UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO DEPARTMENT OF PHILOSOPHY

FA L L 2 0 0 6

ALUMNI FUND GRADUATE FELLOWSHIPSSidney Robinson (BA,1961;MA,1962;LLB,1966)has endowed the Sidney P. H. Robinson GraduateScholarship in Ancient Philosophy, an award of approximately $12,000/year for graduate studentsworking in Greek and Roman philosophy. TheDepartment has traditionally had a strong group ofresearchers in this field, from Father Owens, John Rist,and Tom Robinson (no relation to Sidney), to our cur-rent complement of Canada Research Chair in Ancient

Philosophy,Brad Inwood;Chancellor Jackman Professor,Jennifer Whiting;Canada Research Chair in Classical Philosophy, Rachel Barney; LloydGerson, and Doug Hutchinson.This fellowship will ensure that we are ableto attract the very best graduate students from around the world to studywith this excellent group of faculty.

Sidney studied philosophy at Trinity College as an undergraduate and con-tinued on to do a master’s degree with the Department immediately there-after.Though he enjoyed his philosophical study tremendously, especiallywhen teaching the subject, he decided to pursue a career in law.A partner at the firm of Torys for many years, his recent retirement hasallowed him to return to study at the Department.He has audited a series ofseminars on ancient philosophy on such topics as Plato’s moral psychology,Aristotle’s conception of weakness of will and responses to it bythe medieval commentators, and Seneca’s presentation of Stoicism. He is aregular and welcome presence at many departmental talks and conferences.

Michael J. Herman (MBA, 1992; MA, 2006) has endowed the Michael J. Herman GraduateFellowship in Philosophy, an award of approximately$12,000/year for the benefit of graduate students in the department. The Herman Fellowship will helpus attract the best students in any area of study at a time when the competition with our peer institutions in the US is fierce.

Michael studied at Michigan as an undergraduate and then received his law degree at Osgoode Hall Law School in 1974. After a successfulcareer as a lawyer, including sessional teaching stints at three Ontario lawschools, he took a position as President and CEO at Citicom Inc.and Citipark Inc., while completing his MBA at the University of Toronto. He started a part-time master’s degree in the Department in 2001, finishing up this past summer.Throughout his studies, he hasbeen a significant booster of the Department’s mission, especially by raising our profile in the Toronto legal and business communities.Michael is also extremely active in community affairs and has been the Chair of the Holocaust Committee of Toronto, a Director of the United Jewish Appeal/Federation, and the President of theOakdale Golf and Country Club.

We wish to thank the generous donors to the Department of Philosophy, without whom Philosophy Newswould not be possible. Please see the back page to see how you can support the Department in endeavours like this one.

MINERVA’S AVIARY –PHILOSOPHYAT TORONTOJohn Slater’s History of the Department is Launched

The Philosophy Department is very pleased to announce two new fellowships for graduate students, each the result of very generous gifts from alumni.

Sidney and Michael both took advantage of the remarkable leveraging opportunity offered through the Graduate Student Endowment Fund established at the U of T bythe Province of Ontario. Donations are effectively triple matched to provide substantial named fellowships in perpetuity for the benefit of our graduate students. If youare interested in taking advantage of this program, please contact Christie Darville of Arts and Science Advancement, 416-946-5192, cdarville@artsci.utoronto.ca.

John Slater’s long-awaited history of the Philosophy Department, Minerva’sAviary (University of Toronto Press, 2005), is now available. The book was

launched at a reception at the Fisher Rare Book Librarylast October. Many friends and alumni attended, includ-ing Father Edward Jackman (BA, 1962, VictoriaCollege), who has been a long-time supporter of both thebook and the Department. In his remarks at the booklaunch, he said: “We may not all be professional philoso-phers but we never lose our love of thinking and above allour love for wisdom itself, i.e. philosophy.”

Above:Chairs of the Philosophy Department (former and current) attending the launch:L.Wayne Sumner,Cheryl Misak,John Slater,David Gauthier,Tom Robinson,Donald Ainslie.Rev.Edward Jackman

2 Univers i ty o f Toronto

At the Universityof Toronto, wepride ourselveson our interna-tional reputationfor excellence inresearch, but wealso recognizethat our reputa-tion for teaching

lags a bit behind. For this reason, the lead-ers of the University, from the Presidentand Provost to the various Deans andChairs, have made it our goal to improvethe student experience at U of T.

What does this mean for Philosophy? In2003-4, when we were developing ourplan for the Department for the next fewyears, we started by thinking about classsizes. The best philosophical educationdoes not involve a teacher simply convey-ing doctrine to a student. Instead we takeSocrates for a model, and try to inspire ourstudents to think for themselves about theissues at hand. This task is easiest when theclass is relatively small, allowing professorsto lead the students in a joint philosophicalconversation.

Not all classes can be small, of course. Weteach approximately 14,000 students(half-course enrollments) on the threecampuses, and sometimes a large lecturecourse is not only necessary, but effective,especially in the early years of our pro-grams. For students’ thinking will bestronger and more creative when they takeinto account what has been said on a sub-ject by the great philosophers, be theyhistorical or contemporary. A large lec-ture allows a professor to make aphilosophical position – its rationale, itsstrengths, its weaknesses – available to alarge number of students simultaneously.Such lectures will be most effective whenthey are combined with small-group tuto-rials, where students have the chance totalk through their ideas in a conversationmoderated by a graduate student.

Accordingly, the Department decided thatour top priority for the next few years wasfor “every class to allow for dialogueamong students, either by being relatively

small or, if large, by having tutorials inaddition to lectures.”

We have been making great strides on thisfront. On the St. George campus, forexample, we have restricted the size ofalmost all of our third-year courses to 38or fewer students, and our fourth-yearseminars are capped at 24.Simultaneously, we have increased thenumber of tutorials in our large first- andsecond-year courses. Thus in 2002-3, wehad 62 large half-courses (more than 40students), only eight of which had tutori-als. But in 2006-7, we have halved thenumber of large courses to 30, of which17 have tutorials. We hope to have tutori-als in every large lecture course in the nextfew years.

