university of toronto department of...

UN I V ER S I TY OF TORONTO D E PA RTM ENT OF PH I L OS OP H Y

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Sumner wins molson Prizeuniversity Professor emeritus L. Wayne Sumner(BA, 1962) has been awarded the canadacouncil for the Arts’ 2009 molson Prize in the Humanities, one of the country’s premieracademic honours. See Page 2 for more details.

Hacking wins SSHrc gold medaluniversity Professor emeritus Ian Hacking received the 2008Social Sciences and Humanities research council (SSHrc)gold medal for Achievement in research, SSHrc’s highest honour. See Page 2 for more details.

Socrates Project wins northrop Frye Awardthe Socrates Project is a three-year-old initiative in the St. george Philosophy department that gives our best under-graduate students the Socratic experience of learning philosophyby teaching philosophy. the Project students serve as teachingassistants (tAs) for introduction to Philosophy (PHL 100Y) andat the same time take an intensive research seminar, where theydevelop independent projects related to topics covered in PHL 100. the Project received the university of toronto AlumniAssociation’s 2009 northrop Frye Award of excellence for

departmental initiatives. the award citation states: “the SocratesProject exemplifies northrop Frye’s conviction that teaching andlearning are inseparable.” in its three years the project hasbecome a model for enhancing the undergraduate experience by integrating research and learning.

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

Hacking wins Holbergit was announced on 25th August that ian Hacking has won the Holberginternational memorial Prize for 2009, perhaps the highest international honour for humanities and social science scholars. the prize, worth over 500,000 euros,was established by the norwegian parliament in 2003, “for outstanding scholarlywork in the academic fields of the arts and humanities, social science, law and theology”. the previous winners are, from 2004 to 2008: Julie kristeva, Jürgen Habermas, Shmuel eisenstadt, ronald dworkin, and Frederick Jameson. the awards ceremony takes place in Bergen, 25th november, 2009. You can find the citation at http://www.holbergprisen.no/

A BAnner AwArd-winningYeAr!LAte BreAking Announcement

Professor Mark Kingwell accepts the Northrop Frye Award for The Socrates Project. Pictured: David Naylor, Mark Kingwell, David Peterson, Paul Cadario.

Hacking

Sumner and Hacking stories continue on Page 2

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… more on Sumner and the molson Prizethe canada council for the Arts awardsthe molson Prize for “outstanding lifetimeachievements and ongoing contributionsto the cultural and intellectual life ofcanada.” wayne has been honoured for hiscontributions to ethics: in four books andover 40 articles in refereed journals heprovides one of the most careful expositions and most robust defenses ofutilitarianism. wayne’s work stands outespecially for its combination of theoretical and applied approaches.

two of his books, Welfare, Happiness, andEthics (1996) and The Moral Foundation ofRights (1987) set out his version of utili-tarianism, one grounded in carefulconsideration of the empirical evidenceand detailed analysis of the arguments forand against his preferred theory. He analyzes welfare in terms of what he calls“authentic happiness” and argues thatrespect for rights is the best means topromoting overall welfare.

in his two other books, Abortion and MoralTheory (1981) and The Hateful and theObscene (2004), wayne shows that his construal of utilitarianism helps to resolve difficult moral and public policy questions.

wayne’s applied work has been particular-ly focused on and influential in canadianpublic life. His treatment of the moralityof abortion was adopted by the canadianSupreme court in the landmark 1988case, R. v. Morgentaler, where JusticeBertha wilson used his approach to spellout the constraints that a just abortionlaw would have to meet. And his study ofthe right to free speech in The Hateful andthe Obscene uses canadian law andjurisprudence as the framework for hisinvestigation, examining such famouscases as Keegstra (on hate speech) andButler (on pornography).

though wayne retired from teaching inthe summer of 2008, his research contin-ues to flourish. His current projectexamines the legality and morality of euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide in canada and elsewhere. He plansto follow it up with a detailed treatmentof John Stuart mill’s argument for utilitarianism.

… more on Hacking andthe SSHrc gold medalthe SSHrc gold medal for Achievementin research is given each year to an “indi-vidual whose leadership, dedication, andoriginality of thought have significantlyadvanced understanding in his or her fieldof research, enriched canadian society,and contributed to the country's culturaland intellectual life.” ian has been hon-oured for his four decades of research on“how our contemporary investigations ofnature and of ourselves – our science, ourphilosophy and our definitions of chance,illness and the self – are shaped by thehistory of concepts, and how expertknowledge feeds back into society overtime and changes the way we think aboutthe world.”

ian’s work can be understood as exploringthree related themes. First, he has exam-ined the structure, role, and influence ofstatistical and probabilistic reasoning insuch books as Logic of Statistical Inference(1965), The Emergence of Probability (1975,2006), and The Taming of Chance (1990).Taming was named by The Modern Libraryas one of the 100 Best Nonfiction Books ofthe Twentieth Century. only eight otherphilosophical works were listed (by suchtitans as thomas kuhn, John rawls, andwilliam James), and only one othercanadian author made the list.

ian’s second theme has been the philoso-phy of experimental science. in a series ofclassic articles, culminating in hisRepresenting and Intervening (1983), heshowed that, for philosophers to makeprogress in their understanding of science, they had to investigate what scientists actually do, most notably, howthey construct apparatus to produce andmanipulate phenomena. ian’s discussion– with its pithy slogan, “if you can spraythem [unobservable entities, such as electrons], they’re real” – reinvigoratedand refocused the debate over whether

human knowers can access the deep structures of reality.

ian’s first two themes converge in a third:an analysis of how the scientific investiga-tion of social and psychological conditionscan serve to produce the very phenomenait studies. Beginning with a much-citedarticle, “making up People” (1986), andincluding his books Rewriting the Soul:Multiple Personality and the Sciences ofMemory (Harvard uP, 1995) and MadTravelers: Reflections on the Reality of TransientMental Illnesses (u. of Virginia Press, 1998),ian has engaged in micro-historical studiesof particular cases where the human sciences helped to create new kinds of people.

two collections of essays, The SocialConstruction of What? (1999) and HistoricalOntology (2002), explore such topics asthe differences between the natural sci-ences and the human sciences, and howphilosophy can understand them. ian hasin addition published on the philosophy oflanguage, the history of modern philoso-phy, and many other topics.

ian tells us that, oddly enough, the daybefore he was notified of his winning thegold medal, he received news that he wasalso being awarded the 2008 giulo PretiPrize for science and philosophy byPianeta galileo (a program of theregional council of tuscany), given annually to a scholar of internationalacclaim whose work uses scientific meth-ods to advance our understanding of civil consciousness or democracy.

