Three students received DJW Teaching Award
05-12-2025
Three Ph.D. students in the Philosophy Department received the Donald J. White Teaching Excellence Award for the 2024-2025 academic year. Jeronimo Ayesta Lopez, Violetta Lato, and Stephen Artner (not pictured) were honored for their outstanding teaching by the Center for Teaching Excellence. With them is the Director of Graduate Studies for the department, Giampiero Basile, S.J.
Philosophy MA Council hosts 2025 Symposium
05-01-2025
The Boston College Philosophy MA Council hosted the annual MA Symposium on April 12. Thank you to all the presenters and Dr. Greg Fried, our keynote speaker, for a successful event! And congratulations to our classmates who will be graduating with their Masters degrees this May.
BC hosts "The Futures of Philosophy"
04-24-2025
Ph.D. students Violetta Lato and Clayton Snell served as co-chairs for the 2025 Philosophy Graduate Student Conference, titled "The Futures of Philosophy: Methaphysics, Ethics, and Politics". The conference, which took place on March 21 and 22, featured keynote lectures by Gregory Fried, Paul Guyer, and Gadamer Professor Jean-Luc Marion as well as twelve graduate students from Boston College and other institutions.
Kearney Receives Research Ireland Medal
04-23-2025
Professor Richard Kearney, the department's Charles Seelig Chair, received the Research Ireland St. Patrick's Day Medal from Irish Prime Minister Micheál Martin, in Washington, DC, this past March. The award honours academic and industry leaders in the United States, including their contributions to Irish research and collaboration between Ireland and the US. The full article can be found here.
Kearney Delivers Castelli Conference Keynote
04-23-2025
Professor Richard Kearney delivered the opening keynote lecture — "On Celtic Mysticism" — at the 2025 Castelli Conference. This event was hosted by Sorbonne University in Paris, France.
Sweeney Co-Chairs Medieval Academy
04-15-2025
Professor Eileen Sweeney served as co-chair of the Centennial Meeting of the Medieval Academy America (MAA) in March. This event included a daylong educational program designed to support graduate students in developing methods for teaching the global Middle Ages. The Centennial Meeting drew 850 registrants representing 244 institutions and 23 countries.
Philosophy Department Announces 2025 LaBrecque Medical Ethics Lecture
03-11-2025
The BC Philosophy department hosted the 2025 LaBrecque Medical Ethics Lecture, titled "Under Pressure: Navigating moral (dis)stress, burnout, and the crisis of sustainability in the healthcare workforce". The panel featured Nancy Berlinger, Ph.D., M.Div., Senior Research Scholar, Director, Visiting Scholar Program at The Hastings Center, and Mara Buchbinder, PhD, Department Chair, Professor, Social Medicine, Adjunct Professor, Anthropology at UNC Chapel Hill.
Boston Area Kant Colloquium
12-04-2024
Boston College hosted the Boston Area Kant Colloquium on Saturday, December 7, 2024. The event, organized by Giovanni Pietro Basile, S.J., featured speakers Tamar Shapiro (MIT), Susan Shell (BC), Lara Ostaric (Temple), and Banafsheh Beizaei (Brown).
A Guestbook Project Conversation with Colum McCann and Richard Kearney
10-18-2024
A Guestbook Conversation with Colum McCann and Richard Kearney entitled "Narrative Hospitality" was held on November 21, 2024 at Boston College. This event was presented by the Boston College Philosophy, Studio Arts and Irish Studies Departments, the Centre for Psychological Humanities and Ethics, The Irish American Partnership, and the Irish Consolate of Boston. In addition, the new Hosting Earth volume, co-edited by Richard Kearney, was launched at this same event.
BC/SBU Graduate Conference - Phenomenology and Value
10-01-2024
Boston College partnered with Stony Brook University for their annual joint graduate conference, "Phenomenology and Value: Pedagogy and Childhood Development", taking place on October 18–19. Keynote presentations were delivered by Dr. Andrew Barrette from BC and Dr. Jennifer Carter from SBU, and graduate students from both universities presented as well.
Jeff Bloechl Presents at Heiddegger Conference in Buenos Aires
10-01-2024
On September 28, 2024 Professor Jeffrey Bloechl lectured as plenary speaker at a conference in Buenos Aires on the reception of Heidegger's thinking in contemporary French philosophy. His title was "Misterio del ser, misterio de Dios." The conference was held at Salvador University and the National Academy of Sciences.