One major step we’re taking in this direc-tion this year is the Socrates Project. We’vereceived special funding from the Provostand the Dean of Arts and Science that willallow us to hire our best fourth year stu-dents to work as TAs for PHL 100Y,Introduction to Philosophy. The studentsin the class will benefit from having peersas TAs, while the TAs will have the oppor-tunity for that special kind of Socraticinsight that comes with teaching the sub-ject. Moreover, they will also participatein a special research seminar that willbring students up to date on the newestresearch on the topics covered in PHL100.

Our students in philosophy continue tothrive academically. Among our graduat-ing specialists this past year, for example,we had two Moss finalists, a Rhodes final-ist, and a Commonwealth Scholar.Students are going on to graduate school atPrinceton, Oxford, Harvard, and else-where; to law school at Yale, New YorkUniversity, as well of course as U of T andOsgoode.

Many of us remember our university days,however, primarily for what went on out-side of the classroom – for the clubs,teams, lectures, debates, parties, and forhanging out with friends. The philosophystudents on campus today continue to beamazingly active in co-curricular activities.On the facing page, you’ll find out a bitmore about what our students are up to:three philosophy clubs, two journals, acourse union, and more. I’ve certainlyenjoyed getting to know them. They arean impressive bunch!

From the Chair Donald Ainslie

Our top priority for the nextfew years was for “every classto allow for dialogue amongstudents”

PHLUB – The UTSCPhilosophy ClubIt has been an active year for ourundergraduates in Philosophy atUTSC. In par ticular, our PhilosophyClub, better known as PHLUB, hashosted a number of events, includingseveral discussion nights on topicsranging from the incorrig ibility ofmental states to God, free will andexistentialism; general help andtutoring sessions for fall and winterexams; a movie night; and guest lec-tures, including one by Bill Seager onconsciousness and time, and one byMartin Lin on abstract objects andcausation. For next year, PHLUB isplanning a philosophy radio show onthe UTSC campus radio station, and aphilosophy film project. It should beinteresting and a lot of fun.

Phil Kremer,Philosophy DisciplineRepresentative, UTSC

UTM Philosophy Club

The University of Toronto atMississauga Philosophy Club, seenhere, meets several times a year todiscuss matters of abiding concern tophilosophically minded youngthinkers. Our meetings are looselyorganized around some theme thatrequires each participant to do a bit ofthinking in advance. We’ve had nightson which each of us brought in a pieceof music to play, a photograph to passaround, some art work, or a piece oftext. The discussion is always lively,and usually turns out to connect withcourse material, but in some novelway. For instance, our last meetingrevolved around the phenomenon ofnear-death experiences, and we con-sidered whether there are experi-ences that have no adequateexpression in language.

Phil Clark,Faculty Co-ordinator

The UTM Philosophy Club

Department o f Ph i losophy News 3

UNDERGRADUATE PHILOSOPHY ACTIVITIESTrinity College’s Brett Philosophy ClubThe Brett Philosophy Club is a long-standing tradition at TrinityCollege, and this year’s group continued its legacy of organizinginformal philosophical discussions and reading groups. Meetingonce a month in one of Trinity’s beautiful common rooms withrequisite refreshments, the group of philosophy enthusiasts froma variety of colleges, faculties, and programs discussed articleswhich ranged from contemporary questions of philosophy ofmind (Dennet’s “Where am I?”) to ancient puzzles of political phi-losophy (Plato’s Crito). Brett also collaborated with theInternational Relations Society and the Ethics, Society and LawStudent Association to organize a lecture by Dr. Stuart Murray onthe topic of suicide bombing. Next year Brett will continue its tra-dition of promoting philosophy and fellowship.

Joanna Langille with Jelena Madunic

MindfulMindful is the University ofToronto’s new journal of ethicsfor undergraduate students.The revival of Trinity College’sBrett Philosophy Club made meaware of the thriving philo-sophical community at this uni-versity. Students from acrossthe campuses are activelyengaged in philosophical dia-logue, especially about ethics.I decided to capture some of this intellectual energy in the form ofa publication. The journal will focus on issues in practical philoso-phy, including applied and metaethics, political theory and philos-ophy, international justice, and bioethics. The PhilosophyDepartment and the new Centre for Ethics at the University ofToronto helped Mindful become an actuality.Launching a new journal has presented many challenges, butalong with the frustration that comes with any serious venture isthe excitement of bringing together a group of very talentedminds and building the foundations for a new – and hopefully suc-cessful – publication. I was most privileged to have an incrediblygifted Board of Editors involved in the crew of Mindful.Ethical debate is vital for our communities, both at home andabroad, and this debate deserves to have a recognized forum at thisuniversity. We will be launching our first issue in the fall of 2006.

Shareen RezaEditor-in-Chief,Mindful,U of T Journal of Ethics,

Brett Philosophy Club,Trinity College

PCU – Philosophy Course UnionThe Philosophy Course Union(PCU), is an undergraduate stu-dent group at the University ofToronto St. George campus thatworks to organize social and aca-demic events for philosophyundergraduates as well as theuniversity community at large.To that end we have held lec-tures, symposia, pub and movienights, graduate school semi-

nars, as well as increasingly pop-ular reading groups. This yearwe also helped organize a careernight (see story on page 9). ThePCU works to maintain positiverelations among the students,faculty, and all the other philos-ophy groups on campus. Thisyear the PCU has hosted some ofits most successful events everand we hope to continue thatpositive momentum into nextyear with the second annualWorld Philosophy Day celebra-tion. The PCU is generouslysupported by the Department ofPhilosophy and the Arts andScience Student Union.

Ellan TsekhmanNoesisNoesis is the Undergraduate PhilosophyJournal of the University of Toronto. Its mainfunction is to provide a forum for excellentwork produced by U of T undergraduates atthe University of Toronto, and to give stu-dents an opportunity to acquire the skillsassociated with running an academic publica-tion.An undergraduate journal is doubly ben-eficial, as it provides opportunities forprofessional development to both those whoare published, and those who edit and pro-duce the journal. Noesis would not be possible without the gen-erous financial support of the Philosophy Department.You canpick up a copy of our 2005 issue at the Department Office at 215Huron, 9th floor, or look at this and other issues online atwww.chass.utoronto.ca/pcu/noesis.This year we have been more active than ever. Along with theusual business of recruiting undergraduate editors, solicitingsubmissions, blind reviewing and selecting articles, preparingthem for publication, and the final production of the journal, weare engaged in other activities. These include hosting socials,talks, and fundraising through the sale of philosophically-themed lapel pins featuring such slogans as “I think therefore Iam,” and “You are reading this.” Our most significant activity thisyear has been to hold a series of colloquia, each featuring a cur-rent or former member of Toronto's community. We are proudto have presented talks by U of T professors Mark Kingwell andPaul Franks, as well as a postdoctoral fellow, Dr. Stuart Murray,and University of Guelph professor and U of T alumnus, JohnRusson. Each speaker is asked to choose a topic with the solecondition that it be of interest to a diverse undergraduate audi-ence.We have been fortunate to hear talks on happiness and cul-ture, Analytic philosophy and German idealism, bioethics andPlato, and a phenomenology of music.These talks have raised thepresence of Noesis on campus and follow the optimistic spirit ofinter- and intradisciplinary thinking and dialogue in Toronto'sphilosophical community.Very best regards – and look out for our new issue in June!

