Past Events

Most Philosophy Department events are supported in part or full by the Mortimer J. Fleishhacker Fund for Philosophy at the University of San Francisco.

Spring 2024

  • 4/2: "Envy and Antidote" with Tom Cavanaugh (Fleishhacker Chair)
  • 4/3: Tai Chi Workshop with Mike J. Ng
  • 4/4: Public Talk with Sungmoon Kim

Fall 2023

  • 8/7-8: Workshop on Asian American Philosophy
  • 10/5: Roosevelt Montás on Why the Great Books Matter for a New Generation.
  • 11/9-11: Society for Asian and American Philosophy Annual Conference

Spring 2023

  • 3/9: NEH Talk Elemental Loss
  • 3/23: Philosophy of Nature
  • 4/13-14: Indian Philosophy Conference
  • 5/4: Yoga Meditation Workshop

Fall 2022

  • 9/8-11: Pacific Association for the Continental Tradition Conference
  • 10/20-21: Phenomenology of Embodiment Colloquium + Workshop

Summer 2022

  • 6/25: Bay Area St. Thomas Association 6th Annual Meeting

Spring 2022

  • 4/12: Women are Not Adult Human Females
  • 4/19: Quill Kukla Colloquium

Spring 2021

  • 2/5: Covid-19 vaccine and Issues of Distributive Justice with Jason Eberl,  Director, Saint Louis University, Albert Gnaegi Center for Health Care Ethics
  • 3/2: Kari Marble public yoga class
  • 3/12: Philosophical Contemplation and the Good Life with Dave McPherson, Creighton University.
  • 5/5: The Heart of Racism with Jorge L. A. Garcia, Boston College.
  • 5/10: Professional Ethics and Personal Conscience in Medicine with Bryan Pilkington, Seton Hall University

Fall 2020

  • 9/23: Global Treatments of Feral Animals with Josh Hayes, Alvernia.
  • 10/1: Race and Philosophy series; Philosophical Accounts of Racism and its Wrongs with Ron Sundstrom, University of San Francisco.
  • 10/14: Dōgen’s Ethics with Jason Wirth, Seattle University.
  • 10/21: The Ethics of Zen with Heather Larusso, San Francisco Zen Center.
  • 10/21: Locke on Property with David Macauley, Penn State.
  • 10/22: Race and Philosophy series; Audre Lorde and the Challenge of Difference with Denise James, Professor of Philosophy & Director of Women’s and Gender Studies, University of Dayton.
  • 10/27: The Signature Event of Deconstruction with Dr. Robert Trumbull, University of Washington.
  • 11/4: Racism in Modern Philosophy: If all these guys were racists, why should we still read them? with Chris Lauer, University of Hawaii.
  • 11/12: Race and Philosophy series; Race Illusions with Joshua Glasgow, Professor of Philosophy & Chair of the Philosophy Department, Sonoma State University
  • 11/18: Ethics in a Time of Climate Change with Brian Treanor

Spring 2020

  • 2/6: The Self in Early Indian Philosophy and Comparative Thought-Systems with Purushottama Bilimoria.
  • 2/7 - 2/9: Coastal Zen Workshop and Events with Keynote speaker, Okumura Shōhaku, Sanshin Zen Community.

Fall 2019

  • 9/23: Phil Colloquium: with M. Brown
  • 9/26: Phil Colloquium: What is the point of Urban Justice? Access to Human Space? with Bart van Leeuwen. Colloquium for M. Brown
  • 10/23: Phil Pedagogy Workshop

Summer 2019

  • 6/5 - 6/6: Black Phil. Consortium: Speakers: Paul Taylor, Anika Simpson, V. Denise James, Paul Taylor, Anika Simpson, V. Denise James
  • 6/8: Philosophy of Science Workshop with Schmaus, Folina, Maria DePaz, Christina Chimisso, Samuel Amet
  • 7/11 - 7/13: NASSP Conference: Hosts: Jeff Paris and David Stump. Sponsor: North American Society for Social Philosophy

