Symposia and Lectures
Annual Hugo Bedau Lecture
September 11, 2026
Dr. Victoria McGeer and Dr. Philip Pettit, Princeton University
- Dr. Pettit Talk Title: Two Kinds of Agents: From Psychology to Politics"
Abstract: Plan-making and plan-taking agents differ insofar as the first construct the plans they follow in acting while the second execute ready-made plans. Ignored in the literature, the distinction applies at the collective as well as the individual level and enables us to argue, against a current fashion, that the democratic people can have collective control over the state.
- Dr. McGeer Talk Title: “Empathy internalized: On the scaffolding power of self-directed emotion”
Abstract: Forthcoming
Time: 3:30-6:00pm
Location: Eaton 260
This event is co-sponsored by the Tufts University Center for the Humanities.
Fall 2026 Colloquium Series
October 9, 2026
Cinzia Arruzza, Professor of philosophy, Boston University
Title: The Abolition of the Family and Women's Eudaimonia in Plato's Republic 5
Abstract: In Book 5 of the Republic, Socrates claims that in the ideal city the private family shall be abolished, and women shall be shared in common. In this paper I analyze these provisions with the goal of showing that they are coherent with the view previously expressed in Book 5 that sexual difference does not apply to the soul and to its qualities, predisposition for virtue, and natural talents, and that it is the nature of the soul that determines an individual’s function. Furthermore, I argue that they are such as to practically promote the eudaimonia of guardian women, but only to the extent in which their individual eudaimonia is compatible with the eudaimonia of the city as a whole. To support this interpretation, section 1 examines the argumentative relation between first and second wave; section 2 addresses whether the koinōnia of women entails that women are treated as property of the men or of the city; section 3 discusses whether sexual rewards for excellence establish male dominance and possession of women’s bodies. Finally. section 4 discusses Socrates’ approach to the question of pregnancy and gestation, which he sees as a burden, a ponos, and not an ergon or function.
Time: 3:30-5:30pm
Location: Eaton 201
October 16, 2026
Carol Hay, Professor of philosophy, UMass Lowell
Title: TBA
Time: 3:30-5:30pm
Location: Eaton 201
November 5, 2026
Susan Brison, Professor of philosophy, Dartmouth College
Title: TBA
Time: 4:30-6:30pm
Location: Mugar 200
December 4, 2026
Sally Haslanger, Professor of philosophy, MIT
Title: TBA
Time: 3:30-5:30pm
Location: Eaton 201
Spring 2027 Colloquium Series
February 26, 2027
Calvin Normore, Professor of philosophy, UCLA
Title: TBA
Time: 3:30-5:30pm
Location: TBA
April 23, 2027
Jon McGinnis, Professor of classical and medieval philosophy, University of Toronto
Title: TBA
Time: 3:30-5:30pm
Location: TBA
Check back soon for additional events and updates.