News

Anthony Skelton: New Book Explores Children’s Autonomy, Consent, and Well-Being

October 16, 2025

We are delighted to announce the publication of Consenting Children: Autonomy, Responsibility, Well-Being (Liverpool University Press), a new interdisciplinary volume by Anthony Skelton. The book brings together philosophers and legal scholars to explore some of the most challenging questions at the intersection of agency, ethics, and the law.

In this timely work, contributors examine topics such as the moral standing of children’s consent, the relationship between responsibility and well-being, and how the law interprets evolving capacities in minors. The volume offers fresh perspectives on how we understand childhood agency and the ethical significance of consent.

Congratulations to Anthony Skelton on this important contribution to the study of moral philosophy, legal theory, and child ethics. Read more about the book here.

PhD Alumna Heather Stewart Publishes Two New Philosophy Articles

October 15, 2025

We are pleased to highlight recent work by our PhD alumna Heather Stewart (PhD 2021), now Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Oklahoma State University. Heather has published two new articles:

  • “Belonging and Estrangement,” co-authored with Arianna Falbo, in American Association of Philosophy Teachers Studies in Pedagogy, which examines the challenges faced by first-generation and low-income students in philosophy and offers strategies to foster inclusion PhilPapers.

  • “Epistemic Privilege, Phenomenology and Symptomatology in Functional/Dissociative Seizures,” co-authored with Alistair Wardrope, in Social Epistemology, which explores the conditions under which clinicians may have epistemic insight into patients’ experiences of dissociative seizures beyond what patients initially report PhilPapers.

Heather’s recent publications continue to engage with issues at the intersection of epistemology, philosophy of mind, and social justice.

Carolyn McLeod to Deliver Keynote Address at Public Philosophy Network Conference

October 17, 2025

Professor Carolyn McLeod will deliver a keynote address titled “A Philosopher’s Contribution to Social Change” at the 8th Public Philosophy Network Conference, Public Philosophy and Social Change: Legacies, Grassroots, New Directions, hosted by McMaster University in Hamilton this October. Her talk will explore the role of philosophy in advancing social change and the ways in which philosophical work can engage with public life and social movements.

Professor Carolyn McLeod Publishes on Trust and Belonging

October 15, 2025

Professor Carolyn McLeod has published “Trust and Belonging” in the Critical Review of International Social and Political Philosophy (Special Issue on Trust, Social Cohesion, and Integration). In the article, she argues that trust is not only essential for cooperation, but also answers to our deep human need for belonging—offering a more nuanced genealogy of trust than is often assumed. 
Read the full text here: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13698230.2025.2528381

Alumnus Cory Goldstein Recognized with Grimshaw Researcher in Training Award

October 15, 2025

Alumnus Dr. Cory Goldstein has been awarded the Grimshaw Researcher in Training Award. According to the Ottawa Hospital, Cory “is shaping how clinical trials are designed and conducted around the world. For his outstanding work in research ethics and contributions to patient engagement, he is receiving the Grimshaw [Award].” Cory completed his PhD in our department in 2022 supervised by Charles Weijer, and he is now a CIHR Postdoctoral Fellow at the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute. Read more about Cory’s work in the press release and accompanying interview.

Pepijn Al, PhD Philosophy Western, has been awarded a two-year Postdoctoral Fellowship in Research Ethics at the University Medical Centre in Utrecht, the Netherlands

October 2, 2025

Congratulating Dr. Pepijn Al (Philosophy PhD), who has been awarded a two-year Postdoctoral Fellowship in Research Ethics at the University Medical Centre in Utrecht, the Netherlands. Pepijn’s postdoc is supervised by Prof. Rieke van der Graaf, and he will work on projects promoting diversity in clinical trials and exploring climate sustainability in research ethics. 

Pepijn completed his doctorate in our department last year, examining “When is it ethically permissible to use behavioral influences to enhance trial recruitment?” His supervisory committee included Charles Weijer (Supervisor), Carolyn McLeod, and Jamie Brehaut (Ottawa Hospital Research Institute). Since completing his doctorate, Pepijn was working as a lecturer in the Utrecht’s philosophy department.

Congratulations to current doctoral student Farid Saberi

July 18, 2025

PhD student, Farid Saberi, is featured in the journal Biology & Philosophy for his article "How to Relate Major Transitions in Life and Cognition". A link to the article: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10539-025-09987-z

Philosophy Summer Reading

July 2025

bookAnthony Skelton: I am reading Bart Schultz's Utilitarianism as a Way of Life (2024), in which he attempts to decolonize and reimagine utilitarianism. Schultz hopes that his version of utilitarianism will inspire meaningful social change. 





Robert Stainton: Here are two books that I'm working on this summer:
A brief history of analytic philosophy: from Russell to Rawls by Steve Schwartz Wiley-Blackwell
I was asked by an incoming MA student from China what she might read in preparation for the Doctoral Proseminar that I'll be teaching in the Fall of 2025. I did some Googling, and found this promising book. I thought: "Maybe I should include it as recommended reading for all the students?" But before I did that, I figured I should read it myself. I'm really impressed by at, and will indeed suggest it to all the students in that class.

