The higher seminar in practical philosophy features presentations of ongoing work by both members of the department and external speakers. Practical philosophy involves a range of subjects such as applied ethics, normative ethics, meta-ethics, political philosophy, philosophy of action, philosophy of the social and behavioral sciences (including the philosophy of economics and social ontology), philosophy of religion, aesthetics, philosophy of law, decision theory, game theory, and the history of these subjects.

Talks are typically held on a Thursday at 13.15 in room D700, and the seminar is open to all interested parties. Informal events before and after the talk provide speakers the opportunity to engage with researchers within the department. For more information about the higher seminar please contact:

Gunnar Björnsson <gbjorn@su.se>

Isaac Taylor <isaac.taylor@philosophy.su.se>

The higher seminar in the philosophy of science welcomes internal and external researchers working on the philosophy of specific sciences, and the philosophy of science in general.

Talks are typically held monthly on a Thursday at 13.15 in room D700, and the seminar is open to all interested parties. Informal events before and after the talk provide speakers the opportunity to engage with researchers within the department. For more information about the higher seminar please contact:

Richard Dawid <richard.dawid@philosophy.su.se>

James Nguyen <james.nguyen@philosophy.su.se>

Stockholm History of Philosophy Workshop is a research seminar with a wide scope, both historically, geographically and thematically. Recent contributions range from the history of logic to shame in ancient tragedies, from Neoplatonic analysis of emotions to early modern mathematically influenced history of science. We also conceive the history of philosophy in a broad sense in the spirit of avoiding gaps. Without shunning standard themes, we invite contributions that challenge the canonical readings of who and what is important in the largely male Western European philosophical tradition.

The CLLAM seminar, hosted by the Centre for Logic, Language, and Mind, features research presentations on logic, philosophy of language, philosophy of mind, and related areas and provides a venue for discussing cutting edge research in these areas. The seminar has been running for more than 30 years, featuring a host of speakers both from our department and from all over the world.

The CLLAM seminar runs on Fridays at 10:00am (Room TBA) and roughly once per month each semester. Anyone interested in these areas of research is invited to join. For more information about the CLLAM seminar and the schedule, please contact:

Anders Schoubye (anders.schoubye@philosophy.su.se)
Kathrin Glüer-Pagin (kathrin.gluer@philosophy.su.se)

CLLAM

The department organises a colloquium jointly with practical and theoretical philosophy for researchers and students. The speakers are internationellt renowned researchers from all corners of the world. Each colloquium is  followed by an informal reception at the department. All welcome!

Colloquia 2002–2022

2002-2003
Frank Jackson, Australian National University, Narrow Content and Representationalism 29.11.2002

Jason Stanley, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, The Case for Contextualism in Epistemology 13.2.2003

Jennifer Saul, University of Sheffield, Pornography, Speech acts, and Context, 27.2.2003

Ian Proops, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, The Concept of Substance in Wittgenstein's Tractatus 8.5.2003

James Conant, University of Chicago, Varieties of Scepticism 22.5.2003

2003-2004
Stathis Psillos, University of Athens, Scientific Realism and the Base-Rate Fallacy 12.9.2003

Simon Blackburn, University of Cambridge, Fictionalism 16.10.2003

John Perry, Stanford University, Return of the Zombies 20.11.2003

Emma Borg, University of Reading, The role of mind-reading in understanding language 27.11.2003

Ted Sider, Rutgers University, Vague, so untrue 16.12.2003

Darragh Byrne, University of Birmingham, The Contents of Phenomenal Concepts 5.2.2004

Jocelyn Benoist, Varieties of Semantic Objectivism: objects, propositions, states of affairs 19.2.2004

Martina Reuter, Helsinki University, Appearance, truth and limitations: Merleau-Ponty on the history of philosophy 4.3.2004

Margaret Gilbert, University of Connecticut, Shared Values, Social Unity, and Liberty 18.3.2004

Jennifer Hornsby, University of London, Birkbeck, Linguistic action and the knowledge of speakers 1.4.2004

Bob Myers, York University, Practical reason and desire 13.4.2004

Pascal Engel, Sorbonne, How belief aims at truth 22.4.2004

Susan Hurley, University of Warwick, Rational agency, cooperation, and mindreading
13.5.2004

