Department News and Faculty Books Archive


Photos from Events this Year

The department has had several special events this year, and there are photos to prove it (just click on the appropriate link). In October 2015 we had both the Thalheimer Lectures, delivered by David Chalmers, and the JHU Philosophy Graduate Conference; in April 2016 we had a workshop on The Value of Humanity.


Conference on The Value of Humanity, Sunday, April 3

The department is pleased to host a one-day conference on “The Value of Humanity.” It will take place in Gilman 288 on Sunday, April 3. There will be speakers from JHU and from other universities. View a poster for the event. View the full schedule.


BA/MA Program Approved

The Department has decided to offer an accelerated BA/MA program, and this has now received approval from the Dean’s office. The requirements for the BA and for the MA remain unchanged, but in the combined BA/MA program, two 400-level courses taken as part of the BA can also be used towards the MA. This means […]


Meaning Without Representation: Expression, Truth, Normativity, and Naturalism

Much contemporary thinking about language is animated by the idea that the core function of language is to represent how the world is and that therefore the notion of representation should play a fundamental explanatory role in any explanation of language and language use. Leading thinkers in the field explore various ways this idea may […]


Graduate Student Conference

The department’s graduate students have organized a conference entitled Nature and Norms: Values in a Material World. It will take place on Saturday October 17 in 210 Hodson (not Gilman 50, as previously announced). The keynote speaker is Professor Sharon Street of NYU.


Thalheimer Lectures

On October 28-30 (Wednesday-Friday), the department will be hosting Prof. David Chalmers (New York University and Australian National University) as the 2015 Thalheimer Lecturer. The department sponsors the Thalheimer Lectures every few years, inviting philosophers who, besides being highly distinguished, are likely to be of interest to faculty and students in a variety of fields […]


Mellon Postdoc

The department is very pleased to welcome Stephen Ogden as its Mellon Postdoc for 2015-16 and perhaps 2016-17. Dr. Ogden will teach one course per semester in the department and participate in the Mellon Postdoc program. In the fall term 2015 he is teaching Arabic-Islamic Philosophy. He will also be giving a talk to the […]


The Young Spinoza: A Metaphysician in the Making

The Young Spinoza Book Cover
Ex nihilo nihil fit. Philosophy, especially great philosophy, does not appear out of the blue. In the current volume, a team of top scholars-both up-and-coming and established-attempts to trace the philosophical development of one of the greatest philosophers of all time. Featuring twenty new essays and an introduction, it is the first attempt of its […]


Graduate Student News: March 2015

Arash Abazari has been awarded a Mellon/ACLS Dissertation Completion Fellowship for the 2015-16 academic year.


Peter Achinstein lectures at the Rotman Institute of Philosophy

Peter Achinstein delivered two lectures at the Rotman Institute of Philosophy (University of Western Ontario) in November 2014; their titles were “What is a Theory of Everything and why should we want one?” and “Who needs proof: James Clerk Maxwell on Scientific Method”. Videos of them are available at www.rotman.uwo.ca. A symposium on his recent […]