FACULTY OF HUMANITIES

Philosophy

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Department of Philosophy

About Philosophy

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About Philosophy

Welcome to the Department of Philosophy at McMaster University! Learn about our undergraduate and graduate course options, department lecture series and our research.

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Undergraduate Programs

Discover more about our Philosophy undergraduate programs.

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Undergraduate Course Outlines

View your Philosophy studies course outline to find assignment due dates, assessments and more.

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Undergraduate Academic Advising

Undergraduate Academic Advising

Need help? Connect with one of our academic advisors and find the resources you need to help you on your academic journey.

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Graduate Programs

Learn about our research focus and find out more about our Philosophy graduate programs.

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NEWS & STORIES

July 22, 2021

Professor Emeritus, David Hitchcock publishes new book!

The Department of Philosophy is pleased to announce the publication of a new book by David Hitchcock (Professor Emeritus, Philosophy). Definition: A Practical Guide to Constructing and Evaluating Definitions of Terms appears as Volume 11 in the series Windsor Studies in Argumentation. The complete book (like all other volumes in the WSIA series) is available … Continued

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July 8, 2021

A new tool in the global fight against malaria

McMaster researchers contribute to updated international guidelines that will guide the research and development of genetically modified mosquitoes...

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UPCOMING EVENTS

Lecture
Calendar

October 22, 2021
1:30 pm to 3:00 pm

As part of our weekly Speaker Series, the Department of Philosophy invites you to join us in welcoming Dr.  Lisa Herzog (University of Groningen).  Links for all Department of Philosophy Speaker Series talks are distributed through an email distribution list. If you would like to be added to this list, and hence to receive regular email notifications and reminders about Philosophy talks, please email the Philosophy Department office (ugphil@mcmaster.ca). If you would like to attend just this one talk, you may also email the philosophy office (same email address) to request a meeting link.

*Please note, this talk will start at 1:30 pm ET rather than our usual 3:30 pm start.

Talk title: “Bodies at Work”

Abstract: This paper asks how to think about the question of “where to work” from a normative perspective. As the Corona pandemic has shown, far more jobs than was previously assumed can be done from anywhere, which often means “from home.” It has led to questions of whether employees should have a “right to home office” and how to think about the future of “the workplace” more broadly speaking. In this talk, I try to analyze the nature of the problem and draw some first normative conclusions. I argue that we need to understand the problem against the background of structurally unjust societies (in particular with regard to care work and the affordability of housing), with an imbalance of power between employers and employees as the standard case, with employees having diverse preferences about where to work, and taking into account the role of critical-mass-effects and social norms. In terms of normative criteria, I suggest well-being and protection of harm (which often favors home office), autonomy (which sometimes does, sometimes not), non-discrimination (which might not), and the role of workplaces as public spaces (which at least raises questions about alternative public spaces). These criteria can be at odds with each other, with the concrete problems taking the shape of either coordination problems or collective action problems. I argue for the need for proceduralization and procedural justice in the former case, and political deliberation and decision in the latter.
Lecture
Calendar

October 29, 2021
3:30 pm to 5:00 pm

As part of our weekly Speaker Series, the Department of Philosophy invites you to join us in welcoming  Dr. Sukaina Hirji (University of Pennsylvania).  Links for all Department of Philosophy Speaker Series talks are distributed through an email distribution list. If you would like to be added to this list, and hence to receive regular email notifications and reminders about Philosophy talks, please email the Philosophy Department office (ugphil@mcmaster.ca). If you would like to attend just this one talk, you may also email the philosophy office (same email address) to request a meeting link.

Talk title: “White Blindness, and Self-Knowledge in Plato’s Alcibiades”

Abstract: There has been growing reflection within the field of Classics about the role the discipline has played in the invention and dominance of a certain conception of “whiteness”. I suggest that similar concerns arise within the field of Ancient Philosophy. I draw on Plato’s account of self-knowledge as mirroring in the Alcibiades to argue that we should take an approach of epistemic humility to these challenges, one that involves fostering a more pluralistic set of methods and approaches within the field. On the interpretation I defend, in the Alcibiades, knowing one’s own ignorance involves knowing one’s own epistemic limitations, and this is best achieved by the help of someone better positioned to see one’s shortcomings. To better know our own limitations as scholars and teachers of ancient texts, we ought to seek out, amplify, and integrate challenges to our own practices.
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Brandon Coombs

I found the passion amongst individual professors for their discipline and area of study the most beneficial to me.

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Bertrand Russell Research Centre

Video conference with Institute of Ethics & Policy

Institute of Ethics & Policy for Innovation (IEPI)

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Bertrand Russell Visiting Professorship

Forms & Documents

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Philosophy Department Job Opportunities

Find out about Philosophy department job opportunities.

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