Jamie M.A.Smith,Editor-In-Chief

Mindful Board of Editors:Erin Court, Joanna Langille, ShahreenReza, Jelena Madunic, and JeremyWillard. Absent: Gabriel Rauterburg.

PCU Reading Group #2:The PCU Reading Group‘Confessions’(Augustine and Rousseau)met weekly over the summer. Pictured:Darren Cross, Jordan Apostoli, AshleyAtkins (Confessions host and PCUEvents Coordinator),Adam Golding,allstriking Rodin’s The Thinker pose.Missing from the photo: JasonKhule,Marco Paoli.

PCU Executive:Gabriel Rauterberg, Linda Wu,Ellan Tsekhman,Simon Kassissia

(CONTINUED ON PAGE 9)

Jamie Smith

4 Univers i ty o f Toronto

Undergrad AwardsStudent Paper Awards Winner

Emilio Reyes Le Blanc, a 2006 philoso-phy specialist alumnus, won awards for twopapers – the President’s Award, at the 11thAnnual SUNY Oneonta UndergraduatePhilosophy Conference (April 2006), for“Dismantling Dretske: A Sellarsian Theoryof Change Blindness” – and the StudentEssay Prize, Bertrand Russell Society 33rdAnnual Meeting, University of Iowa, May2006, for “Russell on Acquaintance and De Re Belief.”

Emilio attended the Summer School in Logic and FormalEpistemology at Carnegie Mellon in June and July, and inAugust he was 1 of 15 undergrads picked to study at theSummer Institute for Diversity in Philosophy at RutgersUniversity. He presently plans to be a bike messenger inVancouver for a year before pursuing a PhD in philosophy.

Uof T Excellence Award in Social Sciences andHumanitiesTwo of our undergraduates won U of TExcellence Awards in the Humanities,highly competitive scholarships allowingthem to undertake independent researchprojects during this past summer. ColinChamberlain, who graduated with a spe-

cialist degree this spring, has now gone onto doctoral work in philosophy at Harvard.He spent the summer working with Ronniede Sousa on issues relating to philosophy ofmind and language. Ryan Sosna, who isin the final year of a specialist degree,worked with Wayne Sumner, exploring theethical, legal, and social issues surroundingeuthanasia and assisted death.

Cressy AwardJoanna Langille won a Gordon CressyStudent Leadership Award, which recognizesstudents for their outstanding extra-curricu-lar contributions to their college, faculty,school or department, or to the university asa whole. She has served as both the vice-president and president of the GlobalKnowledge Foundation (see GKF on page 9).She says “using your skills to help others is important; it’s a morally good thing. I’m really interested in education and thetransformative power of ideas to assist others.”

Chamberlain

Sosna

Moss Scholarship Finalists and UTAA ScholarsTwo philosophy students were named final-ists for the 2006 John H. Moss Scholarshipand were designated UTAA (U of T AlumniAssoc.) Scholars. Erin Court (TrinityCollege, bioethics major) and JoannaLangille (University College, joint philos-ophy and political science specialist)received this honour for their outstanding academic and extra-curricular leadership.

Court

Reyes Le Blanc

Langille

Deborah Black,St.GeorgeUndergraduate Coordinator

As I write this, my term as UndergraduateCoordinator is drawing to a close. When Ibegan the double cohort had just arrived at theUniversity of Toronto and the PhilosophyDepartment was formulating its response tothe University’s Stepping Up plan. During thistime the Department has faced many exciting

challenges, and while it has often been hectic, it has also beenimmensely rewarding.

I would like to extend my thanks to all the undergraduate studentswhom we have the privilege of teaching at U of T,and also to all thefaculty, instructors, and Teaching Assistants who make it possiblefor us to offer a rich philosophy curriculum to our students.

Niko Scharer,who took over as TA Coordinator this year,has madea tremendous contribution to the success of our undergraduateprogram.Thanks are due to all the administrative staff at 215Huron St. who help in the delivery of the program. Special men-tion must be made of the Undergraduate Counsellor,Alisa Rim,who brings a warm and caring spirit to all her dealings with stu-dents and staff in the Department. I have been most fortunate tohave such a remarkable person to assist me in this office. Specialthanks are due to our Chair, Donald Ainslie, who has been unsur-passed in his dedication to enriching the UndergraduatePhilosophy experience on the St.George Campus.

On July 1, 2006, I will turn over the position of UndergraduateCoordinator to the capable hands of Professor Joseph Heath.I hope that his term in this office will be as fruitful and congenial asmine has been!

Notes from the St. George Undergraduate Department

Department o f Ph i losophy News 5

UTM PHILOSOPHY NEWSAmy MullinChair, Department of PhilosophyUniversity of Toronto at MississaugaUTM Philosophy is delighted to welcome threenew faculty: Mohan Matthen, Byeong Yi, andJonathan Weisberg (see ‘New Faculty’ on page 9).We welcome Paul Franks back from

sabbatical leave, and wish Diana Raffman a productive andenjoyable sabbatical leave. We appreciate the work of our phi-losophy student advisory committee in assisting us with ourhiring of new faculty (which will continue in 2006-7).Thiscommittee met with each job candidate for an assistant profes-sor position in order to give us feedback about each candidate'sresearch and teaching.They also helped us impress those candi-dates with the calibre of our students! We always appreciatehearing from our alumni.

News about some of our recent alumni is posted at http://www.utm.utoronto.ca/2852.0.html and wewould be delighted to update this page with more information.