Paisley Livingston, Lignan, Hong Kong, What is a Text? 18.5.2004

James Ladyman, University of Bristol, Common Sense, Induction and Constructive
Empiricism 16.9.2004

Brian McGuinness, Oxford University, Wittgenstein: Philosophy or Literature? 1.10.2004

Nicos Stavropoulos, Oxford University, Principles, Laws and Hypothesis 7.10.2004

Fred Feldman, University of Massachusetts, Moore's open question argument 30.11.2004

Jesse Prinz, University of North Carolina, The Perceptual Basis of Concepts 16.12.2004

Joseph Raz, University of Oxford, The Myth of Instrumental Rationality, 31.3.2005

David Pears, University of Oxford, The Development of Wittgenstein’s Ideas about the

Pronoun ’I’, 2.05.2005

Ned Block, New York University, The Epistemological Problem of the Philosophy of the Neuroscience of Consciousness, 10.5.2005

François Recanati, Institut Jean-Nicod, Situation-Relativity, 20.5.2005

2005-2006                                                                                                                                 

Andrew Williams, University of Reading, Living as Equals: Right or Responsibility, 20.10.2005

Johan van Benthem, University of Amsterdam & Stanford University, Epistemic Logic and Epistemology: the state of their affairs, 27.10.2005

Sara Heinämaa, University of Helsinki, Naturalistic, personalistic, and phenomenological: three attitudes towards the body, 17.11.2005

Camilla Serck-Hanssen, Oslo University, Kant on Succession, 24.11.2005

Alan Weir, Queen's University, Belfast, Radical Interpretations of Quine?, 26.01.2005

Roger Crisp, University of Oxford, Hedonism Reconsidered, 16.03.2006

Michael McKinsey, Wayne State University, Externalism and Privileged Access are Inconsistent, 30.03.2006

Michael Devitt, CUNY, The Graduate Center, Resurrecting Biological Essentialism, 11.04.2006

Tim Lewens, University of Cambridge, Darwinism, Mayr, and Population Thinking, 8.05.2006.

Paul Boghossian, New York University, What is Relativism?, 30.05.2006.
2006-2007

Bill Brewer, University of Warwick, Perception and its Objects, 05.10.2006

Genoveva Marti, University of Barcelona, The Directness of Reference and Thought, 18.10.2006

Patrick Greenough, University of St Andrews, How to be a Reliabilist, 07.12.2006

Denis McManus, University of Southampton, The Unity of Language and the Generality of Logic in the Early Work of Wittgenstein, 8.2.2007.

Ralph Wedgwood, Oxford University, The Normativity of the Intentional, 22.3.2007.

Katalin Farkas, Central European University, Budapest, Knowledge and Discrimination, 12.4.2007.

Michael Bishop, Northern Illinois University, The Virtues of Epistemological
Minimalism, 17.4.2007.

Panos Dimas, Oslo University, Teachers of Virtue, 24.5.2007.

Barry Smith, Birkbeck College, Relativism, Meaning and Truth, 7.6.2007.

2007-2008                                                                                                                                     

Hillel Steiner, Manchester University, A Famous Conflict, 13.9.2007.

Pekka Väyrynen, University of California, Explaining Exceptions in Ethics, 27.9.2007.

Stefano Predelli (University of Nottingham) & Isidora Stojanovic (Institut Jean-Nicod), Relativizing Kaplan: The Metasemantic Case for Relativist Semantics, 11.10.2007.

Michael Zimmerman (University of North Carolina), Partiality and Intrinsic Value, 11.12.2007.

Christel Fricke, Oslo University, How to learn to be a moral person. On Adam Smith’s Moral Theory, 21.2.207.

Samir Okasha, University of Bristol, Where Evolution and Rational Choice Part Ways, 6.3.2007.

Stephen Finlay, University of Southern California, What 'Ought' Probably Means, 27.03.2008.

Jussi Haukioja, University of Turku, Intuitions, Experiments and Externalism 17.04.2008

Helen Steward, University of Leeds, Fresh Starts, 15.05.2008.

Ben Bradley, University of Syracuse, A Defense of Hedonism, 29.05.2008.