Besides these two prizes, ian also recentlyreceived two honorary doctorates, one in2008 from mcmaster university and onefrom the university of cordoba,Argentina in 2007.

ian’s career has also been marked by a deep commitment to his students. For example, he was recently an invitedspeaker at a conference, “cognitive

uniVerSitY oF toronto - dePArtment oF PHiLoSoPHY

PHiLoSoPHY newS Conference in Honour of Wayne Sumner– October 24, 2009on october 24, the department will be holding a conference, Rights and Wrongs:Life, Death, and the Pursuit of Happiness, in wayne’s honour. All the speakers at theconference will be former graduate students of wayne’s: Lisa Fuller (Phd, 2006),now teaching at SunY, Albany, after recently completing postdoctoral work atSheffield; Anthony Skelton (Phd, 2005) of western ontario, and before that, apostdoctoral fellow at the university of michigan; Gustaf Arrhenius (Phd, 2000),university of Stockholm; and Michael Stingl (Phd, 1986), now chair ofPhilosophy at the university of Lethbridge. the conference will close with thecanada council’s formal presentation to wayne of the molson Prize. Please join us for this special occasion.

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www.philosophy.utoronto.ca

Editor: Anita di giacomoDesign: Alvin ng/dragon Snap

Depa r tmen t o f Ph i l osoph y New s 3

Thanks to Our AlumniAnotHer nAmed grAduAteScHoLArSHiP, tHAnkS to HAnS mAAg

Professor Barbara Herman, griffinProfessor of Philosophy and Professor ofLaw at ucLA, delivered the Jerome S.Simon memorial Lectures on november 6and 7. the lectures developed the idea ofmoral content in kantian ethics, and con-sidered its bearing on assessments ofwrongness and impermissibility whenduties conflict. the biannual SimonLectures, generously supported by charles Simon and his family, in memory of JeromeSimon, are always one of the academic highlights of the year. John campbell, willis S.and marion Slusser Professor of Philosophy at the university of california at Berkeleywill be delivering the Simon Lectures in 2010-11.

Simon LectureS

Story of theJuggler ofnotre dameby Ian Hacking

when i received the gold medal inottawa last year, i told a parable abouthow i think of myself doing philosophy. it has been told many times in many con-texts for many hundreds of years. it is thestory of the Juggler of notre dame. i am,by the way, an atheist of conviction, butcan tell the story proudly as part of ourhumanity. Here is my version of the tale:

once there was a juggler in the Frenchcountryside. He perfected his art at villagefairs. But he wished to show his devotionto our Lady. So he went on a pilgrimageto Paris. As the procession progressedthrough the countryside it acquired richand poor, nobles and beggars, cardinalsand kings. Always the rich took the lime-light, on their horses, with theirattendants, and with their splendid tents.

when they reached notre dame de Paris,the poor on the pilgrimage marveled asthe rich knelt down with their preciousgifts for our Lady, their gold ornamentsand elegant lace. the juggler was indespair. what could he do to show hisdevotion? By now he had only a smallknapsack with enough bread to feed him-self on the morrow, and the balls andknives with which he juggled. He hadnothing to offer. He slept, listless, amongthe beggars in the Parvis of notre dame,the same space where the acrobats andmimes perform before the tourists today.

He awoke long before dawn and did whatonly he could do. He went to the back ofthe great church, where there is a gardennow, and juggled his best, for our Lady,knowing that the guards of the nobleswould allow him no space in front of thebuilding. She blessed him above all others.

that is how i think of myself and the waysthat i do philosophy. that is my juggling. i too have been blessed.

there may be a more general moral here.do what you are good at, perfect it inyour way, and do not worry about therest. Students should never pay any atten-tion to what cardinals, kings, and heads ofdepartments say they should do, in orderto get a job. instead, do your best at whatyou care about.

See the photograph on Page 11

showing Ian Hacking doing something

he certainly cared about.

Hans maag has very generously endowedthe Hans maag/ontario graduateScholarship in the department ofPhilosophy which will yield $15,000 peryear. mr. maag tells us that, although hewas not able to attend university, he hasalways loved learning and wanted to makeit possible for others to receive the educa-tion he wasn’t able to obtain. He came tohave a special appreciation for thedepartment and our students from con-versations with his former neighbour,longtime faculty member, Bernard katz.

Hans maag was born in Bachenbulach,Switzerland, and celebrated his 98th birth-day last may. He emigrated to toronto in1951 with his wife Lydia and their twochildren. though, as a young man inSwitzerland, he acquired considerabletraining and experience in metalworking,he had a difficult time finding similaremployment in toronto, where, as manyimmigrants have found, prospectiveemployers were unfamiliar with his foreigncredentials and references. this difficulty

turned out to be fortu-nate, for it led him tostart his own successfulmetalworking business,elrose metal. maag ranelrose metal, manufacturing custom products, until his retirement in 1982.

throughout his life, Hans maag has had arelentless curiosity about the world, by nomeans limited to metal structures andapplied science. He has a lively interest inpolitics and history as well as a love of art,music, and literature. He is especially fondof the poetry of Schiller. recipients of theHans maag/ontario graduate Scholarshipin the department of Philosophy shouldkeep in mind, as they embark upon theirstudies, not just Hans maag’s generosity ofspirit but also his devotion to hard work,his tolerant liberal disposition, and hisoptimism about the power of reason.

the department is very grateful to mr. maag for the help he will be giving to our graduate students.