UTSC PHILOSOPHY NEWSPhil KremerPhilosophy Discipline Representative,University of Toronto at Scarborough

It's been a good year for Philosophy at UTSC.We welcomed two new members, Benj Hellie,in the Philosophy of Mind, and Jessica Wilson,

in Metaphysics and the Philosophy of Science. Benj and Jessicaimmediately became a substantial presence, pressing aheadwith initiatives in both teaching and research.We also wel-comed back Lynda Lange, in Political Philosophy, who wasaway for a year. Our junior faculty have been making a namefor themselves in the wider UTSC Department ofHumanities: among junior faculty in the Humanities at UTSC,all and only the philosophers won the Connaught New StaffMatching Grants. In addition, Martin Lin won a SSHRCStandard Research Grant, and Benj and Jessica have acceptedinvitations to the Centre for Consciousness at the AustralianNational University. Our plans for next year include increas-ing our offerings in value theory, and adding tutorials to ourmost popular B-level course, Biomedical Ethics. If these tuto-rials are a success, we hope to add tutorials to more B-levelcourses in coming years.

THE SCHOOL OF TORONTOIn the fall of 2005, Aric Guité, a photography student at Sheridan College Institute of Technology and Advanced Learning, approached the Department with an intriguing idea. He wanted to create a modern-dress photo-recreation of Raphael’s famous fresco, The School of Athens. You can see the results here.

Top row, left to right: Jacob Weinrib,Tom Hurka, Jessica Wilson, Jim Brown, Niko Scharer, Jennifer Nagel,Amy Mullin, Martin Pickavé, Peter King, Diana Raffman, Phil Clark, GurpreetRattan. On the stairs: Benj Hellie,Donald Ainslie, two photographer’s assistants (Robin Raworth and Meghan Janushewski). Front row: Deborah Black,Wayne Sumner, Jennifer Hawkins,Bob Gibbs,Anjan Chakravartty, Lana Kuhle, Ronnie de Sousa,Aric Guité (the photographer),Alasdair Urquhart, and Pablo Stafforini.

6 Univers i ty o f Toronto6 Univers i ty o f Toronto

James Robert Brown,Graduate CoordinatorThis fall we took in a slightly larger number ofPhD students than in the recent past, nine-teen in all, and seven MA students. Next yearwe will be taking in fewer PhDs and a largernumber of MAs, approximately a dozen of

each. On the scholarship front, once again we have donevery well in the various competitions; the large number ofexternal awards reflects the brilliance of our students.

In the past year we have had fourteen completed PhDs,another very significant year. (In about six years we will runout of space for storing dissertations.)

Our graduating doctoral students have secured jobs this yearat such universities as the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign; Sarah Lawrence College, SungkyunkwanUniversity (S. Korea), Marymount University, and BradleyUniversity. In addition, several students received prestigiouspost-doctoral fellowships through such institutions as theEuropean University Institute, SSHRC, and the NationalInstitutes of Health.

The big change in the Graduate Office is a new GraduateCoordinator, who will count himself lucky to know all therules by the time he departs. Margaret Opoku-Pare is nowin her second year and catches most of the mistakes made bythe new kid.

Notes from the Graduate Department

IN MEMORIAMLynd Wilks Forguson died of cancer on13 December 2005 at his retirement homein North Vancouver. Lynd was born inPaducah, Kentucky in 1938 and receivedall of his education in the United States.After earning a doctorate at NorthwesternUniversity, he was hired by the Universityof Buffalo and served there for three years. In 1968 hejoined this department and taught until his retirement in2004. He undertook several administrative positions inUniversity College, which he joined in 1971 as registrar.Later he served for three years as vice-principal and forseven years as principal of the college. His philosophicalinterests and work, which were honed by the two years hespent at Oxford before joining the University of Toronto,lay in analytical philosophy. The very title of his book,Common Sense (1989), brings to mind one of his heroes,G.E. Moore. Lynd also had strong interdisciplinary inter-ests which led him to establish programs in cognitivescience and artificial intelligence at University College.And it was mostly due to his efforts that an acclaimed artgallery was instituted in the college.

James Allen Graff died of cancer on 23October 2005 in Toronto. Jim was born in1937 in East Orange, New Jersey, andearned a doctorate at Brown University.John Irving, then head of the Departmentof Ethics at Victoria College, hired him asa lecturer in 1963. When Francis

Sparshott stepped down as chairman of that departmentin 1970, Jim was appointed to succeed him. He held thepost until the Department of Ethics was abolished and itsmembers absorbed into the Department of Philosophy in

1975. His principal interest in later years was the plightof the Palestinian people and he did write and speak wide-ly and passionately on that topic. He retired in 2002.

Joseph Owens died of old age on 30October 2005 in Toronto. Joe was born in1908 at Saint John, New Brunswick, andhis first degree was earned at St. Mary’sCollege, Brockville, Ontario.After gradu-ating he studied at seminaries at Montrealand Woodstock, Ontario. He wasordained a priest in the Congregation of the Most HolyRedeemer, commonly called the Redemptorists, in 1933.After serving as parish priest for a number of years, heenrolled as a graduate student in the Pontifical Institute ofMediaeval Studies. He was awarded its licentiate in 1946and its doctorate summa cum laude in 1951, one of onlyeleven successful candidates for that degree. His firstbook, The Doctrine of Being in the AristotelianMetaphysics:A Study in the Greek Background of MediaevalThought (1951), a reworking of his doctoral thesis,brought him to the favourable notice of both classical andmedieval scholars. Gilson contributed a preface in whichhe described Owens as an exemplar of the sort of studenthe and his colleagues had hoped to attract when theyfounded the Institute. He praised Owens both as an histo-rian and a philosopher. The book, which was revisedtwice, has never been out of print. Joe joined the facultyof the Institute, and through it, the Graduate Departmentof Philosophy in 1954, and quickly became one ofToronto’s star attractions. He retired in 1973 but contin-ued to offer graduate courses for the next twenty years.Over the years he published another ten books on topicsin Aristotle and medieval philosophy.

Department o f Ph i losophy News 7Department o f Ph i losophy News 7

Tom Hurka, theChancellor Henry N. R.Jackman DistinguishedChair in PhilosophicalStudies, has been awardeda Guggenheim Fellowship,one of the most prestigious

academic honours in the Americas. Hewill use his fellowship to work on aproject examining British moral philos-ophy from Sidgwick to Ross.