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Professor Olivier Boulnois Gave the Third Annual Blanchette-Kennedy Lecture in Philosophy and Religion
10-01-2024
On October 2, Professor Olivier Boulnois, of the Ecole pratique des hautes études (Paris), gave the third annual Blanchette-Kennedy Lecture in Philosophy and Religion. His title was "May We Hope?" On October 3, he led an advanced seminar on the problem of individuation in the thought of Duns Scotus.
Professor Günter Zöller to present "Kant on Lawful Freedom"
09-24-2024
Professor Günter Zöller (LMU Munich) visited Boston College on Monday, October 14, to present his lecture, "Republicanism - Political, Judicial, Ethical. Kant on Lawful Freedom." His visit to BC coordinated with time in Boston as part of the Hegel Congress.
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Olivier Boulnois presented a Blanchette-Kennedy Lecture entitled "May We Hope?"
09-24-2024
Olivier Boulnois visited Boston College on October 2nd and 3rd, to present his lecture, "May We Hope? on the 2nd and he also led a seminar on selected texts in medieval thought on the 3rd.
BC Philosophy graduate students attend NEPRC 2024
09-16-2024
Several Boston College graduate students in philosophy participated in the 2024 meeting of the New England Philosophy of Religion Colloquium, held on Long Island. The NEPRC is a student-centered program that provides time off campus for extended discussion of ongoing research. It has met annually since 2018, with BC and Fordham alternating as hosts.
Professor Jennifer Herdt presents "Human Virtues for a World of AI"
09-16-2024
Professor Jennifer Herdt, the Senior Associate Dean of Faculty Affairs and Gilbert L. Stark Professor of Christian Ethics at Yale University, presented a lecture titled "Human Virtues for a World of AI" on Thursday, September 19th. She will also led a seminar for the Philosophy on education, formation, and the cultivation of virtue.
Public Philosophy Initiative Hosts Student Colloquium
04-29-2024
The Public Philosophy Initiative held a Student Colloquium on April 19th. Philosophy graduate students from the M.A. and Ph.D. programs received certificates for their participation in PPI's technical workshop. Presenters included Ph.D. students Michaila Peters and Laura Santer, and M.A. students Angelo D'Amato Jr., Bryson Brown, Sharon Fray-Witzer, Mary Beth Gordon, and Jordan Werner.
Michaila Peters Receives Ever to Excel Graduate Student Award
04-22-2024
On April 22nd, Ph.D. student Michaila Peters was awarded the Ann Forest Morgan, Ed. D. Graduate Student Award in the context of the Ever to Excel Awards at Boston College. The award is to the graduate student leader who demonstrated a commitment to the graduate student community and student experience through leadership, innovation, and service. The award recognizes Michaila’s work and commitment to the Public Philosophy Initiative, among other things.
Professor Dermot Moran to Deliver Husserl Lecture in Hong Kong
04-18-2024
Professor Dermot Moran will deliver the Husserl Memorial Lecture, sponsored by The Chinese University of Hong Kong, on Friday, April 26th, at 4:30 p.m. (Hong Kong time). The lecture is titled "Normality and Normativity in Perception and World Constitution: Husserlian Reflections", and can be accessed at the link below. Moran is the Joseph Chair in Catholic Philosophy in the BC Philosophy department.
Lecture
Jacoby Carter Joins Philosophy Faculty
04-11-2024
Jacoby Carter joins the faculty as an Associate Professor. He has most recently been Associate Professor and Chair of the Philosophy Department at Howard University. Current research interests include Africana philosophy, social and political philosophy, value theory (applied ethics), philosophy of race and pragmatism. Prof. Carter is also the Director of the Alain Leroy Locke Society and editor of the African American Philosophy and the African Diaspora Book Series published by Palgrave/Macmillan. In 2024-2025, Professor Carter will be on research leave as a Fellow of the American Council of Learned Societies Historically Black College or University (HBCU).
Iziah Topete Joins Philosophy Faculty
04-11-2024
Iziah Topete (ABD, Penn State) joins the department as an Assistant Professor. Iziah specializes in critical philosophy of race and modern philosophy. His work engages political questions concerning domination, slavery, and race in modern figures such as Hobbes and Leibniz. He is currently working on a manuscript on Ottobah Cugoano's political philosophy. Professor Topete will be spending 2024-2025 on research fellowship at Dartmouth College.
