CUHK Philosophy Department

23/10/2026

[Departmental Seminar]
Topics: AI Classification and Alterity: A Critique of Political and Ontological Bias
Speaker: Prof. Nahum Brown (Assistant Professor, The Mahidol University International College)

Date: 2 November 2026 (Mon)
Time: 4:30pm-6:30pm HK Time
Venue: Room 220, Fung King Hey Building (Limited seats. Registrations will be handled on a first come, first served basis.)
Face-to-face Only
Register by 1 November 2026
Link: https://cloud.itsc.cuhk.edu.hk/webform/view.php?id=13745281

Enquiries:
Tel: 3943 7135
Email: [email protected]

Abstract:
AI classification bias is one of the most pressing ethical issues of AI technologies today. Most of the literature on this topic focuses on cultural and political prejudices that undermine the “objectivity” of computer vision object recognition, such as racial, gender, and economic inequalities, while exploring strategies for how to redesign machine learning datasets to be relatively fairer. Complicating this trend, I argue that there is a distinction to be made between surface-level political biases and deep-rooted ontological assumptions. I argue that while the goal of surface-level objectivity is important, this goal should not obscure the ontological challenges we face. Proponents of the argument from alterity rebuke the optimism that establishing an “objectivity” of object recognition is possible at the ontological level. Drawing from contemporary sources about AI, this article offers a critique of AI classification bias by analyzing three strategies that aim to reduce political bias (the category strategy, the big data strategy, and the genealogy strategy) as well as three challenges that demonstrate the difficulties of mitigating ontological bias (the universal vision challenge, the predictability of the future, and the transparency assumption).

Delivered in English. All are welcome.

14/10/2026

Conference: The Autonomy of Mind

Date: 30–31 October 2026 (Friday to Saturday)
Time: 9:00am–6:00pm
Venue: Room 220, Fung King Hey Building

List of Participants (in alphabetical order):
DAI Haiqiang — Beijing Normal University
D**G Xin — Minzu University of China
FANG Wei — Sun Yat-Sen University
GAO Jie — Zhejiang University
GU Zhiwei — Fudan University
JIANG Yunpeng — Tsinghua University
LAU Chong-fuk — The Chinese University of Hong Kong
LI Zhongwei — Zhejiang University
LIU Chang — Renmin University of China
LIU Haoying — Fudan University
MEI Jianhua — Shanxi University
REN Yuan — Sun Yat-Sen University
YE Ru — The Chinese University of Hong Kong
ZHANG Jiji — The Chinese University of Hong Kong
ZHANG Wenjun — Sun Yat-Sen University
ZHANG Xiaoxing — Yunnan University
ZHAO Bin — Peking University
ZHAO Haicheng — Xiamen University
ZHONG Lei — The Chinese University of Hong Kong

Presentations and discussions will be in Chinese and English.

Please register for face-to-face event as audience by 28 Oct 2026
https://cloud.itsc.cuhk.edu.hk/webform/view.php?id=13743115

Rundown:https://phil.arts.cuhk.edu.hk/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/20261030programme.pdf

For inquiries, please email to [email protected]

Organized by the Department of Philosophy, The Chinese University of Hong Kong
with support from the RGC Research Fellow Scheme (RFS2122-4H03) of Hong Kong Research Grants Council

13/10/2026

【性事與物化：物化誘罪？｜「情愛性事」講座系列第三講】⁣
「物化」，是這時代最方便的道德指控——彷彿祭出二字，論證便已完成。
但物化他人為性對象、甚或將自己當商品賣，早是常態，甚至成為生存策略。
到底「物化」罪在何方？或只屬某種假裝有道德深度的偏見？

日期｜2026年10月24日（星期六）
時間｜下午2:30-4:00
地點｜誠品銅鑼灣店9F FORUM
講者｜楊德立（香港中文大學哲學系研究助理教授）
主持｜劉保禧（香港中文大學哲學系高級講師）

