About Us

Lecture Series

With the support of Dean Joseph Messina and the College of Arts & Sciences, the Department of Philosophy established the Philosophy Today Speaker Series in 2007. This series of public talks reflects a commitment by the department to make contemporary philosophical work accessible to those outside the discipline and to provide public forums for addressing controversial or provocative problems.

Every Philosophy Today speaker presents a public talk and also conducts a professional colloquium for UA’s philosophy faculty and majors. Most of these distinguished scholars also teach a class while on campus, giving advanced seminar students the opportunity to address questions and objections to a prominent philosopher whose work they have studied.

For further information about the Philosophy Today Speaker Series, contact the department by phone at (205) 348-5942 or email the department secretary at lpperkins@ua.edu.

2023-2024 Lectures

-Dr. Miriam Solomon (Temple University): “The Old and the New Problem of Grief in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders” on Thursday, September 28, 2023

-Dr. Felipe De Brigard (Duke University): “Memory and Forgiveness” on Tuesday, October 3, 2023

-Dr. Vincent Chiao (The University of Toronto): “Incarceration’s Goldilocks Problem” on Thursday, February 1, 2024

2022-2023 Lectures

-Dr. Elliott Sober (The University of Wisconsin, Madison): “Darwin and Intelligent Design” on Thursday, October 13, 2022

-Dr. Amy Kind (Claremont McKenna College): “A Skills-Based Framework for Imagination” on Thursday, October 27, 2022

-Dr. Anya Plutynski (Washington University, St. Louis): “Explaining Cancer” on Thursday, February 9, 2023

Past Lectures

UA alumnus Louis W. Perry inspired the recording the Philosophy Today public lectures. Mr. Perry’s generous and ongoing support of the series has made possible the recording of most public lectures, beginning with Ernest Sosa’s address in April 2008.

View a list of past Philosophy Today lectures, or check out the full video library on Vimeo.