Professor Mary Troxell Honored as Alpha Sigma Nu Teacher of the Year
04-10-2024
Mary Troxell, Associate Professor of the Practice in the Philosophy department, recently received the Alpha Sigma Nu Award as Boston College's Teacher of the Year, at a ceremony on campus. Troxell, a member of the department since 2001, teaches regularly in the PULSE Program for Service Learning.
LaBrecque Lecture - Parents, Progeny, and Power: Decision Making in Pediatrics
04-09-2024
Professors Daniel Groll (Carleton College) and Erica Salter (St. Louis University) presented the 2024 LaBrecque Medical Ethics Lecture, entitled "Parents, Progeny, and Power: Decision Making in Pediatrics", on Thursday, April 11. The speakers also hosted a pre-lecture conversation, "Medical Ethics: Where has it been and Where is it going".
Professor Jean-Luc Marion delivers 2024 Gadamer Lecture
03-25-2024
Professor Jean-Luc Marion presented his lecture, "The Distinction of Phenomena between Objects and Events", on Thursday, April 4th. Marion is Professor emeritus, Université de Paris - Sorbonne and a Member of the 'Académie française. He is serving as the 2024 Gadamer Professor of Philosophy, Boston College, and is teaching in the Philosophy department through the end of the Spring 2024 semester.
2024 Philosophy Graduate Conference - "The Imagination: Powers and Possibilities"
03-25-2024
The 2024 Philosophy Graduate Conference, titled "The Imagination: Powers and Possibilities", took place at Boston College on March 22-23. Organizer and Ph.D. candidate Fr. William Woody, SJ, here introduces Professor Richard Kearney for his keynote address "Narrative Hospitality". Other featured keynote speakers were Peter Fritz (College of the Holy Cross) and Christina Gschwandtner (Fordham University). Four BC graduate students from the Philosophy department were among the panelists/presenters.
Professor Serena Parekh presents "Morality and the Refugee Crisis"
03-24-2024
Serena Parekh, chair of Northeastern's Department of Philosophy and Religion, presented a lecture titled "Morality and the Refugee Crisis: The Need for a New Paradigm". This talk is part of the Fitzgibbon Lecture series. Parekh, who received her Ph.D. in Philosophy from Boston College in 2006, also led a graduate seminar on Charles Mills.
Professor Sarah Byers presents at the "Augustine on Relations" Conference at Oxford
03-11-2024
Byers gave her virtual talk entitled "The Metaphysics of Trinitarian Relations in Confessions 13" as part of the Augustinian conference, hosted by Corpus Christi College at Oxford University on Monday, March 11th.
Professor Sun Xiangchen Visits Boston College
03-09-2024
As part of the Fitzgibbon Lecture series, Professor Sun Xiangchen from Fudan University (Shanghai) spoke on some important themes in Chinese philosophy, developed in dialogue with Levinas's critique of "western metaphysics." He also presented to the department's Teaching Seminar to share some thoughts on the difficulty of teaching Chinese philosophy in western contexts.
Professor Richard Kearney receives the Hermes Award for Excellence in Continental Philosophy.
03-08-2024
Kearney, who holds the department's Seelig Chair, was recently selected for the Blue Diamond Hermes Award, chosen by the Institute for International Hermeneutics. Previoius recipients of the Hermes Award include Paul Ricoeur, Hans-Georg Gadamer, Gianni Vattimo, Jean-Luc, Marion and Charles Taylor. Kearney's Lauditio can be found here.
Professor Sarah Horton Publishes New Book: The Promise of Friendship
02-05-2024
Sarah Horton, PhD '20, has published the book The Promise of Friendship. In this book, she engages in conversation with authors ranging from Aristotle, to Proust, Levinas, and Derrida. She argues that friendship is suited for our finitude, and proposes a new perspective on friendship as translation. The book is available from SUNY Press.
Annual PhD Retreat
11-10-2023
The Philosophy Department's faculty and PhD students were on a retreat this past weekend at Boston College's own Connolly House. The retreat included seminars on dissertating, teaching, being part of the academic community, and more!
