Department of Philosophy at Western

02/13/2024

On Feb. 3rd, the Department of Philosophy at Western hosted a regional high school Ethics Bowl in which 6 high school teams competed. The event was a big success thanks to our on-site organizers, Chris Viger and Elisa Kilbourne, our many other volunteers, and of course the students who participated and showed off their debating skills. The winning team was Assumption Socrates’s Smarties. Congratulations to them!

02/12/2024

Congratulations to our PhD students, Hershy Jaiprakash & Amy MacKinnon, and former postdocs, Sarah Arnaud & Jacob Neal, for the publication of their article, “Valuing patient perspectives in the context of eating disorders” in the journal, Eating and Weight Disorders—Studies on Anorexia, Bulimia, and Obesity!

Purpose This paper advocates for the inclusion of patient perspectives in the diagnosis and treatment of eating disorders (EDs) for ethical, epistemological, and pragmatic reasons. We build upon the ideas of a recent editorial published in this journal. Using EDs as their example, the authors argue....

01/31/2024

Some food for thought?
The Arts & Humanities Graduate Program Coordinators are banding together to raise funds for the Society of Graduate Students at Western University student food bank. Please come by to share your support! (Philosophy will be bringing homemade roasted garlic sourdough focaccia!)

12/14/2023

On November 29th, Prof. Carolyn McLeod spoke as a witness before the House of Commons Standing Committee on Human Resources, Skills and Social Development and the Status of Persons with Disabilities (HUMA) in its analysis of Bill C-318: An Act to amend the Employment Insurance Act and the Canada Labour Code (adoptive and intended parents). Western University research helped drive national change by outlining the importance of equal benefits for adoptive parents and other families that provide permanent homes for children, which were previously denied the 15-week paid maternity benefit for those who give birth.

Western professor Carolyn McLeod led research to show the importance of giving children time to attach to their new families through equal benefits.

11/07/2023

Congratulations to current Western Philosophy MA student, Nathalie DiBerardino, as she joins the other winners of The Global Undergraduate Awards presenting their work this week at the annual awards summit in Dublin!

Best-ever performance by Faculty of Arts and Humanities students

10/06/2023

A new book underscores the pioneering work being done at Western University in the philosophy of astrophysics and in the training of experts in the field.

08/30/2023

The department was very saddened to learn of the death of Cate Hundleby, who completed her PhD in Philosophy with us under the supervision of Kathleen Okruhlik. Cate was a tireless contributor to the feminist philosophy community in Canada and beyond, and she published important work in feminist epistemology and the philosophy of argumentation. She will be deeply missed, especially by former colleagues of hers who are or were feminist philosophers at Western: Kathleen, Samantha Brennan, Helen Fielding, Tracy Isaacs, and Carolyn McLeod.

Catherine Hundleby, professor of philosophy at the University of Windsor, has died. Professor Hundelby worked in epistemology, the philosophy of argumentation, and feminist philosophy, combining these interests in recent works such as “Feminist Approaches to Argumentation,” for the Stanford Enyc...

06/15/2023

Current Western University Philosophy student Nathalie DiBerardino's letter "The Right is All Wrong About Masculinity" has recently been published in "Letter to the Editor" with The New York Times! Nathalie will be joining our graduate program this autumn.

Readers discuss a column by David French about the virtues of masculinity and how they get distorted.

06/05/2023

Congratulations to Steve Russell, BA Honours Philosophy, for winning the Angela Armitt Gold Medal for the highest graduation GPA among part-time students from all programs at Western University this June 2023!

03/31/2023

We have done substantial engagement this academic year with philosophy high-school classes and students! Learn more about how we've been engaging London's youth in philosophy:
tinyurl.com/highschoolengagement

03/03/2023

What Good Is Philosophy? - Ukraine Benefit Conference - Online - March 17-19
Details here: https://civic.ukma.edu.ua/benefit/

01/31/2023

Join us May 17-18th, 2023 for the 22nd annual Philosophy of Logic, Math, and Physics (LMP) Graduate Student Conference hosted by Western University in London, Ontario, Canada. The LMP Graduate Student Conference will bring together philosophers of logic, mathematics, and physics for two days of pres...