Professor Arthur Ripstein with Barbara Herman.

Alumni Stephen Bowman (BA 1976, LLB1979), toronto managing Partner at BennettJones LLP; David Danylewich (BA 1993,mBA 2004), director of Field operations,right to Play; Karen Dunk-Green (BSc1984), VP of operational risk management,td Bank Financial group; Adrian

Montgomery (BA 1996), general manager, rogers media inc; and Jim Shedden(BA 1986, mA 1990), Senior manager, Bruce mau design, were the speakers at this year’s career night.

As in previous years, the upper class philosophy undergraduates found the eveningenlightening and benefited from the speakers’ insights during both the presentations andinformal conversations. our students are always thankful to hear first hand how theirphilosophy degrees can be used in the “real” world.

cAreer nigHt 2009

Alumni David Danylewich, Karen Dunk-Green, and Adrian Montgomery


it’s been another busy and exciting year,and our students and faculty memberscontinued to thrive despite the difficultfinancial environment. in particular, i amvery pleased to report that the graduatedepartment of Philosophy at theuniversity of toronto continues to doextremely well in Blackwell’s PhilosophicalGourmet Report 2009 rankings (they werelast done in 2006), the most reputableanalysis of faculty reputation in our field.we remain ranked first in canada by aconsiderable margin and are tied for 17thin the english speaking world, behindHarvard and Princeton, but ahead ofcornell, cambridge, university ofchicago and many other fine institutions.we have also done remarkably well inspecialty rankings, particularly in ethics,political philosophy, the philosophy of law,the philosophy of science, ancient andmedieval philosophy, and also for the firsttime in philosophy of mind, metaphysicsand the philosophy of language. You cansee more details at www.philosophicalgo-urmet.com. we thank all of our

supporters for theirefforts at strengtheningour graduate program,and are very pleased tobe able to share thisrecognition of our jointsuccess.

i wish to express congratulations to ourgraduate students for their very successfulorganization of the graduate Philosophyconference which took place in may onthe theme of “Action, Agency andexplanation,” featuring keynote speakerJohn McDowell of the university ofPittsburgh. the quality of both the presen-tations and the general discussion wasvery high.

Finally, i welcome the return of DonaldAinslie from his sabbatical leave spent as avisiting researcher at Stanford university.He has resumed his position as graduatechair (as well as chair of the St. georgecampus department of Philosophy).

Amy MullinActing Graduate Chair

ethica Scholarshipin 2007 ethica clinical research inc. funded aBioethics Scholarship in honour of Barry F.Brown (mA 1963, Phd 1966), retired pro-fessor and founder of the undergrad bioethicsprogram at u of t and St. michael’s college,and chair of ethica’s ethics reviewcommittee. Bernice Duan, the winner ofthe scholarship for the first two years, is nowin Halifax at dalhousie university’s medicalschool. Bernice writes: “the big draw forme to attend dalhousie was the strong focus they have on bioethics: they not onlyemphasize humanities in medicine, they also have a bioethics department within theirmedical school. coming to uoft four years ago as a pure science student and choosingto do a major in bioethics along with my major in toxicology was something completelyout of my comfort zone. However, in retrospect, it was the best decision i could possiblyhave ever made. Bioethics and philosophy have truly become a passion for me; they haveopened my mind to so many different perspectives and will undoubtedly help me tobecome a better physician. i honestly have to say that i am incredibly grateful to theentire philosophy department and all the professors, not only in bioethics but throughoutthe philosophy department (as i also took many courses in philosophy outside thebioethics realm). they mentored me throughout my years at uoft, opened me up to a completely different way of approaching medicine, and challenged me to take the‘blinders off and think outside the box’.”

the recipient of the 2009-2010 scholarship is Natalie Jesenak, a third year student,who is doing a double major in Bioethics and global Health and is working towards a minor in environmental chemistry.

From the graduate chair

FROM THE CHAIRS and ADMINISTRATORS

Mullin

i write this a few daysbefore ending my stint asActing chair, whiledonald Ainslie has been onsabbatical. i am relieved tobe handing the chair’soffice back to its rightfuloccupant. it was hardwork, but rewarding andwith a lot more success than frustration.the successes include a number of promo-tions (see page 6), as well as special fundingfor a number of new initiatives, including anextension of the Socrates Project (see page 1),a “Writing for Research” (w4r) project, andthe implementation of a new Philosophyundergraduate research coordinator posi-tion, now ably filled by Vida Panitch(mA, 2002; Phd, 2008).

i should note also that, at the same time as i finish as Acting chair, Joe Heath will befinishing his term as Associate chair andundergraduate coordinator. during histhree years in this position, Joe has workedendless hours to ensure that our studentsget the best philosophical education we canprovide. most importantly, Joe was the

From the St. george chair

Boyle

A new Lecture SerieS -tHe roSemAn Lecturein PrActicAL etHicSthanks to the generosity of EllenRoseman (mA1969) and the Constance and David Roseman Fund at theToronto Community Foundation,the department will be able to hostanother biannual lecture series.

ellen, a financial columnist for thetoronto Star, has been a very activealumna of the Philosophy department,from the original “Friends of Philosophy”initiative in the early 1990’s to the morerecent projects such as our annualcareer nights and the Law andPhilosophy Fellowship. She has beenteaching economics related courses atthe u of t School of continuing Studiesfor many years. the inaugural rosemanLecture will be held Friday, october 23,2009, the afternoon before the Sumnerconference. John Broome, white’sProfessor of moral Philosophy andFellow of corpus christi college atoxford, will be speaking on “the ethicsof climate change.” Please see thedepartmental website for more details.