Professor Stanley Anozie Contributes to Recent Anthology on Well-Being in African Philosophy
11-08-2023
Please join us in congratulating Dr. Stanley Uche Anozie for his recent book chapter, "Gilles Paquet’s Hermeneutics of Belongingness: On Collaborative Ethics of Global Development," in the recently published collection, "Well-Being in African Philosophy: Insights for a Global Ethics of Development!"
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New England Philosophy of Religion Colloquium Meets at Boston College
10-23-2023
The fifth annual meeting of the New England Philosophy of Religion Colloquium met at Boston College on October 20 and 21. NEPRC is run jointly by the Boston College and Fordham University departments of philosophy. It is a forum for graduate students from both institutions to share research, with the participation of faculty members. NEPRC was founded by current BC doctoral student, Jared Highlen.
Dr. Elodie Boubil of Universite de Paris XII Gives Second Annual Blanchette-Kennedy Lecture
10-20-2023
On Thursday, October 19, Dr. Elodie Boubil (Universite de Paris XII) gave the second annual Blanchette-Kennedy Lecture in Philosophy and Religions. Her topic was "Beyond Nihilism and Relativism. Individuation and the Spirit of Life in the Philosophy of Louis Lavelle." On the morning of Friday, October 20, she led an advanced graduate seminar on some texts by Edith Stein concentrating on the themes of soul, value and caring.
Professor Richard Kearney Edits Recent Anthology on Film
10-10-2023
New book on the philosophy of film, Thinking Film: Philosophy at the Movies, edited by Richard Kearney and former BC doctoral graduate Murray Littlejohn (University of St John, New Brunswick), has been published by Bloomsbury, Summer 2023.
Andrea Staiti revisits BC from University of Parma
10-04-2023
Professor Andrea Staiti, a past member of the philosophy department currently at the University of Parma, visited campus during the week of September 25-29. On Monday, he served on the dissertation committee of Michaela Sobrak-Seaton. On Thursday he gave a public lecture entitled, "Personal Character and Naturalism. A Phenomenological Critique of Moral Psychology." On Friday he led a research seminar on themes in the phenomenology of the body.
Andrew Culbreth Joins Philosophy Faculty
06-07-2023
Andrew Culbreth joins the department as an Assistant Professor of Philosophy He earned his PhD in Philosophy from Emory University in 2020. Andrew researches ancient Greek and Roman philosophy, with a special focus on ethics and moral psychology. His current work examines Plato's and Aristotle's views of the nature and value of hope, and how hope might contribute to human flourishing. He also has several research projects focused on topics in Aristotle’s ethics and philosophy of emotions. Andrew has taught broadly across areas in philosophy at several universities and he has additional pedagogical interests in the history of philosophy from the ancients to the present (including Buddhist philosophy). Andrew joins Boston College after having taught at Bryn Mawr College, where he is a Visiting Assistant Professor for the 2022-23 academic year. He is also an affiliated researcher with the Moral Injury Lab at the University of Virginia.
Kelsey Boor Joins Philosophy Faculty
06-07-2023
Kelsey Boor joins us as an Assistant Professor of the Practice of Philosophy. Kelsey specializes in medieval philosophy, focusing on the intersection of ethics and philosophy of mind. Her interests also include the history of philosophy, philosophy of literature, medieval contemplative philosophy, and Ignatian pedagogy. She recently defended her dissertation on medieval theories of conscience at Fordham University, where she also received her MA.
Greg Floyd Joins Philosophy Faculty
06-07-2023
Gregory Floyd joins the faculty as Assistant Professor of Philosophy. He specializes in the thought of Bernard Lonergan with a particular interest in his cognitional theory, critical realism, and philosophy of religion as well as his relation to other nineteenth and twentieth century philosophical figures. He served as director of the Lonergan Institute (Seton Hall) as well as editor-in-chief of The Lonergan Review. He has taught courses on Lonergan’s philosophy and theology, phenomenology and hermeneutics, the philosophy of religion, and the philosophy of friendship. B.A., University of Notre Dame, M.A., Boston College, M.A., University of Notre Dame, Ph.D., Boston College
Andrew Barrette Joins Philosophy Faculty
06-07-2023
We are thrilled to welcome Andrew Barrette to the department on a full time basis as Assistant Professor of the Practice of Philosophy. Andrew earned his PhD in Philosophy from Emory University in 2020 and has been a visiting professor in the philosophy department at Boston College. He was previously a research fellow at the Lonergan Institute and the Institute for Advanced Jesuit Studies. He did a master’s degree in philosophy at Loyola Marymount University and wrote his dissertation at Southern Illinois University Carbondale on Edmund Husserl, during which he was a Fulbright Scholar and International Researcher at the Husserl-Archives and KADOC Documentation and Research Centre on Religion Culture and Society at KU-Leuven. His research and teaching interests focus on phenomenology, phenomenological ethics, and philosophy in the Jesuit tradition, especially as it appears in the 20th century with Joseph Maréchal, SJ, Pierre Scheuer, SJ, and Bernard Lonergan, SJ. He looks forward to continuing this work with colleagues at Boston College.