粵語主講
即場參與，無須報名

【「情愛性事」講座系列】⁣
情慾性愛是我們的日常經驗。無論種族階級、男女老幼，都有大大小小的欲望，都要面對形形式式的規範。流行文化已經有太多情情愛愛的討論，可是我們很少探討情愛與性事的哲學基礎。情慾的事，或者我們說得太多，做得太多，但想得不夠多。

香港中文大學哲學系將於2026年8月至11月，在銅鑼灣誠品書店舉行一連四講的講座系列「情愛性事」。是次講座系列將會探討四個關於情愛性事的課題，展示哲學如何思考這些課題。藉此我們可以重新思索：情與性，在我們的人生中，究竟有何地位？

主辦｜香港中文大學哲學系
查詢｜
電話｜3943 7135
電郵｜[email protected]
Instagram｜

誠品網站｜
https://meet.eslite.com/hk/tc/artshow/202609170002
登記活動提醒｜
https://cloud.itsc.cuhk.edu.hk/webform/view.php?id=13738994

#中大哲學
#哲學

08/10/2026

[MPhil & PhD | Online Information Session]
Interested in pursuing postgraduate research in Philosophy with funding support?

Join our upcoming online information session to learn more about our MPhil and PhD programmes, research opportunities, funding support, and application procedures.

Date: 15 October 2026 (Thu)
Time: 20:30–22:00 (HKT)
Format: Online via Zoom

What you will learn:
- Programme curriculum and degree requirements
- Application procedures and review timeline
- Tips and experiences shared by current students and HKPFS awardees
PLUS Q&A session

Register by 14 October 2026
Link: https://cloud.itsc.cuhk.edu.hk/webform/view.php?id=13743426

2027–28 MPhil & PhD Admissions Now Open
Application Deadline: 1 December 2026
Step 1 (by 12:00pm HKT):
https://cerg1.ugc.edu.hk/hkpfs/InitApplication.jsp (HKPFS only)
Step 2 (by 11:59pm HKT): https://www.gradsch.cuhk.edu.hk/OnlineApp/login_email.aspx

More information: https://phil.arts.cuhk.edu.hk/postgraduate/mphil-phd/admission/

Enquiries:
Tel: 3943 7146
Email: [email protected]

07/10/2026

[Departmental Seminar]

Topics: Logic and Causation

Speaker: Prof. Liu Hu (Professor, Sun Yat-sen University)

Date: 14 October 2026 (Wed)

Time: 10:30am-12:30pm HK Time

Venue: Room 220, Fung King Hey Building (Limited seats. Registrations will be handled on a first come, first served basis.)
Face-to-face Only
Register by 13 Oct 2026
Link: https://cloud.itsc.cuhk.edu.hk/webform/view.php?id=13743980

Enquiries:
Tel: 3943 7135
Email: [email protected]

Abstract:
In this report, we introduce and evaluate contemporary causal logics, including those grounded in counterfactual theory and conditional logic, as well as those based on the theory of constant conjunction. We examine the merits and demerits of these frameworks and attempt to explain why a truly successful logic of causation has eluded us to this day.

Delivered in English.
All are welcome.

28/09/2026

[Departmental Seminar]
Topics: Aesthetics as Rightful Heir and Unruly Child of the Eighteenth Century: A Meta-aesthetic Reflection
Speaker: Prof. Tanehisa Otabe (Professor, The University of Tokyo)

Date: 5 October 2026 (Mon)
Time: 4:30pm-6:30pm HK Time
Venue: Room 220, Fung King Hey Building (Limited seats. Registrations will be handled on a first come, first served basis.)

Face-to-face Only
Register by 4 October 2026
Link: https://cloud.itsc.cuhk.edu.hk/webform/view.php?id=13742676

Enquiries:
Tel: 3943 7135
Email: [email protected]

Abstract:

Among the philosophical disciplines, aesthetics is a latecomer. Alexander Gottlieb Baumgarten coined the term aesthetica in 1735. By 1804, Jean Paul (1763–1825) wrote in his Vorschule der Ästhetik that nothing swarms more thickly in our age than aestheticians. Aesthetics thus owes to the eighteenth century its birth no less than its development: it is a rightful heir of the Enlightenment. Yet by the close of the century it had already broken free of the framework that had generated it. This paper traces that development from a meta-aesthetic point of view. It asks how aesthetics defined itself, what was demanded of it, and what philosophical dimension it opened up by means of the term “the aesthetic.”