Bernice Duan, winner of the ethicaScholarship in both 2007-2008 and 2008-2009, with Barry Brown at her convocation.

continued next page...


i am delighted to report that we have hired two new assistant professors who joinus in the fall of 2009. they are Ulrich Schlösser (dPhil from Humboldt), whojoins us as a specialist in german idealism and Phenomenology, and AndrewSepielli (Phd expected from rutgers), who does research in moral philosophy,with a special focus on moral uncertainty. thanks to the many utm students andfaculty who helped us make these terrific hires.

i am very proud of our newly formed Philosophy Academic Society. their activi-ties over the past year included guest speakers, graduate student presentations,movie nights, Philopardy (Philosophy Jeopardy), and an undergraduate sympo-sium where students presented their work. A complete listing of their activitiescan be found on their website: http://utmphilosophy.sa.utoronto.ca/.

this year for the first time, we honoured our graduating philosophy majors andspecialists at a reception held on the downtown campus after convocation.thanks to generous donations from our faculty, we were also able to present allof our graduates with philosophy books.

during 2009-10, i am on sabbatical leave and Sergio Tenenbaum will beActing chair. thanks to Sergio for taking this on.

we welcome hearing from our alumni. write us at [email protected] tolet us know what and how you are doing.

Amy MullinChair, Department of Philosophy, University of Toronto at Mississauga

force behind the recent development of our newundergraduate programs. these now offer astructured entry into the discipline, its history,and traditional fields of study. Joe’s uncompro-mising energy, intellectual vision, and goodhumour made these significant changes possible.Mark Kingwell is taking over from Joe in theundergraduate office.

the overwhelming impression i take away frommy year in the chair’s office is that ourdepartment works; it is very well run. we know our priorities and over the last fewyears have been pursuing them intelligently,cooperating among ourselves in a collegial andrespectful way. this could not happen withoutsuperb support from the friendly but busi-nesslike staff on the fourth floor of the JackmanHumanities Building. this year the collegialleadership of Amy mullin, who served as Actinggraduate chair, was pivotal. the result for mewas a year of hard work, but not unpleasantness,and a sense of satisfaction in being part of suchan outstanding academic community.

Joseph Boyle, Acting ChairDepartment of Philosophy, Faculty of Arts & Science

From the St. George Chair continued...

From the graduate department we have a large and impressivenew group of students admit-ted this year: 14 Phd studentsand 11 mA students. Amongthe Phd students, four arecoming to us with externalfunding from SSHrc (SocialSciences and Humanitiesresearch council) or ogS (ontario graduateScholarship program) and one has received aninternal award; among our mA students, threehave won the impressive cgSm (SSHrc’scanada graduate Scholarship masters) awardsand one has an ogS. we continue to contributeto the collaborative Program in Ancient andmedieval Philosophy, adding two students thisyear to the six we recruited last year. Across allyears, we will have four students funded by theogS and 20 students funded by SSHrc. Amongthe latter, four students won SSHrc’s canadiangraduate Scholarship, the so-called super-SSHrc valued at $35,000 per year; and onestudent, Ariel Zylberman, won SSHrc’s newVanier Scholarship, valued at $50,000 per year.

Phil KremerGraduate Coordinator

Kremer

the past year was marked by a number of notable events for phi-losophy at Scarborough (utSc). the “second” annual utScundergraduate philosophy conference was held in march 2009. Asin the inaugural year, the utSc students served as commentators(and referees), ceding the podium to budding philosophers fromcanada, the united States, and Britain. in addition, ProfessorMohan Matthen provided the keynote address that wrapped upa very successful event.

two of our most hardcore philosophy students graduated this past year but have notmoved on from philosophy. Mark Lee and Carl Legault are continuing the pursuit of wisdom (or at least another degree) in graduate school: carl, in the mAprogram here at the university of toronto; mark, in the Phd program at rutgersuniversity. good luck to both.

utSc is also welcoming a new tenure track faculty member this year. After anarduous search, Karolina Hübner emerged as the first choice from a strong poolof candidates. currently finishing her Phd at the university of chicago, karolina’sspecialty is the philosophy of Spinoza. She adds much needed strength in the historyof philosophy to utSc and the graduate department as well.

Finally, after serving several years (too many to recall) as discipline representative(dr), as the position has heretofore been known, i have “retired” to the joys of sabbatical leave and perhaps get some work done. over the last few years utSchas almost doubled in size and the responsibilities of the dr have grown commen-surately, but also the scope and prospects of philosophy at utSc have never beengreater. Professor Sonia Sedivy has now taken over as Program director, as theposition will henceforth be titled, and i wish her good luck and a thoroughly unexciting time next year.

William SeagerPhilosophy Discipline Representative, University of Toronto at Scarborough

Seager

utSc Philosophy news

utm Philosophy news


Anjan Chakravarttyhas been appointeddirector of theinstitute of Historyand Philosophy ofScience andtechnology until June2015. Paul thompsonfinished his term asdirector in June 2009.

Imogen Dickie waspromoted to AssociateProfessor with tenure.She is currently workingon questions in the philosophy of languageabout reference andrelated questions in the philosophy of mind

(about perception of objects) and metaphysics (about what objects are).She is presently on leave as a BersoffFellow at nYu.

Jennifer Hawkinswas promoted toAssociate Professor withtenure. Her researchinterests are moral phi-losophy, philosophy ofmind, moral psychology,and bioethics.

Joseph Heath was promoted to FullProfessor. His areas of research are socialand political philosophy, moral philoso-phy, rational choice theory, specializing in

critical social theory inthe tradition of theFrankfurt School. Hisrecent books includeFollowing the Rules:Practical Reasoning andDeontic Constraint (2008)and Filthy Lucre: Economicsfor People Who HateCapitalism (2009).