Jean-Luc Marion to give public lecture
04-04-2023
The 2023 Boston College Gadamer Chair in Philosophy, Jean-Luc Marion, will give a public lecture on Wednesday April 12, 2023 at 4:30PM in Fulton 511. The title of the lecture will be The Possible Meaning of the "End of Metaphysics".
Kevin McArevey comes to the Philosophy Department
03-23-2023
We were so happy to welcome Kevin McArevey to the Philosophy Department last week! His film, Young Plato, was screened on March 15 and he gave a seminar to our faculty and graduate students on St. Patrick's Day! What a pleasure to hear about his efforts and successes! (Kevin McArevey (L), Dermot Moran (R))
Philosophy Department Advances again in QS World University Rankings by Subject 2023
03-23-2023
QS World University Rankings by Subject ranks which universities around the world are the best for Philosophy. The 2023 rankings place Boston College Philosophy department as 30 worldwide, 12 in the US and for the third time, BC is the only Jesuit Department of Philosophy that ranks among the 50 best Philosophy Departments in the world.
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Summer Philosophy Course in Prague!
10-18-2022
Brian Braman will offer PHIL2390 The Philosophy of Beauty (Philosophy of the Person II) this summer in Prague. The purpose of this course is to explore the relationship between subjectivity, beauty, ethics and the notion of personhood of place. In other words, there is a close connection between art and morality, beauty and goodness, and aesthetics and ethics. This course will count for Philosophy core or a Philosophy elective. Apply here.
Dermot Moran to speak at Newman’s Idea of a University: Then and Now
10-17-2022
Dermot Moran will be speaking at the upcoming Conference, Newman’s Idea of a University: Then and Now A series of two discussion panels exploring the history and contemporary relevance of John Henry Newman’s seminal work The Idea of a University (1854), written by him while Rector of the Catholic University of Ireland. The discussion panels will be of interest not only to Newman scholars, but to those with a more general interest in Newman and his works, and with an interest in university education. This event is organised by the Notre Dame Newman Centre for Faith and Reason and the UCD Newman Centre for the Study of Religions, with the kind support of the Newman Society of Ireland. 19th October (Panel 1) & 26th October (Panel 2) 2022, Newman House/Museum of Literature Ireland, St. Stephen’s Green, Dublin. Register (In-person or online)
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PhD Students Travel to Rome
10-12-2022
On October 7-10, BC doctoral students in philosophy, Anna Boessenkool, Abbey Murphy, Rob Van Alstyne, SJ, and Austin Williams gave papers at a research seminar in Rome organized by the Australian Catholic University and Boston College. Professors Bloechl and Kearney were among invited faculty, along with Claude Romano (Paris), Jeffrey Barash (Amiens), James Taylor (Zagreb), and three ACU colleagues. On Sunday, several participants also attended Mass in Ignatius of Loyola's private rooms, celebrated by Rob Van Alstyne.
John Sallis recognized for contributions to philosophy
09-19-2022
Frederick J. Adelmann, S.J., Professor of Philosophy John Sallis has received several honors in recognition of his contributions to philosophy. Most recently, 15 essays on Sallis’ work were published in the volume Philosophy, Art, and the Imagination, edited by James Risser. Sallis also was selected as the 2021 “Professor Honoris Causa” by the International Institute of Hermeneutics. Two volumes in the planned 40-volume set of Sallis’ writings—many of which are related to his lectures at Boston College—are scheduled for publication by the end of this year through Indiana University Press; five have already been released. Sallis/BCNews
Gurtler book, From the Alien to the Alone, A Study of Soul in Plotinus, has been published.
