It seems counterintuitive, but it can be a wonderful feeling to realize that you’re wrong.Duke philosophy and neuroscience professor Felipe De Brigard didn’t feel great at first when he realized that some claims in the paper that helped establish his career 15 years previous were wrong. But then he had a chance to discuss his errors publicly at a large conference. He was followed in his talk by other scientists, including John O’Keefe, a Nobel Laureate who, like De Brigard, studies the hippocampus in the brain.“John ended… read more about When I Was Wrong: Faculty Lessons From Their Mistakes »
One is a first-generation Indian-American who grew up in Princeton, N.J. The other grew up in the rural United States, rodeo riding. Though Danica Bajaj and Lucas Vaughan come from different upbringings, they have one thing in common: They were selected as the undergraduate and graduate student commencement speakers for the Class of 2025. A Message of HopeBajaj, who will graduate with a computer science major and a philosophy minor, says her message to students this year will center on “finding hope and community… read more about 2025 Student Commencement Speakers: Different Backgrounds, One Special Day »
Faith Chong is a Trinity senior from Singapore majoring in Economics and Philosophy. What advice would you give to a first-year student just starting at Duke?The biggest piece of advice I would give to a first-year is to jump at every opportunity. Duke is limitless, and you can really do virtually anything here. It was the most random things at Duke that turned out to be the most significant. For example, I signed up for a coffee chat just because I wanted to learn more, which sparked a domino effect… read more about A Place in this World: Trinity Senior Finds Her Home at Duke »
Frank Mercer IV is a Trinity senior and Robertson Scholar majoring in Philosophy and minoring in Chemistry. What is one of your fondest memories as an undergraduate student at Duke?One of my fondest Duke memories was a summer spent tracing the footsteps of marginalized women philosophers across Europe, inspired by my work with Project Vox. As a researcher, I visited London’s Chelsea Physic Garden, where Mary Astell once worked, and felt history come alive in the tranquil glasshouse. In Paris,… read more about Philosophy Major Turns Texts Into Something Tangible »
Please join us in congratulating Felipe De Brigard, who has been promoted to full Professor. Felipe is a recognized leader across multiple fields for his work on memory, remembering, and counterfactual thinking, and his current project on memory and forgiveness is of powerful social importance. He is a dedicated teacher, and a reliable and hard-working colleague. Plus, he’s lots of fun to have around in the department. Katherine Brading and Caleb… read more about Departmental Newsletter: February - March 2025 »
Katherine Brading, D.Phil., is the chair of the Duke Department of Philosophy, in which she is also a professor. Brading received her B.Sc. from King’s College London in 1992, her B.Phil. from the University of Oxford in 1996, and her D.Phil. from the University of Oxford in 2003.Following her D.Phil., Brading moved to the University of Notre Dame (2004-2017), where she received fellowships from the National Science Foundation and the American Council of Learned Societies, and served as Director of the History and… read more about Philosophy's Katherine Brading Receives Dean’s Award for Excellence in Mentoring »
“Transformative ideas,” explained keynote speaker Roosevelt Montás, “are ideas that have the power to transform the world and transform you.”Hundreds of Duke students and faculty were listening and engaging. The first evening of the Transformative Ideas and POLIS Symposium kicked off in style last Thursday evening with a “Spring in the 20s” ball. Think suits, long dresses and live jazz.“We wanted to inspire our students and bring people together to reflect back and think forward at Duke’s centennial. Live jazz seemed to… read more about Transformative Ideas and Polis Programs Bring Serious Fun »
Until recently, a philosophy doctoral student looking for a dissertation subject would likely choose from an impressive but limited group of historical thinkers. Kant. Descartes. Voltaire. All men. All white.A decade ago, a humanities project at Duke set out to elevate many of the lesser-known women of the field. Called Project Vox, it was a multidisciplinary attempt to discover and spotlight many female philosophers whose impact on the field was either buried over time or never properly recognized at all.It worked.For 10… read more about Lost and Found: Bringing History’s Female Philosophers to the Forefront »
Jennifer Jhun won the 2024 Ernest Nagel Early-Career Scholar Essay Award from the Philosophy of Science Association for her paper "Multi-Model Reasoning in Economics: The Case of COMPASS." She and her co-hosts (Scott Scheall, François Allisson, and Çınla Akdere) also received an Honorable Mention in the PSA Outreach and Engagement Award category for their podcast "Smith and Marx Walk Into a Bar." Last but not least, Jennifer has been awarded a National Endowment for the Humanities… read more about Departmental Newsletter: January 2025 »
Last year, Maya Kronfeld had the satisfaction of seeing Nicole Zuraitis’ How Love Begins, on which she played keyboards, win a GRAMMY Award for Best Vocal Jazz Album.Fast forward to Sunday night and the 2025 GRAMMY Awards. Once again, an album featuring Kronfeld as keyboardist – Taylor Eigsti’s Plot Armor – won for Best Contemporary Instrumental Album. The recording also features jazz icons Terence Blanchard, Lisa Fischer and many others. Participating in two GRAMMY-winning albums in as many years is… read more about Literature Professor Has the Grammy Magic for Second Year in a Row »
Welcome, Amber!The Philosophy Department’s new Business Manager, Amber Murphy, started with us on Monday, November 18th. Amber has administrative experience in several humanities departments elsewhere, most recently as a departmental Business Manager at George Washington University. Her degree is in Public Relations and her experience includes budgeting and financial management (including working with grants), data analysis, and event planning. Please join us in welcoming Amber to Duke and to our department!Maya Kronfeld is… read more about Departmental Newsletter: December 2024 »
