch Clarisse's videoÌýÌý
Ìý
Recent Publications
- Ìýby Michael Hymers has been published in the Cambridge Elements in the Philosophy of Ludwig Wittgenstein series. It is free to download until October 13, 2025.
- Julia Chiavegato, "Broadening the Scope: A Critical Response to Climate-Conscious Clinical Medical Ethics."
- Mark Fortney, "The Attention Economy and the Right to Attention: Some Lessons from TheravÄ�da and MahÄ�yÄ�na Thought."ÌýJournal of Buddhist Ethics.Ìý
- co-edited by Clarisse Paron,Ìý Derek Andrews, Andrew Fenton, Michael Hymers, and Letitia Meynell is now available inÌýDialogue: Canadian Philosophical Review. Papers include “â€� by Michael Hymers and “â€� by Steven Burns, as well as a number of others by graduates and friends of the department. (Most papers are open access.)
- Ford Doolittle’s book,Ìý is now available (and open access) from MIT Press.
- Andrew Fenton,Ìýco-authored Cambridge Element is now online (it's open access, so forever free as an e-book).
- Erik Nelson,Ìý"Kantian Animal Moral Psychology: Empirical Markers for Animal Morality" published inÌýErgo, an Open Access Journal of Philosophy July, 2024.Ìý
- Duncan MacIntosh's essay, “We Have Met the Grey Zone and He is Us: How Grey Zone Warfare Exploits Our Undecidedness about What Matters To Usâ€�, was published in April 2024 in Regan and Sari, eds.,ÌýHybrid Threats and Grey Zone Conflict: The Challenge to Liberal DemocraciesÌýwith Oxford University Press.Ìý
- In January, Duncan MacIntosh's paper,Ìý“The Convergence of National Rational Self-Interest and Justice in Space Policy: Extending the Contractarian Reduction of Morality to Rationality Into The Final Frontierâ€�, was published inÌýThe Final Frontier: Ethical and Philosophical Issues of Space Travel and Colonization, a special issue ofÌýThe International Journal of Applied Philosophy.Ìý
- In November, Duncan MacIntosh's essay, "Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Weaponized: A Theory of Moral Injury", was published as a chapter in McDaniel, Seamone, and Xenakis, eds.,ÌýPreventing and Treating the Invisible Wounds of War: Combat Trauma, Moral Injury, and Psychological HealthÌý(Oxford University Press, 2023).Ìý
- “â€� by Celso Neto (past Philosophy postdoc, currently at Exeter University), Letitia Meynell, and Chris Jones has been published inÌýBiology and Philosophy.
- Duncan MacIntosh's essay, “The Sniper and the Psychopath: A Parable in Defense of the Weapons Industryâ€�, has been published in Schoeni and Vestner, eds.,Ìý
- “Simplicity in Wittgenstein’s 1929 Manuscriptsâ€� by Michael Hymers recently appeared inÌýWittgenstein’s Philosophy in 1929, edited by Florian Franken Figueiredo (New York: Routledge, 2023).Ìý
- Tyler Hildebrand’s bookÌýÌýhas been published by Cambridge University Press as part of theÌýElements in MetaphysicsÌýseries. The electronic version is free until 16 March 2023.