Marleen Rozemondis the recipient of theChancellor JackmanResearch Fellowship inthe Humanities for the2006-2007 academic year.

University Professor L.Wayne Sumner has beenawarded the 2006 C.B.Macpherson Prize by theCanadian Political ScienceAssociation, for his book

The Hateful and the Obscene: Studies inthe Limits of Free Expression (U of TPress, 2004).

Lambert Zuidervaart,an Associate Member inthe Graduate Faculty ofthe Department ofPhilosophy at the U of Tand Professor ofPhilosophy at the Institutefor Christian Studies, won the inauguralSymposium book award for his ArtisticTruth: Aesthetics, Discourse, andImaginative Disclosure (Cambridge UP,2004). The award is sponsored by theCanadian Society for ContinentalPhilosophy; Lambert was the keynotespeaker for the Society at their Maymeeting at York University. This bookhas also been selected as an OutstandingAcademic Title for 2005 by Choice, thejournal of the American LibraryAssociation.

Calvin Normore, a U of T philosophygraduate (PhD, 1976) and former facul-ty member, has been elected VicePresident of the American PhilosophicalAssociation – Pacific Division, and will automatically become Presidentnext year.

Stuart Murray receiveda SAC/APUSUndergraduate TeachingAward for teaching excel-lence in the category ofArts and Science from theUniversity of Toronto Students’Administrative Council and theAssociation of Part-timeUndergraduate Students for his 3rdyear course Ethics and MedicalResearch. Stuart was a SSHRC post-doctoral fellow in the department in2004-2006. He will continue being aSenior McLuhan Fellow at theMcLuhan Program in Culture andTechnology for one more year, and hehas obtained a tenure-track position at Ryerson.

PhD student LaurenBialystok received the2005-2006 TeachingAssistants’ ExcellenceAward, given out by theTeaching Assistants’

Training Program.

This spring Catherine Manoukian,a PhD student inour philosophy program, had a CDreleased:Khachaturian andShostakovich: ViolinConcertos.Therecording was made last summer withthe Armenian Philharmonic Orchestra.This is Catherine’s fourth CD.

MA student JacobWeinrib won the MarthaLile Love Essay contest forhis essay “The JudicialSignificance of Kant’s‘Supposed Right to Lie’.”

Kirstin Borgerson,a PhD student, received 3 awards: the Dr. JayAlan Smith / OntarioGraduate Scholarship inthe Dept. of Philosophy;a CIHR Strategic Training DoctoralFellowship in Health Care,Technologyand Place; and a Research Associateshipwith the Comparative Program onHealth and Society.

Sorin Bangu receivedthe Richard HaddenAward for best paper by agraduate student at theCanadian Society forHistory and Philosophy ofScience annual meeting in May 2006for his “An Old Problem in a NewSetting: Maddy’s MathematicalNaturalism and Wigner’s Puzzle aboutApplicability.” In addition Sorin haswon a University of Toronto School ofGraduate Studies Post-doctoral fellowship for 2006-2007.

Pablo Stafforini,an MA student, won theDepartment of PhilosophyGraduate Fellowship for2005-2006.

PhD student PatrickTurmel was awarded the2006 Nathalie Des RosiersAudacity of ImaginationAward by the LawCommission of Canadaand the Canadian Federation of theHumanities and Social Sciences for hispaper “Are Cities Illiberal? Pluralismand Constraints in Urban Centres.”Patrick presented the paper at theCanadian Law and Society Associationmeeting during the CFHSS Congressheld at York University in May 2006.

PhD student TimothyStock is the winner of theMartha Lile Love TeachingAward for GraduateInstructors in Philosophyfor his work in PHL388F,

Literature and Philosophy (St. GeorgeCampus). The committee (ProfessorsMark Kingwell and Gopal Sreenivasan)was impressed by his original coursedesign, his thoughtful engagement withand supportive response to students,both in lectures and in written com-ment on their work, as well as theenthusiastic student evaluations.

PhD student Owen Warewon the Thomas AGoudge MemorialFellowship in Philosophyfor 2005-2006.

Kudos, Awards & HonoursPh

oto by

Shela

gh H

oward

Photo

graph

y

8 Univers i ty o f Toronto

Arthur Ripstein:I am writing a book about Kant’s legal and political philosophy. Insteadof treating political philosophy as an application of a more general moralphilosophy, Kant develops a set of distinctive moral principles govern-ing the legitimate use of force.He frames these questions in terms of themeans that may be used by citizens or the states that act on their behalf,rather than the ends that they pursue.

Kant’s account is developed through his treatment of issues in the pri-vate law of property, contract, and what he calls status. His treatment of each of theseforms of private interaction, and the coordinate but contrasting nature of public law,has profound implications for all of the central issues of political philosophy. He offersaccounts of the rule of law and its relation to democracy, the ability of institutions tocreate distinctive obligations, the relation between freedom and equality, the natureand significance of consent, and the normative basis of punishment. He also offers apowerful account of the relation between private property and distributive justice, andthe normative significance of national boundaries.

Kant wrote two centuries ago, but the issues that concerned him remain vitally impor-tant today. If anything, they have acquired a new urgency as Western Democracies haveconfronted terrorism, and Kantian vocabulary has occupied a central place on theattempts by courts in Canada, Germany, and other countries to delimit the ways thatterrorism can be fought within the limits of law.

RESEARCH NOTESA selection of some of the research currently being undertaken by philosophy faculty.

Marleen Rozemond:My research focuses on the mind-body problem in the 17th- and 18th-centuries, and I investigate how philosophers in this period argued forthe idea that the soul or mind is immaterial and can exist even after thebody dies. The issue bears on two fundamental questions: the possibili-ty of an immortal soul, and the question whether science can explaineverything about human mental activity. So far my work has mostlybeen about Descartes, culminating in my book Descartes’s Dualism

(Harvard University Press, 1998). Recently I have turned to a different approach tothese issues that dates back to the third century philosopher Plotinus and that wasadopted by various philosophers during the 17th- and 18th- centuries. This approachargues that something about human mental activity requires that the human mind is anabsolutely simple entity. But, this argument goes, bodies are always composite, and sothe mind cannot be material.