Tayfun Gur Who is/are your favorite philosopher(s)? Why?This question reminds me of that Baruch poll on the greatest philosophy texts of the 20th century, where the authors muse that asking philosophers about their favourite books might be like asking mathematicians to name their favourite integers. I suspect something similar can be true for favourite philosophers, but for what it’s worth I might name (in no particular order) Bernard Williams, Wittgenstein,… read more about Research Highlight »
The Department of Philosophy held a conference on October 3-5, 2024, to celebrate its one-hundredth anniversary. We were incredibly pleased to welcome back many familiar faces from over the years: alumni, friends, and family came to Durham from all over the country to join the festivities. The conference began on Thursday with a tour of our history. This fall, Wenjin Liu and Wayne Norman have been exploring the department’s century-old family tree. They were glad to report that nothing… read more about Departmental Newsletter: September-October 2024 »
The Department of Philosophy held a conference on October 3-5, 2024, to celebrate its one-hundredth anniversary. We were incredibly pleased to welcome back many familiar faces from over the years: alumni, friends, and family came to Durham from all over the country to join the festivities. The conference began on Thursday with a tour of our history. This fall, Wenjin Liu and Wayne Norman have been exploring the department’s century-old family tree. They were glad to report that nothing… read more about Centennial Philosophy Conference Report »
Ben Eva has been chosen to give one of four Langford Lectures this year. The Langford Lecture series is an annual lecture/luncheon series featuring four or five recently promoted or hired faculty. The awardees are selected based on the appeal of their research to an interdisciplinary faculty audience, as well as their embodiment of Langford’s dedication to teaching, research, and service. The series is designed to provide Duke’s faculty with an opportunity to hear about the ongoing scholarly activities of their recently… read more about Benjamin Eva Receives Thomas Langford Lectureship Award »
Recent books by our faculty showcase the richly interdisciplinary work of our department. Here are some examples: The Enlightenment's Most Dangerous Woman: Émilie du Châtelet and the Making of Modern PhilosophyAndrew Janiak Suppressed for centuries, the ideas of French philosopher Émilie Du Châtelet's are ever relevant today...Just as the Enlightenment was gaining momentum throughout Europe, philosopher Émilie Du Châtelet broke through the many barriers facing women at the time and published a major… read more about From the Enlightenment’s most dangerous woman to the morality of AI . . . »
In an election year, candidates, campaigns, political researchers and news organizations are all trying to figure out which groups of people are going to vote which way — and why.Young voters. Black people. Women. The working class. Groups of people, identified as categories, defined by qualifiers like age, race, gender or class.But how are social categories formed? What is the meaning of a social group? How do we make sense of our social world and interactions?These are the questions asked by… read more about Meet the Two Philosophers Creating a Global Center for Social Ontology at Duke »
Welcome back, Duke Philosophers (as well as our families, friends, and unaffiliated but loyal readers)! The wait is over. The long, dark night of radio silence has come to an end. A new day dawns on our department, and with it, a deluge of updates on our summer goings and doings. Please enjoy our first issue of the 2024-2025 academic year but remember to pace yourself... there won't be another issue for a month.A hearty welcome to our newest cohort of graduate students: Julia Banks received a BS in… read more about Departmental Newsletter: June-August 2024 »
On May 3rd and 4th, the Duke Philosophy Department hosted "Brandonfest: A Conference in Honor of Robert Brandon's Career." We brought back students from Robert's nearly 50-year career at Duke University to honor him, his work, and wish him a happy retirement. The speakers -- all of whom are either collaborators, students, or grand-students of Robert's -- included Caleb Hazelwood (Duke), Alex Rosenberg (Duke), Dan McShea (Duke), Brent Mishler (UC Berkeley), Sarah Sculco (Michigan), Fred Bouchard (Montreal), Chris Haufe (Case… read more about Departmental Newsletter: April - May 2024 »
Walter Sinnott-Armstrong had a great spring break in England! Laura Soter and Shanna Slank joined him for a workshop in London on comity at the beginning. Then Arielle Rothenberg and Ithika Senthilnathan (Duke undergrads) joined him for a workshop in Oxford on patient preference predictors at the end. Highlights included a trip to Darwin's house and talks with two Duke alumni groups. Ben Sarbey presented this month on “The Vulnerable Populations… read more about Departmental Newsletter: March 2024 »
A proposal by Ben Eva and Reuben Stern has been selected for funding through the Faculty Advancement Seed Grant Program in the Office for Faculty Advancement. The grant will provide support for the Duke Causation Group (DCG) – an interdisciplinary research group that meets regularly to discuss topics relating to causation and causal inference from a variety of perspectives. The group was started in fall 2022, and since then it’s helped to bring together local researchers from across the university with interests in… read more about Duke Causation Group »
Benjamin Eva, Shanna Slank, and Reuben Stern teamed up with Rush Stewart of KCL to publish their paper, "An Impossibility Theorem for Base Rate Tracking and Equalised Odds," in Analysis. Reuben also published his paper, "The Chances of Choices," in The British Journal for the Philosophy of Science. Yuan gave a presentation, "When Player Authorship Trumps Prescribed Agency" at the AFK in FAU (The Second Annual Philosophy of Video Games… read more about Departmental Newsletter: February 2024 »