2008-2009                                                                                                                                                    Edouard Machery, University of Pittsburgh, Two Conceptions of Subjective Experience, 23.09.2008.

Susanna Siegel, Harvard University, Cognitive Penetrability and Perceptual Justification, 25.09.2008.

Thomas Nagel, New York University, Secular Philosophy and the Religious Temperament, 23.10.2008.

Christopher Gauker, University of Cincinnati, Perception as the Representation of Perceptual Similarity, 30.10.2008.

Matti Eklund, Cornell University, Language Pluralism in Metaontology and Metaethics, 06.11.2008.

Krister Bykvist, Oxford University, Objective versus Subjective Moral Oughts, 04.12.2008.

Pauliina Remes, Uppsala University, Censorship in Plato's Republic, 18.12.2008.

Asbjörn Steglich-Petersen, Århus University, How to be a Teleologist about Epistemic Reasons, 20090212

Tim Crane, UCL, A Paradox of Thought, 20090219

Manuel Garcia-Carpintero, University of Barcelona, Pretending to Refer, 20090312

Albert Casullo, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Knowledge of Modality, 20090319

Katherine Hawley, University of St Andrews, Testimony and Knowing How, 20090326

Tom Hurka, University of Toronto, Underivative Duty: Prichard on Moral Obligation, 20090421

Helen Beebee, University of Birmingham, Agent Probabilities and Free Will, 20090507

Christopher Peacocke, Columbia University, Subjects and Consciousness, 20090514

Mike Otsuka, University College London, Personal Identity and the Significance of Becoming, 20090526

2009-2010
Hallvard Lillehammer, Cambridge University, Methods of Ethica and the Descent of Man, 20090903

Katerina Ierodiakonou, Athens & LSE,The Notion of Enargeia in Hellnistic Philosophy, 20090924

Tim Kenyon, University of Waterloo, Default Acceptance of Testimony, 20091001

Thomas Cristiano, University of Arizona, Arguments for a Human Right to Democracy, 20091013

Paula Casal, University of Barcelona and University of Reading, Apethics: Moral Reflections on the Great Apes, 20091105

Mark Schroeder, University of Southern California, Two Roles for Propositions: Cause for Divorce? 20091113

Diana Raffman, University of Toronto, Tolerance and the Competent Use of Vague Words, 20091119

Stewart Cohen, University of Arizona, Bootstrapping and Defeasible Reasoning, 20091217

Nick Zangwill, Durham, Metaphor Inexpressibility, and the Ways of Value: Beyond Thickiphobia. 20100218

Terry Horgan, Arizona, Untying a Knot from the Inside Out: Reflections on the 'Paradox' of Supererogation. 20100318

John Broome, Oxford, The Ethics of Climate Change and the Risk of Catastrophe. 20100325

Lydia Goehr, Columbia, Ekphrasis: Saying, Showing, and Singing in the Contest of the Arts. 20100415

David Enoch, Hebrew University, Not Just a Truthometer: Taking Oneself Seriously (but not Too Seriously) in Cases of Peer Disagreement. 20100429

Mohan Matthen, Toronto, Sensory Knowledge. 20100520

Douglas Patterson, Kansas, Truth as Conceptually Primitive. 20100526

Fall 2010                                                                                          Steven Nadler, Wisconsin, Maimonides on Providence and Moral Luck. 20100930

David Papineu, King's College, Can We Really See a Million Colours? 20101007

Christine Tappolet, Université de Montréal, The Normativity of Evaluative Concepts. 20101021

Corinne Besson, Oxford, Logical Knowledge and Ordinary Reasoning. 20101111

Melinda Roberts, College of New Jersey, Early Abortion and the Moral Significance of

Merely Possible Persons. 20101202

Nils Holtug, Copenhagen, Metaphysics and Justice. 20101216

Spring 2011                                                                                                                               

Graham Oddie, Colorado, In defense of desires as value data. 20110203

Michelle Montague, Bristol, Conscious occurrent thought. 20110217

Jennifer Nagel, Toronto, The Intuitive Appeal of the KK Principle. 20110224

Jessica Brown, St. Andrews, Words, Concepts and Epistemology. 20110324

David Hunter, Ryerson, Belief Revision and the First Person Perspective. 20110407