The paper begins with a philological survey of the term’s diffusion into German (Meier, 1744), French (Formey, 1750; Beausobre, 1753), and English (1764). It then examines the framework within which aesthetics arose: Wolff’s empirical psychology, which divided the soul into higher and lower faculties of cognition and of desire. Baumgarten conceived aesthetics as a logic of the lower faculty of cognition and sought the perfection proper to sensitive cognition. Mendelssohn extended this inquiry to the lower faculty of desire, arguing that virtue requires not only conviction but training. Moritz’s analysis of impersonal verbs, contrasting Es dünkt mich with Ich denke, carried empirical psychology beyond aesthetics in the narrow sense.

Kant, by contrast, transposed “the aesthetic” out of empirical psychology into transcendental philosophy. In § 9 of the Critique of the Power of Judgment, the aesthetic dimension of the “I feel” emerges as complementary to the logical dimension of the “I think.” Schelling brought this apotheosis to its culmination, calling aesthetics “the keystone of the entire arch of philosophy,” and locating in art “the unexpected concurrence of the unconscious with the conscious activity.” By 1800 it had become impossible to speak of human existence without the term “the aesthetic.”

Delivered in English.
All are welcome.

24/09/2026

Tang Chun-I Visiting Professorship Public Lecture

Title: Causation Science and Everyday Life

Speaker: Prof. Christopher Hitchcock (J. O. and Juliette Koepfli Professor of Philosophy, Caltech)

Date: 28 September 2026 (Monday)

Time: 4:30pm-6:30pm

Venue: Cho Yiu Hall (No online broadcast)

Joining the Face-to-Face Talk (Please register by 24 September 2026): https://cloud.itsc.cuhk.edu.hk/webform/view.php?id=13739649

For inquiries, please email to [email protected]

Abstract:
Causation is a concept that plays a central role in the sciences, in law, in ethics, and in everyday life. Philosophers have been trying to offer analyses of the concept of causation for hundreds of years. In this talk, I want to highlight a particular challenge for this project. One the one hand, we investigate causal relationships using scientific methods—controlled experiments, mathematical modeling, statistical analysis, etc.—and incorporate them into our scientific image of the world. On the other hand, empirical evidence from psychology shows that when people make causal judgments, they are influenced by things like expectations, moral values, social rules, actors’ intentions, and other subjective and pragmatic factors. This raises the question of how one concept can answer to both descriptions: How can it be an objective part of the world described by science and also dependent on norms and expectations? I resolve this tension by showing how ordinary causal ascriptions serve a function such as an executive summary or an index (such as the consumer price index).

Conducted in English
All are welcome

16/09/2026

問對錯，傾哲學 💬
中大哲學文學碩士（兼讀）2027-28年度現正接受報名！

如果你工作多年，開始懷疑「做得好」不等於「想得通」；
如果你剛退下來，終於有時間問一直沒時間問的問題；
如果你畢業不久，而那些問題一直沒有離開你；
如果你只是想，認真地把一件事想清楚——
這個課程，就是為你而設。

📚 東方哲學、西方哲學、應用哲學，跨範圍自由選修
🌙 兼讀制，每週兩晚上課，一般兩年完成
🗣️ 粵語授課為主
✨ 跟隨哲學教授學習
✨ 培養深入的分析能力與豐富的想像力，裨益各行各業

📌 截止報名日期
第一輪：2026年12月31日
第二輪：2027年2月28日

🔗 課程詳情及報名：
https://phil.arts.cuhk.edu.hk/zh/postgraduate/part-time-ma/news/

【報讀前，先來傾傾】
💻 網上課程分享會（Zoom）
9月30日（三）晚上7:30 – 9:00
10月21日（三）晚上7:30 – 9:00
2027年2月17日（三）晚上7:30 – 9:00