Spring 2019

  • 3/5: The Guts of Zen Leadership: Talk by Ginny Whitelaw
  • 3/21: Colloquium with Derrick Darby
  • 4/29: End-of-Year Colloquium: Speaker: Nick Leonard. Respondent: Tom Cavanaugh
  • 5/20: CFP: Feminism and Philosophy Workshop

Fall 2018

  • 9/25: 'Self' In The Vedas, The Ghagavad Gita, And Comparative Thought Systems with Purushottama Bilimora
  • 10/24: NEH talk with Gerard Kuperus

Spring 2018

  • 3/27: Colloquium: Hye Young Kim
  • 4/14 - 4/15: Zen buddhism and suffering conference hosted by Geoff Ashton
  • 4/18: Phil. Colloquium David Pena - Animals & Philosophy with David Pena, SFSU

Fall 2017

  • 9/22: Kate Ritchie Colloquium
  • 9/28 - 9/30: PACT Conference
  • 10/5: Philosophy and the Good with Adriaan Peperzak, Emeritus at Loyola University, Chicago
  • 10/10: Philosophy Colloquium: Kant's Racism Talk with Peter Park
  • 11/17: Propaganda Talk with Richie Kim and Alexei Angelides

Spring 2017

  • 3/9: Philosophy Colloquium: "Mexican Philosophy and the Curse of Historicism" with Carlos Sanchez, of San Jose State.
  • 3/10: Philosophy Colloquium: "On Mattering" with Naomi Scheman.
  • 3/27: Pedigree dog breeding? Where to draw the line? Practice versus ethical theory with Dr Bovenkerk, Wageningen University.
  • 3/31: Phil Majors & Humanities Event.
  • 4/5: NEH Presentation.
  • 5/9: Public Reason Confucianism with Sungmoon Kim.

Fall 2016

  • 9/16: Philosophy Colloquium with Jonathan Schaffer 
  • 10/14: Philosophy Colloquium with Shaun Nichols
  • 11/4 - 11/6: ACPA San Francisco
  • 11/9: A Public Talk with Jeff Malpas
  • 11/16: Philosophy Colloquium with Remmon Barbaza.
  • 11/17 - 11/19: Philosophy of the City Conference.
  • 12/18 - 12/30: North American Korean Philosophy Association Conference.

Spring 2016

  • 2/11: Philosophy Colloquium with Chenyang Li.
  • 3/5 - 3/6: BayCAP Colloquium with Katja Vogt
  • 3/11: The Bay Area Philosophy of Science Group
  • 3/28: Public Talk with Heisook Kim
  • 3/29: Philosophy & Economics Conference with Margaret Schabas (Philosophy, UBC), Fonna Forman (Politics, UCSD), Glenn Loury (Economics, Brown).

Fall 2015

  • 8/27: Bay Area Philosophy of Science Event
  • 9/2: Public Talk: "Notorious Thugs." with Luvell Anderson.
  • 9/16: Davies Forum: with James Tracy
  • 10/14: Davies Forum: Beyond the Vessel and the Veil: The Place of Woman/Woman as Place with Joan Faber McAlister (Drake U)
  • 10/26: Davies Forum: How Do We Make Places? How Do Places Make Us? A Phenomenological Approach with Bob Mugerauer (Washington U.), Janet Donohoe (University of West Georgia), Irene Klaver (University of North Texas)
  • 11/9: Davies Forum: Retrieving Senses of Place Through Zen Buddhism and Hermeneutics with Jason Wirth (Seattle U) and Brian Treanor (LMU)
  • 11/18: Davies Forum: Technological Displacements with David Abram
  • 12/7: Philosophy Colloquium: “Relativism and Ambivalence between Relationship and Autonomy.” with David Wong
    Susan Fox Beischer & George D. Beischer  
  • 12/8: “Empathy, Psychopathy, and Responsibility” with David Shoemaker (Tulane).