Fiona McPherson, Glasgow, Cognitive Penetration of Colour Experience. 20110512

Pierre Jacob, Jean Nicod, A Puzzle about Belief-ascription. 20110519

Fall 2011
Cynthia MacDonald, Queens University, Belfast, Primitivism about secondary qualities. 20111013

Tyler Burge, UCLA, Psychological Content and Ego-Centric Indexes. 20111031

Denis Walsh, University of Toronto, Adaptation and the 'Affordance Landscape'. 20111124

Geoffrey Brennan, ANU and Univ. of Northern California, Voting and Causal Responsibility. 20111201

Bart Streumer, University of Reading, Can We Believe in Error Theory? 20111215

Spring 2012
Robert Hopkins, Sheffield, Imagining the Past: On the Nature of Episodic Memory. 19.01.2012

David Charles, Oxford, Actions and Processes. 01.03.2012

David Davies, McGill, When art is not 'for art's sake'. 29.03.2012

Alison Hills, Oxford, Are Moral Philosophers Moral Experts? 12.04.2012

Thad Metz, Johannesburg, The Meaningful and the Worthwhile: Clarifying the Relationships. 26.04.2012

David Sobel, Nebraska, Self-Ownership and the Conflation Problem. 24.05.2012

Autumn 2012
Bas van der Vossen. UNC Greensboro. Imposing Duties and Original Appropriation. 04.09.2012

James Hamilton. Kansas State University. Did Hamlet really just kill Polonius? 02.10.2012

Lucy Allais. Sussex & Witwaterstand. Freedom and Forgiveness. 18.10.2012

Wayne Sumner. Toronto. Incitement and the Regulation of Hate Speech. 08.11.2012

Guy Longworth. Warwick. Sharing Thoughts about Oneself. 29.11.2012

Rafael De Clerq. Lingnan. Is there a problem with the causal criterion of event identity? 20.12.2012

Spring 2013
Katja Vogt (Columbia) Title: "The Subject Matter of Ethics: A Metaphysical Reading of NE I.3". 23 May 2013.

Robert Stainton (UWO) Title: "What Individuates Assertion?" 16 May 2013

Sergio Tenenbaum (Toronto) Topic: "Reconsidering Intention". 25 April 2013.

Michael Strevens (NYU) Topic: "Counterfactual Support: Why Care?" (NB: Monday) 8 April 2013.

Simon Kirchin "Concepts, Conceptions and the Epistemology of Disagreement". 28 April

Thomas Schmidt "Moral Equivalences". 14 February

Autumn 2013
David Henderson (Nebraska): “Explaining by Reference to Norms Is Only Natural (or Should Be)”, 5 September 2013

Martin Davies (Oxford), 26 September 2013

Karen Nielsen (Oxford): “Drowning in Ignorance? The Epistemic Argument for

Deliberation Incompatibilism", 10 October

Helen Frowe (Stockholm), 14 November 2013

Greg Currie (Nottingham), 5 December 2013

Spring 2014
Hilary Greaves (Oxford): “Antiprioritarianism”, 13 March 2014

Ralf Bader (Oxford): “The Asymmetry”, 27 March 2014

Michael Blome-Tillman (McGill): “Solving the Moorean Puzzle”, 24 April 2014

Ian Proops (Austin, Texas): “Might I be Many? Kant on the Second Paralogism”, 22 May 2014

Hartry Field (NYU): “Truth, Vagueness and Restricted Quantification”, 28 May 2014
Fall 2014 Øyvind Rabbås (UiO): “Virtue, right action, and respect in Aristotle”, 11 September 2014

Francois Recanati (Jean Nicod, Paris): “Slurs as indexicals”, 25 September 2014

Christian List (LSE): “From Degrees of Belief to Beliefs: Lessons from Judgment-Aggregation Theory”, 9 October 2014

Rosanna Keefe (Sheffield): “Validity, normativity and degrees of belief”, 6 November 2014

Spring 2015
Len Lawlor (PSU): “A Bird as Rare upon the Earth as a Black Swan”, 27 February 2015