Words in Action: An Introduction to the Social Philosophy of Language by Ishani Maitra and Mary Kate McGowan. Oxford;UP

By the 1990s, philosophy of language had become highly technical and empirical. Beyond being super challenging, sometimes it wasn't even clear what any of the complex details had to do with philosophy. Yes, it was cool as a contribution to empirical linguistics, but... Around the turn of the millennium, philosophers, including especially feminist philosophers, started to draw attention to issues at the intersection of philosophy of language and socio-political philosophy: hate speech, pornography, racial and ethnic slurs, verbal consent, etc. This has given new life to the troubled sub-field. This brand-new book by two fantastic thinkers surveys some of the results. I hope to write a book review of it for a scholarly journal.


Sasha Simon: Hannah Arendt and the History of Thought. Edited by Daniel Brennan and Marguerite La Caze. 1st ed. Maryland: Lexington Books, 2022.

I’m interested in the ways the contributors of this volume unite the philosophical, historical, and narrative dimensions of Arendt’s life’s work. My focus while reading this volume lies in better understanding Arendt’s non-traditional method of inquiry (e.g. “pearl diving” as a way to gain new meaning from the past), her bold style as it relates to imagination and literature, and her varied approach to reading philosophical and other texts (i.e., not only asking what is being said, but also, what does this mean for me?).


Corey Dyck: I am currently reading Should We Go Extinct? A Philosophical Dilemma for our Unbearable Times by Todd May. I have been reading a fair bit in the history of philosophical pessimism, including but not limited to Schopenhauer, who also wondered "whether life was something that ought to be." I'm curious to read May's book in light of this context, and see whether his arguments engage those of this still neglected philosophical tradition.




Matthew Mavrogiannis: The book I'm reading is: Plato's Moral Realism (2023) by Lloyd P. Gerson. This is Gerson's longest and most sustained exposition of both the view that Plato held a systematic, irreducibly metaphysical ethical theory and his exposition of that theory. Additionally, the book is interesting in its comparative discussion of Plato's ethics with other contemporary views in ethics.




Ben Hill: I am reading Julia Jorati's Slavery and Race: Philosophical Debates in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries (vol 1) and Slavery and Race: Philosophical Debates in the Eighteenth Century (vol 2). 

The intersections of race and slavery during this period (1500-1800) is exciting because this was precisely the period that the modern concept of race emerged and racialized slavery emerged. Recognizing the roles (and responsibility!) of philosophers for these horrible developments is historically important as well as a cautionary tale for philosophers today as we face renewed inhumane economic and political forces attacking individuals and society.

I will be leading a book club discussion of the texts in Sept 2025 and a meet-the-author session with Prof. Jorati to discuss the book. All are welcome to join the discussions. Please contact me for details.

Angela Mendelovici: I’m reading Frances Egan’s Deflating Mental Representation (2025, MIT), which is an interesting new book on how to best understand talk of mental representation in cognitive science. Egan argues, roughly, that we should accept that there are internal states playing the causal roles ascribed to mental representations but not that these states are actually “about something” or that they “say something”—they don’t actually have contents. Instead, talk of content is a convenient “gloss” that highlights certain explanatory roles of the relevant internal states. Egan will be visiting my grad seminar in Fall 2025 to discuss her work. The book is available open access here: https://direct.mit.edu/books/oa-monograph/5927/Deflating-Mental-Representation

Congratulations to Genevieve Langille, winner of the 2024-25 Chair's Essay Prize in Philosophy

June 18, 2025

Congratulations to Genevieve Langille, winner of the 2024-25 Chair's Essay Prize in Philosophy for her essay, "Synthetic Biology Dissolves Legal Dichotomies: A Suggestion for a Balanced Approach to Regulation that Evaluates the Risks and Ethics of Editing Ourselves." The paper was submitted for Prof. Desjardins' Phil 4320G course, "Synthetic Biology and Philosophy."

The Department is saddened by the untimely loss of Gregory Lavers, PhD 2004. 

May 15, 20225

The memorial notice is here.

Congratulations to Sara Varon Echevarri for receiving the Congress Graduate Merit Award from the Federation for the Humanities and Social Science

April 28, 2025

This merit-based award recognizes and celebrates the academic excellence of deserving graduate students who present their work at Congress. Each award is valued at $500 and aims to help offset the costs associated with attending the event.

Western Philosophy returns to the top 50 departments worldwide in latest QS rankings

March 17, 2025

The 2025 QS World University Rankings by subject sees Western returning to a place within the top 50 philosophy departments worldwide. The complete list of top 50 departments is available here.

Western Philosophy Dept ranks 4th in Canada and among top programs in eight specialty areas in the latest Gourmet Report

Jan 13, 2025

In the most recent Philosophical Gourmet Report (https://philosophicalgourmet.com/), the Philosophy Department at Western has been ranked fourth in Canada, and was recognized among the top programs in the English-speaking world in a number of speciality areas including: Philosophy of Physics (Group 2); General Philosophy of Science; Philosophy of Social Science; Philosophy of Psychological, Cognitive, and Brain Sciences (all Group 3); Philosophy of Mind; Early Modern Philosophy (18th Century); Kant (all Group 4); and Feminist Philosophy (Highly Recommended).