Spring 2015

  • February 26-28: Conference, Annual Int’l American Maritain Association 38th Annual International Meeting ‘Maritain Engage: Thomism Faces the Global Challenge’ and Awards banquet.
  • March 6-7: BayCAP Colloquium, James Lennox (University of Pittsburgh) ‘Erotetic Frameworks and Domain-specific Norms: Aristotle on the Design of Inquiry’
  • March 27: BACPA Colloquium, Ales Bello (Lateran University, Rome) and James Hart (Indiana University) ‘The Divine in Husserl’
  • March 24: Colloquium, Yoko Arisaka, (University of Hildesheim) ‘The Existential Self and the Politics of Place’
  • April 15: Presentation, BACPA Class Presentation, Professor Marjolein Oele ‘Virtual Discussion on the Divine in Husserl’, Vincent Barletta (Stanford)
  • April 16-18: Conference, Fleishhacker Lecture Series and Latin American Philosophy Conference, ‘Latin American Philosophy in the United States: Past, Present & Future’, Jorge Gracia, (University at Buffalo)

Fall 2014

  • Sept. 19: Colloquium, Sean Drysdale Walsh (University of Minnesota Duluth), "Virtue, Obligation, and Risk: Aristotle and Mencius on Actualizing Our Full Potential"
  • Sept. 20: Workshop, Thomas Holden (UC Santa Barbara), Saul Traiger (Occidental), Rico Vitz (Azuza Pacific), Angela Coventry (Portland State), Emilio Mazza, (IULM, Milan) "West Coast Hume Scholars Workshop"
  • Sept. 22 Conference, Emilio Mazza (ILUM, Milan) and Drew Cameron (Founder & Director of Combat Paper) "War and Its Effects on Society"
  • Nov. 1 USF Co-Sponsored Workshop, Voula Tsouna (UCSB), Nick Smith (Lewis & Clark), Justin Vlasits (UCB), Samuel Baker (UCLA), "BayCAP Workshop" at UC Davis.

Spring 2013

  • April 12: Fleishacker Lecture, Christine Battersby (University of Warwick), "Of Cyborgs, Robots and The Ethics of Drone Warfare: Revisiting the Human–Machine Interface"
  • April 10: Conference: War and its Effects on Society. With Fr. Fernando Insua (Universidad Javeriana, Bogotá), Rebecca Gordon (USF), Nicolas Rasmussen (University of New South Wales), Drew Cameron (Director of the Combat Paper Project), with Christine Battersby (University of Warwick).
  • April 9: Colloquium by 2013 Fleishacker Chair in Philosophy Christine Battersby, Professor of Philosophy at the University of Warwick, "Struck by the Forgotten: Trauma and the Sublime in Nietzsche and Freud."
  • April 5: Colloquium, Sean Drysdale Walsh (University of Minnesota Duluth), "Human Life, Ethics, and the Political Life: Reflections on Confucius, Aristotle, and Hume"
  • March 6th: Colloquium, Robert Gooding-Williams (Chicago, Politics), "Obama, Du Bois, Autobiography."

Fall 2012

  • November 12: Colloquium, Dalia Nasser (University of Sydney, and Villanova University, also USF '00), "Nature/Culture, Identity/Difference: Romantic Responses to Environmental Questions." Co-sponsored by the Bay Area Continental Philosophy Association.
  • November 7: Colloquium, Franco "Bifo" Berardi, "The Rise of the Cognitariat: Cognitive Labor in Search of a Body." Co-sponsored by Departments of Communication Studies, Media Studies, and Peace & Justice Studies Program.
  • October 25: Colloquium, Christopher Long (Penn State University), "Plato and the Politics of Reading", sponsored by The Bay Area Continental Philosophy Association (BACPA), in conjunction with the University of San Francisco Department of Philosophy