Elisabeth Schellekens Dammann (Uppsala): “On Sensible and Intelligible Beauty”, 19 March 2015

Sally Haslanger (MIT): “Norms, Generics, and Social Kinds”, 16 April 2015

Peter Railton (UMich): “Toward reunion in meta-ethics?”, 28 May 2015

David Chalmers (NYU/ANU): “Spatial Illusions: From Mirrors to Virtual Reality”, 8 June 2015

Autumn 2015
Noa Latham (Calgary): “The Direction and Passage of Time and Price’s Open Question Argument”, 3 September 2015

Ofra Magidor (Oxford) “The Direction and Passage of Time and Price’s Open Question Argument”, 15 October 2015

Dorit Bar-On (Connecticut): “Expression and Meaning: Acts, Products, and ‘Normative Language,” 22 October 2015

Jules Holroyd (Nottingham): “Can we control implicit biases? An account of ecological control,” 19 November 2015

Anna-Sofia Maurin (Gothenburg): “Metaphysical Explanation,” 3 December 2015

Spring 2016
Richard Dawid (Stockholm): “Non-Empirical Confirmation,” 28 January 2016

Paul Egré (Institut Jean-Nicod / SCAS): “A closer look at borderline contradictions, gaps and gluts,” 11 February

Ori Simchen (British Columbia): “Semantic Determinacy (or: How to Talk About Cats),” 17 March 2016

Mike Otsuka (London School of Economics): “How it Makes a Moral Difference that One is Worse Off than One Could Have Been,” 14 April 2016

Sarah Stroud (McGill University): “Self-Control in Action and Belief,” 28 April 2016

Henry Jackman (Toronto): “Truth, Normativity and Interpretational Theories of Meaning,” 12 May 2016

Anita Avramides (Oxford): “Knowing another’s mind: some problems with a perceptual account,” 26 May 2016

Autumn 2016
Erik Angner (Stockholm): “On the Relationship between Science and Philosophy,” 22 September 2016

Jill Gordon (Colby College): “Black Bodies Matter: A Reading of Ta-Nehisi Coates’s 'Between the World and Me',” 20 October 2016

Jaakko Kuorikoski (Helsinki): “There are no mathematical explanations,” 17 November 2016

Bence Nanay (Antwerp/Cambridge): “Desire infection,” 24 November 2016

Spring 2017
Jennifer Lackey (Northwestern Uiversity): “Imperfect Epistemic Duties and the Duty to Object,” 16 February 2017

Gunnar Björnson (Stockholm): “Disagreement in judgment,” 6 March 2017

Julie Zahle (University of Copenhagen): “Values in Qualitative Data Collection,” 6 April

Robert van Rooij (University of Amsterdam): “Lying with a kernel of truth: Propaganda with generics,” 20 April 2017

Matthew Slater (Bucknell University): “Realism and Non-Factive Understanding,” 18 May 2017

Autumn 2017
Stephan Hartmann (Münich): “Bayesian Argumentation,” 5 October 2017

Pekka Väyrynen (Leeds): “Normative Explanation Unchained,” 19 October 2017

Spring 2018
Stephen Finlay (University of Southern California): “Defining Normativity,” 15 February 2018

Carla Bagnoli (University of Modena): “Claiming responsibility for actions under duress,” 29 March 2018

Daniel Stoljnar (ANU): “Does rationality require you to believe you are conscious?,” 19 April 2018

Laura Valentini (LSE): “Why the Notion of a Moral Claim Right is not Fit for Purpose,” 30 May 2018

Autumn 2018
John Gibson (Louisville): “Metaphor and the Aesthetics of Insight,” 6 September 2018

Bonnie Kent (UCI): “Dignity and Rational Powers,” 12 September 2018

Robert Goodin (ANU): “The Duty to Let Others Do Their Duty,” 20 September 2018

Mohan Matthen (University of Toronto): “Art and Pleasure: Reframing the Question,” 18 October 2018

Henrik Lagerlund (SU): “The Changing Face of Aristotelian Empiricism in the Fourteenth Century,” 15 November 2018

Spring 2019
Graham Oddie (Boulder, Colorado): “Holism, shapelessness and the uncodifiability of value,” 14 February 2019