Benjamin Hellie waspromoted to AssociateProfessor with tenure.His area of specialty isphilosophy of mind.

Cheryl Misak wasappointed Vice Presidentand Provost at theuniversity of toronto

last spring after having served as interimprovost and deputy provost. while performing her adminis-trative duties efficiently,she still manages to pub-lish – The OxfordHandbook of AmericanPhilosophy last year, andNew Pragmatists the yearbefore.

Amy Mullin was re-appointed for an additional term aschair of the department of Philosophy atuniversity of toronto mississauga untilJune 2012. She is currently on leave afterserving as Acting chair of the graduate

department for one year and finishing herfirst term as the inaugural chair of theutm department.

Martin Pickavé waspromoted to AssociateProfessor with tenure.His main areas ofresearch are medievalmetaphysics andmedieval philosophy ofmind. He is cross-appointed to the centrefor medieval Studies.

Sonia Sedivy has beenappointed Programdirector of Philosophy atutSc. Her research isin the areas ofPhilosophy of mind andPhilosophy of Art.

Sergio Tenenbaumhas accepted an appoint-ment as Acting chair ofPhilosophy at utm for2009-2010 while Amymullin is on leave. Hisareas of research areethics, practical reason,and kant.

Jessica Wilson waspromoted to AssociateProfessor with tenure.Her areas of researchare metaphysics of sci-ence and foundationalmetaphysics.

Promotions & Appointments

TRANSITIONS

Chakravartty

Dickie

Hawkins

Heath

Hellie

Misak

Pickavé

Sedivy

Tenenbaum

Wilson

A Politically engaged Political Philosopher:Frank cunningham retiresFrank cunningham retired this summer from the university oftoronto, where he spent his entire academic career with the exceptionof visiting professorships in china, italy, Japan and the netherlands. in toronto we have been the fortunate recipients of his dedication toteaching, scholarship, and the building of community.

His undergraduate teaching was recognized with a SAc/APuSundergraduate teaching Award in 2005. As a graduate teacher hehas supervised numerous dissertations on a range of topics relatedto democracy, poverty, equality, justice, and political theory. in addition, his commitment to teaching has ranged beyond the university, both locally and provincially, for adults and high-schoolstudents. For example, Frank almost singlehandedly created and

found the funding for the regent ParkLearning exchange Programme. this project,sponsored by the Provost’s office, broughttogether professors and local residents toexplore a variety of philosophical topicsincluding the nature of personhood and the meaning of life. Frank tells us that he considers his work on this project particularly rewarding.

Frank displayed similar focus and drive in hisdecades-long project to bring philosophicalinstruction into ontario’s high schools. He spent countless hoursworking with the ontario ministry of education to develop curriculum for high school philosophy courses; he also co-foundedthe ontario Philosophy teachers Association, and he has co-authored, along with several secondary school teachers, a philosophy text for high school students.

Frank Cunningham

retirement

...continued on Page 7


Karolina Hübner, a specialist in Spinoza,early-modern philoso-phy, and the history ofmetaphysics, has beenhired at the universityof toronto Scarboroughas an assistant professor.She receives her Phd

from the university ofchicago this year, andarrived here after a stintof teaching at theuniversity of california,San diego.

Ulrich Schlösser, hasbeen hired as an assistantprofessor at the university of torontomississauga. the focus of his research ison post-kantian philosophy. His Phd isfrom Humboldt university in Berlin, and

he has held positionsboth there and at theuniversity of Sheffield.

Andrew Sepielli, whospecializes in normativeethics, metaethics, andphilosophy of law, hasbeen hired as an assistantprofessor at the university of torontomississauga. He will receive his Phdfrom rutgers university.

new Faculty

Schlösser Sepielli

Frank’s scholarship has been deep, extensive, and highly influential.His three most recent books on democracy, Theories of Democracy: A Critical Introduction (2002), The Real World of Democracy Revisited andOther Essays on Socialism and Democracy (1994), and Democratic Theoryand Socialism (1987) have been translated into multiple languages,and we look forward to reading his forthcoming book The PoliticalThought of C.B. Macpherson in 2010. His research accomplishmentswere recognized by the royal Society of canada which elected hima Fellow in 1995.

But Frank has not kept his scholarship in the ivory tower. in addi-tion to his many philosophical publications, he has been generous insharing his ideas with the public in more popular forums. His cur-rent research interests in urban philosophy allow him to unite histheoretical work with more practical activity related to city politics,

and he is delighted to note that increasing numbers of students andprofessors are exploring the role of philosophy in studying urbanlife through the cities centre, a new multidisciplinary researchinstitute at u of t.

Frank cunningham’s contributions to the department, theuniversity, and the profession include serving as department chair,where he is especially pleased to have forged closer ties with philoso-phers at the university of montreal; as Principal of innis collegewhere he enjoyed the close contact with students and curriculardevelopment; as coordinator and first chair of the committee ofontario university chairs; and as president of the canadianPhilosophical Association (one of three of our department membersto have served in this capacity, along with Professors thomas goudgeand Francis Sparshott). As he retires from full-time teaching thisyear, we look forward to a long ongoing association with this politically engaged political philosopher.

in memoriAm by John G. Slater

douglas Poole dryerdouglas dryer was born in toronto on27 november 1915, but soon afterwardhis family moved to the united Stateswhere he received all of his education.After being awarded an A.B. degree inboth economics and philosophy byHarvard in 1936, he decided to pursuegraduate studies in philosophy. three years later, with an A.m.in hand, he accepted an appointment to teach in unioncollege at Schenectady, new York. two years later he resumedhis graduate studies at Harvard and completed all of therequirements for the doctoral degree except the dissertation.exempt from military service, he taught part-time at bothHarvard and tufts university before being appointed a speciallecturer in this department in 1945 by Fulton Anderson whohad just taken over as head of the department. douglas toldme that the ‘special’ in his title was added when he insisted onbeing paid more than a lecturer’s salary.