🎤 哲學講座｜好青年荼毒室 × 陶國璋教授
11月28日（六）下午5:30 – 7:00

🏫 課程分享會｜嘉賓：月巴氏、李文莉小姐
12月12日（六）下午2:30 – 4:00

🎤 哲學講座｜好青年荼毒室 × 劉保禧博士
2027年1月16日（六）下午2:30 – 4:00

📍 以上實體活動均於香港中文大學舉行

📝 活動登記（或掃描海報上的 QR Code）：
https://cloud.itsc.cuhk.edu.hk/webform/view.php?id=13739337

🌟 校友故事：
https://phil.arts.cuhk.edu.hk/zh/ma-alumni-story/

歡迎聯絡我們: [email protected]

#香港中文大學 #哲學 #哲學文學碩士 #兼讀碩士

15/09/2026

[Author Meets Critics]
Book: Absolute Dialetheism: Hegel, Schelling and the End of Alterity – Gregory S. Moss
Date: 3 October 2026 (Sat)
Time: 20:00pm – 24:00 (HKT)

Livestream on YouTube Channel “Thinking the Absolute”:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCkIjtv5MRWV5wHlFXpDy-AA

Participants (in alphabetical order):
Edgar Maraguat - University of Valencia
Myriam-Sonja Hantke - EKO-Center for Japanese Culture
Gregory S. Moss - The Chinese University of Hong Kong
Benjamin Norris - Rowan University
Brook Ziporyn - University of Chicago

Discussions will be in English

Organized by
The Edwin Cheng Foundation Asian Centre for Phenomenology
The Society for Systematic Philosophy
For inquiry:
Tel: +852 3943 7135 | Email: [email protected] |
Website: https://www.phil.arts.cuhk.edu.hk
Facebook: CUHK Philosophy Department
Instagram: cuhkphilosophy

14/09/2026

[Postponed] Today’s Departmental Seminar has been postponed to Nov 16 (Mon) as the speaker is currently unwell.

Title: Can We Develop a Scientific Theory That Is Both Precise and Broad? Yes, and the Cost Is Far Lower Than Expected
Speaker: Prof. Huang Liqiang (Professor, Department of Psychology, CUHK)
New Date: 16 November 2026 (Monday)
Time: 4:30 p.m. – 6:30 p.m. (Hong Kong Time)
Venue: Room 220, Fung King Hey Building

Registration: Please register using the following link by 15 Nov 2026:
https://cloud.itsc.cuhk.edu.hk/webform/view.php?id=13740486

Those who had planned to attend today's seminar are warmly invited to join us on the new date.

[Departmental Seminar]
Topics: Can We Develop a Scientific Theory That Is Both Precise and Broad? Yes, and the Cost Is Far Lower Than Expected
Speaker: Prof. Huang Liqiang (Professor, Department of Psychology, CUHK)

Date: 14 September 2026 (Mon)
Time: 4:30pm-6:30pm HK Time
Venue: Room 220, Fung King Hey Building (Limited seats. Registrations will be handled on a first come, first served basis.)

Face-to-face Only
Register by 13 Sep 2026
Link: https://cloud.itsc.cuhk.edu.hk/webform/view.php?id=13740486

Enquiries:
Tel: 3943 7135
Email: [email protected]

Abstract:
Scientists often face a frustrating trade-off between precision and breadth: a model that is realistic and precise usually works only in narrow contexts, whereas a more general model tends to lose accuracy or detail. Here, I argue that, at least in some cases, an optimal balance can be achieved. Specifically, I advocate a Comprehensive Exploration (CE) approach, which relies on large-scale benchmark datasets and on the search for an optimally, moderately complex model through exploratory and iterative model building. In a case study on visual working memory, a CE model with only 57 parameters outperformed a large neural network with more than 30,000 parameters. This finding suggests that it is possible to achieve both precision and breadth with only moderate complexity.

Delivered in English.
All are welcome.