Michael Morreau (Tromsø): “Democracy without Enlightenment,” 21 March 2019

Roger Crisp (Oxford): “Rescue and Personal Involvement: A Response to Woollard,” 11

April 2019
Anna Becker (Copenhagen): “Politics that matters: Bodies and the material in the history of early modern political thought,” 9 May 2019

Ásta (San Francisco): “Categories we live by,” 5 June 2019

Spring 2020

Autumn 2020
Thomas Schmidt (Humboldt): Moral Obligation, Moral Reasons, and Supererogation 27 February

Katie Steele (ANU)  Evidence, Arbitrariness and Fair Treatment 22 October

Anna Marmodoro (Durham/Oxford) 26 November

Christian Barry (ANU): What does fidelity to justice require? Thursday, 10 December

Spring 2021
Stockholm Philosophy Colloquium: Miira Tuominen: Soul and Body, Mind and Matter in Late Ancient Theories of Perception January 28     

Peter Adamson (Munich): Philosophy without Borders: Intellectual Exchange between India, Europe, Islam, and Africa February 18

Katia Vavova (Mount Holyoke College): Yeah, you would say that, wouldn’t you? May 27

Richard Chappell (Miami): A new paradox of deontology September 2

Hille Paakkunainen (Syracuse): A naturalism about virtue April 29

Autumn 2021
Kit Fine (NYU): Truthmaker Semantics and the Regimentation of Language

Spring 2022
Jessica Isserow (Leeds): What is self-esteem? 3 february 2022

Teresa Marques (Barcelona): Misogyny is the hatred of women 25 november

Beate Krickel (TU Berlin): Where is the mind? – Why this question makes sense only if understood normatively 4 April

Antti Kauppinen (Helsinki): Perfectionism 12 May

Autumn 2022                                            Katie Steele (joint work with Pamela Robinson) (ANU): 29 September                                       

Sebastian Enqvist: Extracting Herbrand disjunctions from cyclic proofs 20 October         

Siska De Baerdemaeker: Cosmology and Empire (Joint work with Mike D. Schneider) 8 December

Spring 2024                                                                                                              Michael Devitt (City University of New York): Reference Borrowing: The Case of Implement Terms 23 Maj

Anders Wedberg (1913–1978) was an influential philosopher at Stockholm University, who steered Swedish philosophy in an analytic direction, not least in his History of Philosophy, which is translated to English too.  To his honour, the department invites reputable philosophers to deliver the Wedberg Lectures.

Wedberg Lectures 2004–2024

2004: John Broome ”Reasoning”

2006: Timothy Williamson ”Understanding and Imagining”

2008: Peter Singer ”Global Poverty: What are our obligations?”

2010: Robert Stalnaker ”Conditional Reasoning”

2013: Richard Joyce ”On Evolution and Morality”

2015: Robin Jeshion ”Slurs, Dehumanization, and the Expression of Contempt”

2017: Amie Thomasson ”Deflating Metaphysics”

2020: John Norton ”The Material Theory of Induction”

2022: Rae Langton ”The Quiet Engine: Speech, Silence and the Power of Accommodation”

2024: Calvin G. Normore (UCLA): ”Persons, Selves, and Souls"

Rolf Schock and his life might be perceived as tragic and unsuccessful. He was on bad terms with his parents and found their demands and expectations oppressive. In some respects, he refused to adjust to social expectations and the pressures imposed on him. He remained different, an odd person and a bohemian. He had numerous interests and studied a great deal; his talent and studies yielded a doctorate, but never the academic career he sought and probably deserved. He died in an accident one December day in 1986, in Berlin, at the age of 53.

But one can also see Rolf Schock’s life as rich and full of love, toil and visions, characterised by curiosity and desire to discover and explore people, ideas, countries and continents. Those who ever came close to him never forgot him. But most of them were astonished to find, when his will was opened, that he had nominated some of them as beneficiaries to the large estate they had no idea he possessed. In death, he influenced their lives once more and, moreover, created a foundation with the task of rewarding people who were more successful than he himself in four areas: philosophy and logic, mathematics, art and music.

The Rolf Shock Prize - Logic and Philosophy is administered by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.

Prizes in Logic and philosophy