dryer fitted nicely into Anderson’s theory of philosophicaleducation which centered on the great figures in the history ofphilosophy. dryer’s great love was immanuel kant and hespent his whole career studying his difficult works. thomasgoudge and he took turns teaching The Critique of Pure Reasonwhich both had studied at Harvard under c.i. Lewis. Lewisrequired his pupils to acquire a mastery of the book by handingin an outline of an assigned part every week. Both men contin-ued that tradition. For the next couple of decades dryer also

adopted the Harvard way of addressing male students by theirsurnames. every so often, during the years when the depart-ment required candidates for the master’s degree to submit athesis, an overly ambitious student would propose writing onkant and be sent to dryer for supervision. one of these mis-guided young men reported back to me when i was chairmanthat dryer listened patiently to his ideas and then remarked,‘the first thing you have to be clear about, Smith, is that thereare no m.A. theses on kant.’ truer words were never spoken.As can be gathered from this exchange dryer set very highstandards in his teaching which only a few students succeededin meeting.

in 1966 he published The Solution for Verification in Kant’sMetaphysics which was essentially the culmination of his workon the doctorate. oddly enough, it gained him his HarvardPh.d. degree. it came about in this way. in 1977 Bruce kuklickpublished The Rise of American Philosophy: Cambridge, Massachusetts,1860-1977, which includes an appendix listing all those whogot a Harvard doctorate during those years. dryer decided hewanted to add his name to that list, so he submitted his book,which Harvard accepted as fulfilling the thesis requirement.dryer was given an oral examination by Hilary Putnam andmartha nussbaum, and awarded the degree in 1980, a yearbefore he retired. in 1978 he was elected a fellow of the royalSociety of canada.

dryer died on 17 April 2009 in toronto after suffering for several years from the ravages of Parkinson’s disease. He was 93 years old.

Hübner

Frank Cunningham Retires continued...


Ryan Beaton won themartha Lile Loveteaching Award forcourse PHL 315 F –topics in 19th centuryPhilosophy at utm inthe summer of 2008.the award is given to aPhd student who hasdemonstrated a combination of skill,inventiveness, competence and enthusi-asm while teaching an undergraduatecourse. From the design of the syllabusto his supportive approach to his stu-dents, ryan was a model graduateinstructor. Students were generous intheir praise for ryan’s clarity, patience,organized approach, and sensitivity tostudents’ needs. An observing seniorprofessor noted that ryan lecturedSocratically, “inspiring the students to askthemselves, and him, questions. therereally was a sense of intellectual commu-nity – one learnt history [and how] tothink about deep matters.” great teach-ers instruct, challenge and inspire, andthis year’s martha Lile Love award win-ner did all three.

Rachel Bryant has been awarded adoctoral Fellowship in the centre forethics for the 2009-2010 academic yearwhere she will be working on her disser-tation about the fundamental normative

justification for conser-vation biology. rachelsays: “conservation biol-ogy aims primarily at theprotection of biodiversi-ty. often, this isjustified by reference tothe intrinsic value of biodiversity. my dissertation critiques this, and offersa justification for conservation based noton the value of biodiversity, but on thevalue of welfare.” Besides continuingwith her thesis, rachel will be participat-ing in the centre’s seminars, conferences,and other activities. rachel’s research isbeing supervised by Professors wayneSumner and denis walsh.

Charlie Cooper-Simpson has beengranted a Jackman Humanities instituteundergraduate Fellowship for 2009-2010. He will be working on anindependent project, “defending theHuman: materialism is a Humanism,”under the supervision of JHi Facultyresearch Fellow, Brian cantwell Smith, a member of the graduate departmentof Philosophy and former dean of theFaculty of information. what an opportunity for a 4th year student!

Alex Sinha, a 5th year Phd student, was short-listed for the uoft teachingAssistants’ training Program’s teachingexcellence Award. He has tA’d for us inPHL 271 F – Law and morality, in PHL281 Y – Bioethics, and in PHL 275 –

intro to ethics. thedepartment is verypleased to have such anexemplary tA – he con-sistently receives someof the highest tutorialleader student evalua-tions. Alex’s researchfocuses on deontology(the study of duty as an ethical concept)and the justification of rights. His supervisors are Professors tom Hurkaand wayne Sumner.

Owen Ware has won a chancellor Jackmangraduate StudentFellowship in theHumanities for 2009-2010, which will enablehim to spend the year atthe Jackman Humanitiesinstitute focusing on his

research. He writes: “my dissertation ison kant’s argument for how the morallaw applies to us as human beings. i takeup issues of freedom, agency, and moralfeeling as they arise in his two mostfamous ethical works: the groundwork(1785) and the critique of Practicalreason (1788). the chancellor JackmanFellowship will provide me with an idealopportunity to work on my dissertationand exchange ideas with an interdiscipli-nary group of fellows on the institute’sannual theme, ‘Pressures on the Human’.”

Imogen Dickie has been awarded a sec-ond year of the prestigious BersoffAssistant Professor / Faculty Fellowshipin the department of Philosophy at new York university.

Professor emeritus Jack Stevensonreceived an Arbor Award from theuniversity of toronto Alumni Associationin 2008 for the many decades of work he did improving the university’s tenureappeals process. He is pictured herebetween uoft President david naylorand uoft chancellor, the Honouarable

david r. Peterson.

Jonathan Weisberg won rutgersuniversity’s bi-annual Youngepistemologist Prize for the best essay inepistemology written by someone whosePhd was awarded within the past tenyears. His prizewinning essay,

“Bootstrapping in general” will be pub-lished in Philosophy and PhenomenologicalResearch. Jonathanwrites: “trusting asource you don’t knowto be reliable is thoughtto lead to paradoxicalreasoning called ‘bootstrapping’. thispaper argues that thebootstrapping paradox does not dependessentially on trust in an unauthenticatedsource; instead it arises from exploita-tions of the intransitivity of probabilisticsupport.”