08-24-2022
Gary Gurtler, SJ announces the publication of his book, From the Alien to the Alone, A Study of Soul in Plotinus, by the Catholic University Press.
Plotinus is often accused of writing haphazardly, with little concern for the integral unity of a treatise. By analyzing each treatise as a whole, From the Alien to the Alone finds much evidence that he constructed them skillfully, with the parts working together in subtle ways. This insight was also key in translating several central passages by considering the flow of the argument as a whole to shed light on the difficulties in these passages as well as reveal the structure often latent in particular treatise. The volume also serves to clarify Plotinus’ rich use of images. Commentators, for instance, tend to take the images of light and warmth to explain the relation of soul and body as in conflict, with light casting out warmth. A close look at the text, however, reveals that Plotinus uses each image to correct the limitations of the other. Thus, since the soul is incorporeal, it is actually more transcendent than light and as activating the body is more completely present than warmth. Similarly, recent commentators are quick to take the related impassibility of the soul as implying a Cartesian gap between body and soul. The problem Plotinus faces, however, is that his description of the soul’s pervasive presence in the body jeopardizes its impassibility as in the intelligible. His effort then is actually to introduce a gap that preserves the soul’s nature, rather than overcome a gap that would make the very existence of the body problematic.
While this work confirms much recent scholarly consensus on Plotinus, many of Gurtler's interpretations and general conclusions give constructive challenges to some existing modes of understanding Plotinus’ thought. The arguments and their textual evidence, with the accompanying Greek, provide the reader with direct evidence for testing these conclusions as well as appreciating the nature of Plotinus’ philosophizing.
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Eileen Sweeney Awarded Alexander von Humboldt Fellowship
08-24-2022
Professor Eileen Sweeney has been awarded a Alexander von Humboldt Fellowship for a renewed research stay in the spring of 2023. Professor Sweeney will be working with Prof. Dominik Perler at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin on a her project, entitled “Philosophical Theories of the Passions from the Medieval to the Modern Period.”
As part of her fellowship, Professor Sweeney will participate in Prof. Perler’s colloquium on this topic and participate in the interdisciplinary “Human Abilities Lab,” one of the Centres for Advanced Studies in Humanities and Social Sciences at Humboldt University (https://www.hu-berlin.de/en/research/profil/schwerpunkte/centres-for-advanced-studies/cas-hu#kfor2909). For fall of 2022, Professor Sweeney will be a visiting researcher at Università Ca' Foscari and Venice International University in Venice, Italy, working on late Medieval and Renaissance accounts of the emotions/passions.
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Hosting Earth Conference Held at Boston College
05-19-2022
The Hosting Earth Conference was held on April 22-23. The Conference engaged with the question of ecological hospitality by asking what it means to be guests of the earth as well as hosts. It also featured a talk by Mary Robinson, former UN Special Envoy on Climate Change, former President of Ireland and former UN Commissioner of Human Rights, pictured here with Richard Kearney.
Magnus Ferguson named Charlotte W. Newcombe Doctoral Dissertation Fellow
05-09-2022
The Institute for Citizens & Scholars has named 22 Fellows to the 2022 class of the Charlotte W. Newcombe Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship, including PhD Candidate Magnus Ferguson. The Newcombe Fellowship is the largest and most prestigious award for Ph.D. candidates in the humanities and social sciences addressing questions of ethical and religious values in interesting, original, or significant ways. Citizens & Scholars prepares leaders and engages networks of people and organizations to meet urgent education challenges. The overarching goal is to shape an informed, productively engaged, and hopeful citizenry. Magnus' dissertation topic is On Responsibility for Others’ Harms.
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Donald J. White Teaching Awards Announced
05-03-2022
Congratulations to the recipients of the Donald J. White Teaching Excellence Award from the Philosophy Graduate Program; David C. Abergel, Anna Dorothea Boessenkool, Jared Highlen and Austin M. Williams. The Donald J. White Teaching Excellence Awards program was established to underscore and reinforce the pursuit of teaching excellence among graduate Teaching Fellows and Teaching Assistants at Boston College. They are named in honor of former Dean of the Morrissey Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, Donald J. White, who served from 1971 to 1994, and displayed a deep commitment both to graduate students and to teaching excellence across the School.
