Philosophy Department Boston College

06/25/2026

Congratulations to Dr. Sean Haefner on the successful defense of his dissertation, "Husserl’s Phenomenology of Vocation as Foundational for Ethics", on Thursday, June 11, 2026. Meeting in the Lonergan Center, his committee included dissertation supervisor Professor Dermot Moran (who attended virtually), Professor Andrew Barrette, and Professor Emeritus Patrick Byrne.

06/22/2026

The students in Professor Bloechl's course on the Ethics of Accompaniment have finished three weeks in Europe, during which they visited key sites of the Jesuit Refugee Services in Rome, and then worked with the staff of Jesuit Refugee Services in Malta for two and a half weeks. During that time, they participated in a number of classroom exercises, community outreach, hospital and soup kitchen visits, and a range of activities belonging to the 2026 World Refugee Week. They also helped paint rooms and renovate a basement chapel dating from the early 18th century. They were joined for their final week by Sr. Maryanne Loughry, a Boston College faculty member who has worked for JRS over twenty-five years. The students' experience in Rome and Malta comes after a fully academic course during the Spring semester.

06/17/2026

PhD candidate Stéphanie Krokida participated in the 2026 Husserl Circle Annual Meeting in Veracruz, Mexico last week. Her panel was entitled "Dynamic Monad: The Concrete, Changing Subject in Husserl's Late Writings".
https://www.husserlcircle.org/2026-meeting.html

06/14/2026

Boston College faculty, including Philosophy Professor Father Phillip Larrey, respond to papal encyclical on artificial intelligence.

Boston College faculty respond to papal encyclical on artificial intelligence

06/10/2026

Shane Ewegen (PhD '11) and Lydia Barry (PhD '23) co-edited a festschrift for Drew Hyland, published by Brill.
Shane and Lydia also co-wrote the introduction to the collected volume, and each contributed an essay to the collection.

"The Play of Philosophy: Thinking with Drew Hyland" published on 23 Feb 2026 by Brill.

06/10/2026

Helen de Cruz talks to Philosophy PhDs outside the academy who most definitely are not “slumming it”.

06/08/2026

Gary Gurtler, SJ, Lydia Barry (PhD '23), Daniel Maryanovich (PhD '25) and Maxwell Wade (PhD '25) made up a panel at the 2026 International Society for Neoplatonic Studies Conference. The panel was entitled Providence in the Ancient Greek and Hellenistic Traditions. Maxwell Wade presented on “Plotinus on the Mantic Arts and the Critique of Atomism in Enn. III.1 (3)” and Daniel Maryanovich presented “The Roots of Disorder in Plotinus and Augustine”. https://isnswebsite.wordpress.com/2026/06/03/program-isns-leuven-2026/

06/05/2026

Professor Dermot Moran will give the opening talk at The International Conference “Education and Philosophy”, which will be held on 26–27 June 2026 in Yerevan, Armenia. His talk will be titled "The Phenomenology of Self and Other: Edmund Husserl and Gerda Walther".
https://apha.am/en/krtutjunevpilisopajutjun/

06/03/2026

Professor Kerry Cronin, along with Professor Belle Liang of the LSOE, led a summer course called "The Good Life: Success, Happiness, and Purpose in East and West". Based in Tokyo, Japan, the course contrasts Eastern and Western philosophies to examine modern pressures and global definitions of resilience, societal well-being, and a meaningful life. Looks like it was lots of fun too!

06/02/2026

The Self-Knowledge & Discernment: The Experience of Pilgrimage (PHIL/THEO4495) course in Spain is well underway with students getting close to Santiago de Compostela! Professor Suzanne Matson, who is leading the trip, sent along these wonderful photos! Buen Camino to all!