Past Events
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Oct 21Philosophers at WorkProfessor John Mackay
The Pyle Center, Gale Vandeberg Auditorium, 702 Langdon St
Abstract: To what extent does the language we use in ordinary reasoning resemble a system of formal logic? Are the differences between logic and language deep or superficial? I shall explore these questions by focusing on examples involving conditionals, which are sentences of the form “if A then B”. Conditionals are central to logical reasoning …
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Oct 9Colloquium: Jessica Isserow (University of Notre Dame)Helen C. White 6191
We Contain Multitudes: On the moral worth of multiply motivated actions Abstract: When we do the right thing for the right reasons, our actions are said to have moral worth; to reflect morally well upon us, or to merit praise and esteem. Most discussions of moral worth direct our attention to these reasons—to the laudable …
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Sep 25Mad Meta
Room 325/6 of the Pyle Center (702 Langdon St) Click Here For More Information
The 23rd Annual Madison Metaethics Workshop will be held in person on September 25-27, 2026, in Room 325/6 of the Pyle Center (702 Langdon St.) on the beautiful UW–Madison campus. MadMeta is designed to provide an annual forum for new work in metaethics, broadly construed to range across issues in the metaphysics, semantics, and epistemology of morality, as well …
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Sep 4Colloquium: Jamie Goodrich (UW-Madison)
Helen C. White 6191
“Trolleys, Ponds, and Wrongs” Compare: Trolley: A trolley is hurling down a track towards five people. You can either rescue these five by turning the trolley onto a sidetrack on which Sidey is trapped, killing her or you can allow the five to die and Sidey to live. Pond: You can either rescue five people …
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Apr 24Colloquium: Johann Frick (University of California-Berkeley)
Helen C. White 4027
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Apr 18Wisconsin Philosophical Association Conference
Annual meeting of the Wisconsin Philosophical Association (WPA).
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Apr 10
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Dec 5Colloquium: Jake Monaghan (University of Southern California)
Disorder in the Urban Mosaic Abstract: The philosophy and policy of the city confronts two related questions. One concerns the urban ideal, or what the city ought to look like in social and spatial terms. Another related question concerns disorder. What is disorder? Is it real or stance-dependent? I’ll defend what I call the “urban …
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Nov 14Colloquium: Gabriel Shapiro (University of Michigan)
Helen C. White Room 4207
Aristotle’s Argument for Essentialism Aristotle is about as much of an essentialist as one can be. He not only endorses essentialism—the view that things have essential features—but he also makes essentialism a central and foundational tenet of his philosophical system, and he subjects essentialism itself to careful study by developing sophisticated theories of core essentialist …
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Nov 12Focus on the Humanities Lecture: Russ Shafer-Landau
Elvehjem Building, Room L150, 800 University Ave.
"The Source of Morality"