Philosophy

Welcome to the Department of Philosophy!
2024 PHILOSPORTY NEWS!
Photo Left: Graduate students Giulia Weißmann and Pietro Cibinel proudly display their 2024 Philadelphia Marathon medals. The two, who only began training for the November race in July, completed the 26.2-mile course in under 4 hours 40 minutes!
Photo right: Also in November, graduate students (L-R) Madeleine Roberts, Lauren Miano and Varun Sikand continued the aptly named “Cognito Ergo Run” team tradition of successfully completing the 13.1-mile HiTops Princeton Half Marathon.
Congratulations to all!
Kiska Higgs ’01, president of Production & Acquisitions at Focus Features, addressed undergraduate philosophy majors and minors at the Department of Philosophy's annual Undergraduate Princeton & Beyond dinner. Read the full story.
USC Provost Professor of Philosophy and Linda MacDonald Hilf Chair in Philosophy John Hawthorne (top row, center) delivered the Department of Philosophy’s 2024-2025 Hempel Lecture series to an animated audience of faculty and grad students. (Bottm row, L-R): Professor Jake Nebel, grad student Will Combs, grad student Chris Bottomley, Professor Tom Kelly.
We love Greece in the summertime! Faculty and grad students from the Department of Philosophy and the Classics Department joined their Greek counterparts in July for the annual Princeton-Greece Classical Philosophy workshop, which returned to the island of Crete this year, to study Aristotle’s “Poetics.” Read more about the 2024 C-Phil summer workshop.
Michaelfest! was a musical tribute to McCosh Professor of Philosophy Michael Smith, well-known for singing and playing guitar at department parties, conferences and events for nearly 25 years. Hosted by Robert P. (Robby) George, McCormick Professor of Jurisprudence and Director, James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions, the event featured the talents of Robby, several members of the Department of Philosophy (seen here), and other musician friends.
Photos: (L-R) Michael Smith, Susan Brison, Robby George. Top (L-R): Maggie Shea, Sarah McGrath; Chris Bottomley; Pietro Cibinel. Bottom (L-R): Gideon Rosen; Susan Brison, Michael Smith.
Jasper Reid (King's College London) delivered the 2023-2024 biennial Margaret Dauler Wilson Lecture.
Department of Philosophy grad alums (L-R) Jessica Moss *04, Jill Sigman *98 and David Gordon *09 shared their different career paths at the department's annual Graduate Princeton and Beyond dinner.
For the 2024 Annual Undergraduate Lecture students chose Australian philosopher and cognitive scientist David Chalmers (NYU), who explored the question "Can ChatGPT Think?" (Spoiler: Not yet – but ...?)
From L-R: senior Luke Martin, senior Connor Belcastro, Department Rep junior Thomas Rosini, Professor Gideon Rosen, speaker David Chalmers, Department Rep senior Alexandra Politowicz, senior Vincenzo Montoni, senior Dea Franzek, senior Grady Trexler, senior Ethan Magistro.
Princeton's Tom Kelly (right) in conversation with writer and philosopher Dave Edmonds (Oxford) about his new biography of Derek Parfit.
Lunch with the Hightstown High School philosophy club.
The Department of Philosophy presented a lively and entertaining discussion with Kwame Anthony Appiah (left) and Eleanor Gordon-Smith – the two most famous philosophical agony aunts and uncles – about their weekly advice columns in The New York Times and The Guardian. In "Dear Philosopher," moderated by Barry Lam, the pair explained how how they started, how they select letters, their most memorable advice, and the role of philosophy in thinking about the moral challenges of everyday life – and even gave the audience the opportunity to have their ethical dilemmas answered in real time!
Participants in last year’s two-day conference “Black Political Thought: Democracy, Resistance, and Social Movements Under Racial Oppression,” organized by Associate Research Scholar Lidal Dror.
A Good ol' Guitar Pull!
Faculty members Sarah McGrath and Gideon Rosen (pictured) joined fellow faculty musicians Michael Smith, Susan Brison (Visiting Fellow) and Robert George (Politics) to lead the department's first guitar pull. The music, which was performed by a variety of faculty, graduate students, and visitors, was an eclectic mix of quirky indie pop, jazz, folk and bluegrass – along with boomer, millennial, and Gen X favorites!
Finding Philosophy@Princeton Summer Camp happy campers!
Front row: Nina Delgado (Trenton Catholic Prep), Vanessa Ramos (Pennington School), Rebecca St Fleur (Ewing HS)
Middle row: Community partner Sharyse Porter (Dawn of Hope Inc.), Nathyeli Delgado (Trenton Catholic Prep), Zion Bennett (Girard College), Tatiana Noizy (Northern Burlington HS), Nancy Groll (Outreach coordinator)
Back row: Program facilitators Alice van’t Hoff (grad student), Sebastian Liu (grad student), Katie Rech (grad student), Joseph Moore (PGRA/Lecturer)
Inaugural Minorities and Philosophy (MAP) Compass speakers and mentors Shen-yi Liao (University of Puget Sound) and Jacqueline Scott (Loyola University Chicago) chat with workshop participants over lunch.
Afternoon tea in the Department of Philosophy.