In addition, I teach courses on feminism and have developed a strong interest in ques-tions about multiculturalism and women’s rights. In recent years various feministscholars have expressed the following concern: it is important to respect the values ofdifferent cultures, but sometimes this respect seems to be in tension with recentprogress on women’s rights, progress that goes against various cultural traditions as isillustrated by, for example, debates about headscarves, female genital cutting, and therecent debate in Ontario over the use of sharia law in arbitration. So how should wereconcile our respect for different cultures and religions with concern for the rights ofwomen?

Jessica Wilson:My current researchfocuses on the ontol-ogy and metaphysicsof broadly scientificentities. I am particu-larly interested inunderstanding the

relationships between entities in thespecial sciences (such as chemistry,biology, and psychology) and those inthe more fundamental sciences(notably, physics). Philosophers fre-quently argue over the truth of physi-calism, the thesis that all scientificentities are “nothing over and above”physical entities. My aim is not to takesides in this debate (in my view, thestatus of physicalism is an open empir-ical question) but rather to clarify thedebate by providing working accountsof the relations of reducibility andemergence that might be at issue; sim-ilarly for the notion of “physical” thatplays a role in the physicalist thesis. Arelated area of interest concerns thestatus, as necessary or contingent, ofthe laws of nature: are the laws gov-erning scientific entities necessary oressential to these entities, or could anelectron (for example) behave just as aproton actually does?

These and related questions bearupon traditional debates in philoso-phy of science, metaphysics, and phi-losophy of mind---including the statusof Democritan atomism and its mate-rialist descendents, the correct solu-tion to Descartes’ mind-bodyproblem, and whether Hume wasright that causation is mere correla-tion. I hope to shed new light on thesequestions and debates by making useof scientific notions (e.g., that of afundamental interaction, and that of a“degree of freedom”) that are under-exploited in philosophical contexts.

PROMOTIONS & APPOINTMENTSAmy Mullin, chairof Philosophy atUTM, and PaulFranks have beenpromoted to FullProfessor.

Bob Gibbs has been appointed Director of U of T’s HumanitiesCentre. The Centre is in the midst of a major restructuring, andit will be Bob’s job to bring together faculty and students fromdepartments and interdisciplinary units from all three campusesto enhance the profile and standing of the humanities. To add tohis workload, Bob will also be Acting Director of the JewishStudies Program from September – December, 2006.

Department o f Ph i losophy News 9

UNDERGRADUATE PHILOSOPHY ACTIVITIES(CONTINUED FROM PAGE 3)

Career Night – Wanted: Philosopher?

In today’s bottom-line oriented cultureit takes a brave soul to pursue a classicliberal arts education. In a perfect worldstudying the works of Plato, Aristotleand Kant would be recognized as inher-ently valuable, but all too often philoso-phy students are beleaguered by onequestion posed by well-meaning familyand friends: “What can you do with adegree in philosophy?” On February 9th,2006 the Department and the PCU, withassistance from the Advancement Officeat the Faculty of Arts and Science, spon-sored a Career Night to help undergrad-uates answer this question; judging bythe heavy turnout, our upper-year stu-dents were eager to learn how to defendtheir choice.

It was standing-room only in HartHouse’s beautiful Music Room as U of TPhilosophy alumni recounted theirundergraduate years pondering themeaning of life and also wonderingwhere a degree in philosophy would takethem. As it turns out, a philosophydegree can lead to varied and highlylucrative careers. Our panelists includedcolumnists for The Globe and Mail andThe Toronto Star, a VP of a large investment firm, a communications professional, a CEO, and an independent consultant.

T h o u g htheir back-g r o u n d sw e r ed i v e r s e ,a l u m n iemphatical-ly endorsedtheir educa-tion, proud-ly stating

that studying philosophy helped developfirst-rate thinking skills and a healthyskepticism which allows them to look atproblems from various perspectives. Inaddition to extolling the virtues of aphilosophical education, panelists gavepractical advice on skills, such as inter-viewing and networking, as theydescribed their own career paths.

Students then had a valuable opportunityto chat informally with alumni over

drinks and hors d’oeuvres, with sometaking advantage of generous offers tokeep in contact for follow-up questionsand/or meetings. All in all the night wasa great success – alumni were able toreconnect with the Department and theUniversity, and undergrads were reas-sured that becoming a “lover of wisdom”can lead to interesting and rewardingcareers

Alisa Rim,Undergraduate Counsellor,

St. George Campus

The Department extends its thanks to BeppiCrosariol (BA, 1983; MA 1985), Susan J.Han (BA, 1983; LLB, 1986), CatharineHeddle (BA, 1993), Michael Herman (MBA1992; MA, 2006), Deepak Ramachandran(BA, 1991), and Ellen Roseman (MA 1969)for giving of their time and sharing theirexperiences with our undergrads.

Global Knowledge FoundationThe Global Knowledge Foundation(GKF) is a University of Toronto stu-dent group that was created in 1997 by agroup of Trinity College students whowanted to hear Cambridge professorand physicist Stephen Hawking give apublic address. Professor Hawking gavethe group’s inaugural address, establish-ing a GKF tradition of promoting inter-disciplinary learning and fostering alove of knowledge. The UniversityProfessor Lecture Series, featuring top-ranked UofT profs lecturing on theircurrent research interests, was estab-lished in 2002, and continues to furtherthe goals of the GKF. This past year, thegroup established another series. Withthe generous support of the Faculty ofArts and Science, Hart House, theDepartment of Philosophy and theElderwood Foundation, we created thePhilosophy Café discussion series, inwhich philosophy professors lead stu-dents from all disciplines and back-grounds in discussions on topics ofgeneral philosophical interest. Theseries was a great success, featuringProfessors Peter King, Wayne Sumner,Tom Hurka, and Gopal Sreenivasanleading discussions on topics rangingfrom artificial intelligence to global dis-tributive justice. The GKF and thePhilosophy Department also collaborat-ed to host a celebration of UNESCO’s

World Philosophy Day. Professor DavidLyons of Boston University’s law schoolgave a lecture on the ethical status ofreparations for slavery, followed by areception which celebrated the releaseof Noesis’ 2005-2006 edition. The GKFwill continue to promote philosophyand a love of learning on UofT’s campusby working with the PhilosophyDepartment next year in both thePhilosophy Café series and a celebrationof World Philosophy Day (November 17– see ‘Upcoming Events’ on page 11 for details).