Spring 2012

  • April 19-22: Ancient Philosophy Society, Twelfth Annual Independent Meeting.
  • April 19: Discussion, Paul Wright, MD, "Mother Theresa's Prescription."
  • April 2: Colloquium, Scott Crow, "Black Flags and Windmills: Hope, Anarchy and the Common Ground Collective." A Project of the College's Sustainability Task Force and Diversity Task Force, co-sponsored by the Department of Philosophy.
  • March 30-31: Bay Area Philosophy of Science (BAPS) Workshop on Pragmatism in the Philosophy of Science, organized by David Stump (University of San Francisco) and Alex Klein (CSU Long Beach). Participants include: Francesca Bordogna, Matt Brown, Arthur Fine, Ron Giere, Gary Hatfield, Don Howard, Cheryl Misak, Trevor Pearce, Alan Richardson, Quayshawn Spencer.
  • February 21: Lecture by 2012 Fleishhacker Chair in Philosophy Linda Alcoff, Professor of Philosophy at Hunter College and the CUNY Graduate Center: "Social Identities and the Question of Realism"
  • February 24 & 25: Conference on Racism & Xenophobia, including Cynthia Willett, Mickaella Perina, Lawrence Blum, Kyoo Lee, Alia Al-Saji, and Eduardo Mendieta. Keynote Address, Linda Alcoff: "Occupying Whiteness without Xenophobia"
  • February 15: Screening of Jeffrey van Davis’s documentary, "Martin Heidegger: Only a God Can Save Us," with a Director's Q&A following. Co-sponsored by the Department of History, and the Politics Department.
  • February 9: Bay Area Philosophy of Science (BAPS) meeting, featuring Eric Winsberg (U South Florida) and Marilena Di Bucchianico (SFSU).
  • February 9: Colloquium, Jason Wirth, "Everywhere, Nothing Hidden." Sponsored jointly with the Environmental Studies Program, Jason Wirth (Seattle University) speaks on "Dogen and Nature." Dogen was the 13th-century founder of the Soto school of Zen.
  • January 31: A talk by David Graeber (Department of Anthropology at Goldsmiths, University of London), on his new book "Debt: The First Five Thousand Years." Co-sponsored by Peace & Justice Studies.

Fall 2011

  • November 17: Movie Screening: "An Encounter with Simone Weil," by Julia Haslett, Screening to be followed by Q&A with the director. In collaboration with and made possible by: the Bay Area Continental Philosophy Association (BACPA), Fleishacker Fund, Philosophy Department, History Department, European Studies program, the Saint Ignatius Institute, Theology and Religious Studies, the Jewish Studies and Social Justice program, and the Gleeson library.
  • November 7: Colloquium Presentation: Remy Debes (University of Memphis), "Besting the Rationalism-Empiricism Platitude: A Second Look at 18th Century Moral Theory."
  • October 21: Colloquium Presentation: Professor John O’Callaghan (University of Notre Dame, Jacques Maritain Center), "Aquinas' Platonic Soul? Summa Theologiae Ia.75"
  • September 16-17: 2nd USF Conference on Responsibility, Agency, and Persons. Featured Speakers include Andrei Buckareff, Thomas Nadelhoffer, Jada Strabbing, Neal Tognazzini, Coleen Macnamara. Commentators: Tim O’Connor, Victoria McGeer, Gary Watson, Paul Russell, David Copp. (First CRAP held September 26 & 27, 2007.)

Spring 2011

Fall 2010

  • September 27: Movie Screening: "Being in the World, A Movie," by Tao Ruspoli, Screening followed by Q&A with the director and Professor Mark Wrathall.

Spring 1999

  • Faith & Reason Conference. Sponsored by Fleishhacker Endowment.

Spring 1998

  • Human Cloning Conference. Sponsored by Fleishhacker Endowment.

1980

  • Baby-Making Conference. Sponsored by Fleishhacker Endowment.

1979

  • Euthanasia Conference. Sponsored by Fleishhacker Endowment.