Beaton

Bryant Sinha

Ware

Awards & Honours

Faculty Awards

Student Awards

Stevenson (middle) with Naylor and Peterson

Weisberg


congratulations toAriel Zylberman, winner of the Vaniercanada graduateScholarshipour Phd student Ariel Zylberman hasreceived an inaugural Vanier canadagraduate Scholarship, the most prestigiousdoctoral award in canada. Valued at$50,000 per year for three years, thescholarships are awarded to the world'sleading students from canada and abroad.the value and prestige of the Vaniercanada graduate Scholarships put them onpar with such highly renowned scholar-ships as the rhodes in the uk and theFulbright in the uS. these awards werecreated by the federal government in

2008, in order to attract and retain world-class doctoral students. the awards areadministered by canada's three federalgranting agencies: the canadian institutesof Heath research (ciHr), the naturalSciences and engineering researchcouncil (nSerc) and the Social Sciencesand Humanities research council(SSHrc). Ariel was among the 166 recipi-ents of this award, as announced recentlyby gary goodyear, minister of State(Science and technology).

Ariel’s path so far includes a rhodesScholarship in 2002, university-level teach-ing before he entered graduate school, andwork in Peru with cuSo, canada’s largestinternational cooperation agency. there, heworked with AProdeH (Asociación Proderechos Humanos) on three projects. He engaged in a research project on inter-cultural education which culminated in abook, La Educación Intercultural como

Ejercicio de DerechosHumanos, publishedby AProdeH.He co-taught aseminar oninterculturaleducation andHuman rights atthe technologicaluniversity of theAndes. He alsoserved as theexecutivecoordinator of an education program –with six other ngos and the Peruviangovernment – for community leaders,teachers and government officials.

congratulations again to Ariel!

For more information on the Vaniercanada graduate Scholarship, seehttp://www.vanier.gc.ca/hp-pa-eng.shtml

Awards & Honours

Zylberman

dePArtment ActiVitieS

the Aristotle contest 2009For the past four years, the departmentof Philosophy has worked with secondaryschool philosophy teachers to sponsor theAristotle national philosophy essay com-petition for canadian high schoolstudents. this year’s topics were on tor-ture (is it ever morally permissible?) andthe truths of mathematics (are theyinvented or discovered?). entries came infrom coast to coast, and were judged by ateam of toronto faculty and secondaryschool teachers. the winning essay, byChloe Mighton of toronto, made a

careful distinction between mathematicaltruths and the ways we express them, andargued that only the latter are invented.in second place, an essay by AlvinChauhan of Vancouver advanced a surprising argument that there could becircumstances in which torture would benot only morally permissible, but morallyrequired. Vincent Wen of north Yorkargued in his third-place essay that eventhe fundamental axioms of mathematicsare best seen as artificial human inven-tions. contest co-organizer ProfessorJennifer Nagel (BA 1990) claims sheexpected, or even wanted, at least one

high school student to write a satiricalessay combining the two topics (“whymath is torture; the view from grade12”). “the submissions were in fact allvery earnest and sincere, but many didfind fresh things to say on these old prob-lems, or at least fresh ways of putting oldideas,” nagel commented. “i do look for-ward to seeing some of the contestparticipants in our university courses inthe next few years.”

the winning essays are available for down-load at<http://www.aristotle.utoronto.ca>.

world Philosophyday 2008 the university of toronto celebrated uneSco’s worldPhilosophy day on november 13,2008. Professor Jeff McMahanof rutgers university deliveredthe wPd Lecture on “theresponsibilities of Soldiers andcivilians in an unjust war.”Students found the talk captivatingand appreciated being able tointeract with him informally overlunch and at the reception.

First Annual Philosophy undergraduateresearch conferencethe First Annual Philosophy undergraduate research conferencetook place on tuesday, April 28th and wednesday April 29th,2009. the conference was open to all students in PHL 489: theSocrates Project Advanced Philosophy Seminar, and PHL 499: theindividual Studies research Seminars. Students in these seminarshad pursued independent research projects with faculty supervi-sors during the 08-09 academic year. there were 13 presenters inall. the papers were very impressive and generated lively discus-sion as the students involved engaged with one another's projects.the conference ended with a dinner for all presenters.

Vida Panitch, Undergraduate Research Coordinator

Vida Panitch

Undergraduate

Research Coordinator

1 0 Un i v e r s i t y o f To ron t o

dePArtment ActiVitieSFLc Programthe 2008-2009 academic year saw thedepartment of Philosophy participatingin the First-year Learning community(FLc) program for a second year. FLcsare small discipline-specific peer-ledgroups of approximately 24 students. thegroups met regularly throughout the aca-demic yea r for fifteen 90 minute sessions.

this Arts and Science program, nowentering its fifth year, aims to help students make the transition from highschool to university and to create a senseof community amongst those who sharecommon academic interests.

the Philosophy department hosted twoFLc groups last year:

• mind and Brain, for students with combined interests in Philosophy andPsychology (facilitated by peer mentorStephanie Sugar (BA, 2009), andassistant peer mentor Jaime Oh, acurrent Philosophy and Psychologydouble major); and

• ethics & Society, a group created forstudents interested in the intersectionof Philosophy and Political Science(facilitated by peer mentor NavonaCalarco (BA 2009), and assistant peer

mentor Anda Petro, currently aPhilosophy and Psychology doublemajor and who is acting as peer mentorto the 2009-2010 Philosophy FLc).