Joanna Langille

Mohan Matthenjoins us as a FullProfessor and aCanada ResearchChair inP h i l o s o p h y ,Perception and Communication atUTM. He is also an Affiliate withthe Institute for the History andPhilosophy of Science andTechnology on the St.George cam-pus. His specialties are philosophyof psychology, philosophy of biolo-gy, and ancient philosophy. He hastaught previously at UBC, wherehe was Chair of the PhilosophyDepartment, and at the Universityof Alberta.

J o n a t h a nWeisberg joins usas an assistant pro-fessor at UTM. Hisareas of specializa-tion are formal

epistemology and decision theory.He received his PhD from Rutgers.Byeong-Uk Yijoins us as an associ-ate professor, also atUTM. His special-ties are logic andthe philosophy oflanguage. His previous positionwas at the University ofMinnesota.

NEW FACULTY

Ellan Tsekhman andGabe Rauterberg helpedorganize Career Night.

10 Univers i ty o f Toronto

NewsNew Centre for EthicsMoves into Own HomeThe University’s Centre forEthics, which was launched lastSeptember with an impressive listof speakers for its 2005-06 series,moved into its new home thissummer in the Larkin Building atTrinity College, where it is wel-coming its first class of faculty andgraduate fellows this fall. Its inau-gural conference, on the topic “IsThere Progress in Ethics?” will beheld October 13-14. Informationon this year’s seminar series willbe posted on the Centre’s website,www.ethics.utoronto.ca.

Update on the Aristotle High School Philosophy Essay ContestThis past year was the first year of The Aristotle,a national high school philosophy essay contest,co-sponsored by the Department of Philosophy,Woodsworth College, the Faculty of Arts andScience, the University of Toronto at Miss-issauga, University of Toronto Schools, and theOntario Philosophy Teachers Association. Thestudents had the chance to write an essay on oneof several set topics that were available online.

The winners (pictured at right) were giventheir prizes at the annual Ontario PhilosophyTeachers Association conference in May.

We are hoping The Aristotle will help increase the amount and quality of philosophy teaching in ourhigh schools, and we look forward to the contest again next year. If you know any high school stu-dents or teachers interested in philosophy, please direct them to the website(www.aristotle.utoronto.ca). Submissions must be postmarked by January 25.

Aristotle Contest Winners: Aaron Kates-Rose,Peter Wills, Rakael Deverell, Carolyn Poutiainen, andUTS philosophy teacher and Aristotle coordinatorAndrew Wilson.

David Dyzenhaus and Mayo Moran, editors.Calling Power to Account: Law Reparations and the ChineseCanadian Head Tax Case. University of Toronto Press, 2005.

~Paul W. Franks. All or Nothing: Systematicity,Transcendental Arguments, and Skepticism in German Idealism.Harvard University Press, 2005.

Paul W. Franks (with Dieter Schönecker,associate editors) (Karl P. Ameriks, JurgeStolzenberg, editors). German Idealism & ContemporaryAnalytic Philosophy: International Yearbook of German Idealism,Volume 3. Walter de Gruyter, 2005.

~Lloyd Gerson. Aristotle and Other Platonists. CornellUniversity Press, 2005.

Lloyd Gerson (with John Dillon, translators &editors). Neoplatonic Philosophy. Introductory Readings.Hackett, 2004.

~Brad Inwood (with Dorothea Frede, editors).Language and Learning. Cambridge University Press, 2005.

Brad Inwood. Reading Seneca. Clarendon Press, 2005.~

Mark Kingwell. Nothing for Granted: War, Philosophy,and Why the Right Was Mostly Wrong. Penguin, 2005.

~Amy Mullin. Reconceiving Pregnancy and Childcare:Ethics, Experience and Reproductive Labor. CambridgeUniversity Press, 2005.

David Novak. The Jewish Social Contract: An Essay in Political Theology. Princeton University Press, 2005.

David Novak. Talking with Christians: Musings of a Jewish Theologian. Eerdmans, 2005.

~Vincent Shen. The Idea of University and the Spirit ofStrangification. Wunan, 2004.

Vincent Shen. Generosity to the Other: Chinese Culture,Christianity and Strangification. Hong Kong ChineseUniversity Press, 2004.

Vincent Shen, editor. Introduction to Philosophy (new edition in simplified Chinese). Guizhou, 2004.

Vincent Shen and Willard Oxtoby, editors.Wisdom in China and the West [in Memory of Julia Ching(1934-2001)]. Council for Research in Values andPhilosophy, 2004.

~Kwong-Loi Shun and David B.Wong, editors.Confucian Ethics. A Comparative Study of Self,Autonomy,and Community. Cambridge University Press, 2004.

~John Slater. Minerva's Aviary: Philosophy at Toronto 1843-2003. University of Toronto Press, 2005.

~Jennifer Whiting (with Joyce Jenkins, andChristopher Williams, editors). Persons andPassions. Essays in Honor of Annette Baier. University of Notre Dame Press, 2005.

Alumni are invited to attend the 2007 Philosophy Book Launch which will be held on Thursday, March 1, 4-6 pm, in the 10th floor lounge of 215 Huron Street.

The department’s 19th Annual Book Launch, held on March 9th, 2006 featured:

2006 Philosophy Book Launch

World Philosophy Day EventsFriday, November 17, 2006Professor Tommie Shelby (Harvard ).The University of Toronto will be cele-brating UNESCO’s World PhilosophyDay with this talk at 3:15, to be fol-lowed by a reception celebrating oursenior undergraduate students.

Year of Language LectureFriday, December 1, 2006Professor Kit Fine (NYU), Reference,Relation and Meaning.The Faculty of Arts and Science has des-ignated the 2006-7 school year to be theYear of Language – a celebration of themany ways language is taught and inves-tigated at U of T. The PhilosophyDepartment is marking this occasionwith a special lecture on the philosophyof language. The 3:15 lecture will befollowed by a reception. The locationfor this event will be posted on thedepartmental website when available.

Simon LecturesTuesday - Thursday, March 6-8,2007Professor Anil Gupta of theUniversity of Pittsburgh will deliver theJerome S. Simon Memorial Lectures onthe theme of “Empirical Knowledge.”