Caitlin Colangelo '22 Receives John Bapst, SJ Award
05-03-2022
Congratulations to Caitlin Colangelo '22 who is this year's recipient of the John Bapst, SJ, Philosophy Award. This award, in honor of John Bapst, S.J., is given to the student whose overall performance in philosophy courses has been outstanding.
Anozie to Host Conference on The Hermeneutics of Hope
05-03-2022
Professor Stanley Uche Anozie has been granted funding to host a conference in Spring of 2023. The conference will be called THE HERMENEUTICS OF HOPE IN WESTERN PHILOSOPHY AND AFRICAN IGBO ONTOLOGY. The conference will address the meaning of life in the face of health threats, the quality of socialization and public service culture, efficient educational and pedagogical approaches, impersonal online economic transactions, and relatively diminished community engagements or human persons’ solidarity. It will feature presentations by Rico Sneller, Mahmoud Masaeli, Gianluigi Segalerba, Aloysius Ochasi and K. Kalemba. We look forward to a fascinating discussion.
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Moran Presents at Irish Platonisms Conference
05-02-2022
Dermot Moran presented a paper entitled "Eriugena’s Influence on Meister Eckhart and Cardinal Nicholas of Cusa" at the Irish Platonisms Conference in Dublin on April 29th. The purpose of this conference was to survey the various forms that Platonism has taken in Ireland’s history (from the seventh century to the present) in a broad sense which includes the development of Platonic ideas implicit in texts not necessarily identified as Platonic (such as patristic theological texts), the influence of Irish Platonisms elsewhere, and the work of Irish Platonists outside of Ireland. https://www.dias.ie/2022/02/16/irish-platonisms-conference/
Moran to Present Paper at Trinity College Dublin
05-02-2022
Dermot Moran is scheduled to present a paper (The Embodied Nature of the First-Person Perspective: Phenomenological Reflections) at a conference at Trinity College in Dublin. The presentation is scheduled for Saturday, May 7 and the conference is titled "Is the Self Embodied?". Contact details: Sam Fazekas • fazekass@tcd.ie
Bloechl Book, Levinas on the Primacy of the Ethical: Philosophy as Prophecy (Studies in Phenomenology and Existential Philosophy), to be published
04-14-2022
Jeff Bloechl's book, Levinas on the Primacy of the Ethical: Philosophy as Prophecy (Studies in Phenomenology and Existential Philosophy), pursues the prophetic dimension of Levinas’s philosophy—his commitment to phenomenology and to a philosophy of religion—to make the case for the mutual reinforcement and intelligibility of these two threads. The book traces the emergence of Levinas’s early thought in relation to modern political philosophy, his revision of Martin Heidegger’s existential phenomenology, the consolidation of his mature position, his important differences with Freudian psychoanalysis, the turn from metaphysics to language in his later philosophy, and his complex relationship with Christian theology.
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Alice D. and Frederick C. LaBrecque Lecture in Medical Ethics
03-03-2022
The LaBrecque Medical Ethics lecture is planned for Monday, April 4, 2022. It will feature a panel discussion with Aimee Milliken (Brigham and Women's Hospital) and D. Micah Lester (Arkansas Children's Hospital). The topic of the panel will be Risk, Resources, and Healthcare in a Time of Crisis.
Elisa Magri book to be published.
02-16-2022
Elisa Magri's book, Critical Phenomenlogy: An Introduction, is scheduled to be released this summer. Critical Phenomenology: An Introduction is the first book of its kind, addressing the applied questions that are becoming a core part of phenomenology today. This book provides a concise, accessible introduction to critical themes including intersubjectivity, race, gender, vulnerability, and freedom. In so doing, it demonstrates both the rich history of phenomenology and its continuing philosophical and social importance.
Greg Fried's Mirror of Race Website Migrated to BC
02-16-2022
Boston College has migrated the website for the project directed by Professor Greg Fried, The Mirror of Race, to a BC-hosted platform.
The Mirror of Race Project is a place for reflection on the meaning of race in America — its past, as well as its present and future. Here you will find both a main exhibition of early American photographs as well as exhibitions on specific topics.
You will also find critical commentary in various forms, such as essays and film. Take the opportunity to think about how you see others — and yourself.