Last year Joe Heath offered his time asFaculty Advisor, and Leanne Dawkinsacted as the Staff Advisor to both groups.

the groups participated in a number ofacademic, professional and personal

development activities as well as socialoutings that bonded the group. Activitiesour Philosophy FLcs enjoyed includedspecialized tours of the thomas Fisherrare Book Library, presentations on thephilosophy programs and research oppor-tunities at u of t, and a skating excursionto nathan Phillips Square, to name just afew. At the 2008-09 year-end FLc semi-formal banquet, each group was asked toput together a short video that represent-ed their group and its interests.Philosophy’s ethics & Society groupfilmed their contribution in silent filmstyle, going so far as to making a grouptrip to toronto’s distillery district inhopes that the setting would maximizethe effect. their efforts were wellrewarded as they received the award forthe best silent film by a FLc group.

we look forward to welcoming a newgroup of FLc students in the fall of 2009.For more information about the First-year community Program, seewww.flc.utoronto.ca.

Prof. Joseph Heath with FLC students in the University College Quadrangle.

Leanne Dawkins with FLC students at the FLC Year-End Banquet and Dance.

SSHrc – Hackingdisability: A challenge to moralPhilosophy” at SunY, Stony Brook, thatwas co-organized by his former studentLicia Carlson (Phd, 1998) of radcliffe;his commentator was another former stu-dent, Victoria McGeer (Phd, 1991) ofPrinceton, and he got some of the ideas forhis talk from conversations with JanetteDinishak (Phd, 2008), a recent grad stu-

dent. it should come as no surprise, then,that ian’s motto is: “teachers need studentsmore than students need teachers.”

on a final note, ian and his wife JudithBaker grow exceptional varieties of tomatoand pole bean in an inner-city plot intoronto. ronnie de Sousa, who fancieshimself as a gourmet, and to whom theygave a tomato, said the next day: “that wasnot a tomato, but the Platonic Form of atomato.” ian comments that his and Judith’s

favourite pastime is walking up hills,“which is getting harder and harder, for,just as policemen are getting younger andyounger, the hills are getting steeper andsteeper.” they describe a recent fortnight-long walk in the high Andes in a “diary” inthe September 10 issue of the LondonReview of Books.

ian says there that “the hills there are steep-er! each pass involves walking up onevertical mile and then down again.”

Continued from Page 2...

uPcoming eVentS

The department’s 22nd Annual Book Launch, held on March 12th, 2009, featured:John Canfield. Becoming Human: The Development of Language, Self, and Self-Consciousness. Palgrave macmillan, 2007.

Ian Hacking. Scientific Reason. national taiwan university Press, 2009.

Jennifer Hawkins and ezekiel emanuel, editors. Exploitation and DevelopingCountries: The Ethics of Clinical Research. Princeton university Press, 2008.

Joseph Heath. Following the Rules: Practical Reasoning and Deontic Constraint.oxford university Press, 2008.

Brad Inwood and Lloyd Gerson. The Stoics Reader: Selected Writings and Testimonia.Hackett, 2008.

Joshua glenn and Mark Kingwell. The Idler’s Glossary. northwestern universityPress, 2008.

Mark Kingwell. Concrete Reveries: Consciousness and the City. Viking 2008.

Mark Kingwell. Opening Gambits: Essays on Art and Philosophy. key Porter Books, 2008.

Graeme Nicholson. Justifying Our Existence: An Essay in Applied Phenomenology.university of toronto Press, 2009.

David Novak. In Defense of Religious Liberty. iSi Books, 2009.

R. Rashkover and M. Kavka, editors. Tradition in the Public Square: A David NovakReader. eerdmans, 2008.

Vincent Shen and Kwong-loi Shun, editors. Confucian Ethics in Retrospect andProspect. council for research in Values and Philosophy, washington, dc, 2008.

John Howard Sobel. Walls and Vaults: A Natural Science of Morals (Virtue Ethics accord-ing to David Hume). wiley & Sons, 2009.

Fred Wilson. The External World and Our Knowledge of It: Hume's Critical Realism, anExposition and a Defence. university of toronto Press, 2008.

Alumni are invited to attend the 2010 Philosophy Book Launch whichwill be held on Thursday, March 11, 2010, 4-6 pm, at the JackmanHumanities Building, 170 St. George Street, Room 418.

2009 PHiLoSoPHYBook LAuncHThe University of Toronto

Colloquium in MedievalPhilosophy

“Things in the Mind” – AWorkshop on MedievalCognitive PsychologyThursday-Saturday, September17-19, 2009For details please see<http://cpamp.utoronto.ca/pages/utcmp.php>.

For inquiries and registration please email:[email protected].

the workshop is free and open to the public.

October 23, 2009 – RosemanLeture in Practical EthicsJohn Broome, oxford. “the ethics of climate change.” Jackman HumanitiesBuilding, room 100, (170 St. georgeStreet) at 3:15 pm. reception to follow.For more details, see Page 4 and our website.

October 24, 2009 – Rights andWrongs: Life, Death, and thePursuit of Happiness.

A Conference in Honour ofWayne Sumner.For more details, see Page 2 and our website.

World Philosophy Day 2009the university of toronto will celebrateuneSco’s world Philosophy day eventson november 19, 2009. James dreier,Professor of Philosophy at Brownuniversity, will be our guest speaker. Areception celebrating our senior under-graduate students will follow the talk.Please see our website for details.

For up-to-the-minute details on theseand other events, please see our recentlyredesigned website,<www.philosophy.utoronto.ca>.

Colloquium ScheduleOctober 1, 2009 – Ed McCann (universityof Southern california).

April 8, 2010 – Penelope Maddy (uc irvine).

May 2010 – Raymond Geuss (cambridge). this colloquium will also serve as the keynote lecture in the annual graduatePhilosophy conference. each colloquium will take place at the Jackman Humanities Building, room 100, (170 St. george Street) at 3:15 pm and will be followed by a reception.Please check our website, <www.philosophy.utoronto.ca>, for details

Depa r tmen t o f Ph i l osoph y New s 1 1

Ian Hacking is holding the Canadabanner on the thirdAldermaston (Ban-the-Bomb)March in Britain.Photo from the Globe and Mail, 20 April 1960.


department of Philosophy, university of toronto


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