Workshop on Multiculturalism and Human Rights April 27, 2007The theme of this one-day workshopwill be the tension between two liberalvalues: commitment to a strong set ofuniversal human rights and respect forthe practices of local cultural minori-ties. This tension manifests itself in situ-ations in which these cultural practicesappear to be inconsistent with basichuman rights, frequently (though notnecessarily) the rights of women.Specific instances include (but are notlimited to) the following: female genitalcutting, honour killings, abortion forthe purpose of sex selection, religiousarbitration invoking sharia, the wearingof conspicuous religious symbols inpublic institutions, the legal recognitionof polygamous marriages,and the toler-ance of same-sex relationships.The scheduled speakers are MarthaBailey (Law, Queen’s University),WillKymlicka (Philosophy, Queen’sUniversity), Stephen Macedo (Politics,Princeton University),Avishai Margalit(Philosophy, Hebrew University),Baukje Prins (Philosophy, University ofGroningen), and Marleen Rozemond(Philosophy, University of Toronto).For more information on the work-shop, and to be placed on the distribu-tion list for the papers, please contactProf. Wayne Sumner (sumner@chass.utoronto.ca). The papers will notbe presented at the workshop, but willbe circulated ahead of time.

Chancellor Jackman Program for the Arts Fri – Sat, May 4-5, 2007The Future of BeautyThis conference at the Victoria campuswill feature Arthur Danto - Columbia,Dave Hickey - U Nevada, AlexanderNehamas - Princeton, Elaine Scarry -Harvard, and organizer, Sonia Sedivy -UofT.

History of Philosophy ConferenceWed –Fri, May 16-18, 2007Unity of Consciousness and theNature and Boundaries of Self fromPlato to Kant.This conference will examine how vari-ous historical figures from Plato to Kanthave viewed the relation between unityof consciousness and the nature andboundaries of the self or soul. Morespecifically we will focus on how vari-ous philosophers have treated two fur-ther questions: First, must the subjectof consciousness be simple? And sec-ond, can the boundaries and the natureof the self be contingent on variousforms of mental or psychologicalappropriation?

Grad ConferenceFri–Sun, May 18-20, 2007The keynote speaker at next year’sGraduate Philosophy Conference willbe Christine Korsgaard (Harvard).

For up-to-minute details onevents, please see our website,www.philosophy.utoronto.ca

Upcoming Events

Department o f Ph i losophy News 11

University of Toronto Colloquium in Mediæval PhilosophyFriday-Saturday, September 22-23, 2006

Hester Gelber (Stanford), The Fate of Providence. Commentator: NeilLewis (Georgetown), Chair: Stephen Dumont (Notre Dame)

Peter Adamson (King’s College London), The Baghdad Peripatetics onKnowledge of Universals. Commentator: Richard C.Taylor (Marquette), Chair:Robert Wisnovsky (McGill)

Gareth Matthews (U Mass, Amherst), On the Very Idea of Infused Virtues.Commentator: Eleonore Stump (St. Louis U), Chair: Jorge Gracia (SUNYBuffalo)

All sessions are free and open to the public, but if you plan to attend, pleaselet us know. Email us at medieval.philosophy@utoronto.ca

For further information please check:http://www.chass.utoronto.ca/~cpamp/pages/utcmp.html

Colloquium ScheduleThursday, October 12, 2006Professor Gary Watson (UC-Riverside),Standing in Judgment.

Thursday, November 16, 2006Professor Hannah Ginsborg (UC-Berkeley), Primitive Normativity andSkepticism about Rules.

Thursday, March 29, 2007 Professor Dan Zahavi (Copenhagen),Understanding Self and Others:Similarities and Differences.

Friday, May 18, 2007Professor Christine Korsgaard(Harvard), title TBA.

Each colloquium will take place at3:15 pm and will be followed by areception.Call the Department at416-978-3311 or check our website,www.philosophy.utoronto.cafor locations.

12 Univers i ty o f Toronto

Department of Philosophy, University of Toronto

12 Univers i ty o f Toronto

Please support the Department of Philosophy with a gift to the Annual Fund.

Name: ___________________________________________________________________________________

Address: __________________________________________________________________________________

City: ___________________________ Province: _____________________ Postal Code: _________________

Tel: _____________________ Fax: ______________________ E-mail: ________________________________

❏ Are you a grad? If so, what year: ________

❏ I would prefer that my name not be included in listings of donors

YES, I would like to support:

❏ The Philosophy Department Trust Fund (Project 0560001565)The Chair’s discretionary fund is directed to student financial support, visiting lecturers, conferences and other programming

❏ The Graduate Philosophy of Law Fund (Project 0560009427)

The department is hoping to establish an Ontario Graduate Scholarship by raising $100,000.

Upon securing this goal, all donations made to this fund will be matched on a 2:1 basis creating

a $150,000 annual scholarship.

❏ Other ______________________

Payment Options: please select oneOption #1

❏ Cheque enclosed (payable to University of Toronto) in the amount of $ _____________Option #2

❏ Credit Card payment in the amount of $ ___________

❏ VISA ❏ MasterCard ❏ AMEX

Card #: ________/________/________/________ Exp: ______/______

____________________________________________ ___________________________________________Name on card SignaturePlease charge Monthly/Quarterly/Semi-Annually/Annually (please circle one)

Installment(s) of $ _____________ for a total of $ ______________

Beginning in ___________________ (month), 20 ____ Ending in ___________________ (month), 20____

Solicitation code: 0570034513 • Charitable reg. BN 108162330-RR0001 ** A receipt for income tax purposes will be issued for all donations.

Please return this form and your donation to:Annual Fund Office, 21 King’s College Circle, University of Toronto,Toronto, Ontario, M5S 3J3.If you have any questions about making a donation, please contact Christie Darville,Senior Development Officer, Faculty of Arts and Science at (416) 946-5192.Questions? Please contact Suzanne Puckering, Department of Philosophy (416) 978-3315.Visit our web site at: www.giving.utoronto.ca.Thank-you for your support!

Philosophy News is the Department’s Newsletter forAlumni and Friends of Philosophy.Items for inclusion should be sent by fax to 416-978-8703 orby e-mail to anita.digiacomo@utoronto.ca.

Department of PhilosophyUniversity of Toronto215 Huron StreetToronto, Ontario M5S 1A2

The University of Toronto respects your privacy.We do not rent,trade or sell our mailing lists.If you do not wish to receive future newsletters from the Department of Philosophy,please contact us at 416-978-2139 or address.update@utoronto.ca.