Philosophy

Welcome to the Department of Philosophy!
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.
Ethan Magistro ‘24 and his adviser, Stuart Professor of Philosphy Hans Halvorson, on the University’s homepage. Read the full story of this young philosopher.
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 this year's 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 this year's 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.
Niko Kolodny (UC-Berkeley) delivered the 2024 Hempel Lecture series to a full house.
Lunch with the Hightstown High School philosophy club.
PHILOSPORTY NEWS: They did it again! (Photo left, l-r): Last fall, grad students Dane Stocks and Lauren Milano and Professor Sarah McGrath (and her son Owen) medaled in the Dash@Pash 5K run for boys' wellness at Princeton Academy. This year (photo right) Lauren Milano took first place among women racers, Sarah McGrath placed second, and Dane Stocks came in first for the men's age division, 20-29. Congrats to all!
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!
Plotinus Palooza! James Wilberding (Humboldt University-Berlin) taught a graduate seminar session on Plotinus – and participated in Princeton's inaugural "Plotinus Palooza" conference – as part of his Classical Philosophy Short-Term Visiting Fellow stay in September 2022, hosted by graduate student Giulia Weißmann and Director of the Program in Classical Philosophy Hendrik Lorenz.
(Photo L-R) Norah Woodcock, Malina Buturovic, Lauren Miano, Che Li, Giulia Weißmann, James Wilberding, Joseph Moore, Antonio Kerstenetzky, Clemens Wetcholowsky, Lexie White.
Princeton Philosophers at Mad Meta!
Department of Philosophy faculty, grad students and alumni participated in the 2022 Madison Metaethics Workshop at UW-Madison.
L-R: Professor Sarah McGrath, Mark Schroeder (*04), Joshua Schechter ('98), PGRA Joseph Moore, grad student Elliot Salinger, Alisabeth Ayars (*21), grad student Margaret Shea, Jamie Dreier (*89), Professor Gideon Rosen (*92), Tristram McPherson (*08), Mark Van Roojen (*93), Professor Michael Smith.
ANU-Humboldt-Princeton Summer Institute on Practical Normativity held at the Humboldt University in Berlin August 22 - September, 2022.
Front row (l-r): Colin Bradley (Princeton), Eleanor Gordon-Smith (Princeton), Baduin Weinmann (Humboldt), Conor Leisky (ANU), Brandon Yip (ANU), Maggie Shea (Princeton), Vivian Knopf (Humboldt);
2nd row (l-r): Camilo Martinez (Princeton), Marcel Jahn (Humboldt), Chris Lernpass (ANU), Sarah McGrath (Princeton), Michael Smith (Princeton); 3rd row (l-r): Thomas Schmidt (Humboldt), Jeremy Khoo (Princeton), Hanna Hoffmann-Richter (Humboldt), Leo Eisenbach (Humboldt), Thomas Lambert (Princeton), Connor Tannas (Princeton), Shalom Chalson (ANU), Zach Swindlehurst (ANU);
Back row (l-r): Elliot Salinger (Princeton), Sam Fullhart (Princeton).
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.