Mount Allison Philosophy Department

Congratulations to all the winners, but especially to our own Dr. Dryden!

Five Mount Allison professors have been honoured with the 2024 Paul Paré Excellence Awards!

Congratulations to:
▸ Dr. Jane Dryden, philosophy
▸ Dr. Anne Koval, fine arts
▸ Dr. Josh Kurek, geography and environment
▸ Dr. Matt Litvak, biology
▸ Dr. Vett Lloyd, biology

“This year’s recipients embody academic leadership, fostering both scholarly and personal growth within our University community.”

Full story: https://mta.ca/about/news/mount-allisons-2024-paul-pare-excellence-award-winners-announced-thu-05022024-1037

The Paul Paré Excellence Awards commend notable contributions to research, scholarship, and creative activities that have made a significant impact within the last three years.

We tend to agree!

"Dr Beiweis is an icon"

"Shoutout to Dr Beiweis. She’s a great prof!"

A reminder that Dr. Briel is speaking tonight at 8pm Atlantic. Email [email protected] before 4:30pm to get the Zoom link. This will be our last public class lecture of the year!

Next week we'll have our last virtual class lecture for this year! Dr. Beiweis has invited Dr. Holger Briel (Hong Kong Baptist-Beijing Normal University) to her Intro Aesthetics class and you're welcome to join on Zoom. Dr. Briel will be giving a lecture titled “Food P**n Inc. – The Visualization of Taste" on Tuesday, March 26th at 8:00 pm Atlantic. Email [email protected] if you'd like the link. Thank you to the Frank McKenna School of PPE for sponsoring our class speakers all year.

Last Phoenix of the year is this afternoon! Presented by Lacey Decker Hawthorne.

Please join us this Friday for our last Phoenix colloquium of the academic year! The talk will be given by Lacey Decker Hawthorne (Mount Allison University) on Friday, Mar 22nd @ 3:30pm, and is titled "The Faraway Nearby: Attending to the Aesthetic in the Commonplace and Everyday." This talk will be hybrid and will take place in Hart Hall 218 and on MS Teams. Email [email protected] for the link. An abstract is below in the comments.

Next week we'll have our last virtual class lecture for this year! Dr. Beiweis has invited Dr. Holger Briel (Hong Kong Baptist-Beijing Normal University) to her Intro Aesthetics class and you're welcome to join on Zoom. Dr. Briel will be giving a lecture titled “Food P**n Inc. – The Visualization of Taste" on Tuesday, March 26th at 8:00 pm Atlantic. Email [email protected] if you'd like the link. Thank you to the Frank McKenna School of PPE for sponsoring our class speakers all year.

A reminder to students! The deadline is this Friday. Get your proposals in!

Call for Student Proposals

The Nelson-Littlejohns Award is intended for a student or students enrolled in second or third year of studies within the departments of Philosophy or Religious Studies at Mount Allison University.

The Award will be used to support experiential learning and used to pay for activities such as travel costs to deliver a conference paper or take part in a workshop or other initiatives.

To apply please submit a one-page proposal describing your project idea, including your name and year-of-standing (and the same for any co-applicants), and a short, projected budget. Applications may be submitted to Angela Thibodeau, [email protected] .

Deadline Friday, March 22nd, 2024.

Please join us this Friday for our last Phoenix colloquium of the academic year! The talk will be given by Lacey Decker Hawthorne (Mount Allison University) on Friday, Mar 22nd @ 3:30pm, and is titled "The Faraway Nearby: Attending to the Aesthetic in the Commonplace and Everyday." This talk will be hybrid and will take place in Hart Hall 218 and on MS Teams. Email [email protected] for the link. An abstract is below in the comments.

A reminder that our own Susanne Beiweis is presenting to Phoenix this afternoon!

Please join us this Friday for our next Phoenix colloquium! The talk will be given by our own Susanne Beiweis (Mount Allison University, Philosophy) on Friday, Mar 8th @ 3:30pm, and is titled "We Suck Young Blood: Aged Scholars, Screech-Owls and Sagae in Ficino’s De Vita Longa". This talk will be hybrid and will take place in Hart Hall 218 and on MS Teams. Email [email protected] for the link. An abstract is below in the comments.

Please join us this Friday for our next Phoenix colloquium! The talk will be given by our own Susanne Beiweis (Mount Allison University, Philosophy) on Friday, Mar 8th @ 3:30pm, and is titled "We Suck Young Blood: Aged Scholars, Screech-Owls and Sagae in Ficino’s De Vita Longa". This talk will be hybrid and will take place in Hart Hall 218 and on MS Teams. Email [email protected] for the link. An abstract is below in the comments.

Weekly movies from Latin America!

Big congratulations to Drew and Dani Inkpen on the birth of their baby girl Avi on Sunday evening!

Call for Student Proposals

The Nelson-Littlejohns Award is intended for a student or students enrolled in second or third year of studies within the departments of Philosophy or Religious Studies at Mount Allison University.

The Award will be used to support experiential learning and used to pay for activities such as travel costs to deliver a conference paper or take part in a workshop or other initiatives.

To apply please submit a one-page proposal describing your project idea, including your name and year-of-standing (and the same for any co-applicants), and a short, projected budget. Applications may be submitted to Angela Thibodeau, [email protected] .

Deadline Friday, March 22nd, 2024.

Join us this afternoon for a Phoenix talk with Michael Doan, a MtA Philosophy alum!

Please join us this week for our second Phoenix talk of the new year! The talk will be given by Michael Doan (Oakland University, Philosophy) on Friday, Feb 9th @ 3:30pm AST, and is titled "Recovering Dialectical Humanism". This talk will take place ON MS TEAMS ONLY. Title and abstract below. Contact [email protected] for the link.

Please join us this week for our second Phoenix talk of the new year! The talk will be given by Michael Doan (Oakland University, Philosophy) on Friday, Feb 9th @ 3:30pm AST, and is titled "Recovering Dialectical Humanism". This talk will take place ON MS TEAMS ONLY. Title and abstract below. Contact [email protected] for the link.

Public Talk on Conflict in Ukraine
Friday, February 9th, 10:30-12:00am
AVDX 230

As we approach the second anniversary of Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, the war has taken many twists and turns. Narratives have become tangled, information difficult to decipher, and the collective eyes of the world have been drawn elsewhere.

Dr. Thomas Hughes, Post-Doctoral Fellow at the McKenna School of Philosophy, Politics, and Economics, will be giving a presentation to help bring some clarity to the discussion. The presentation will explore the course of the conflict, the key drivers of activities and turning points of the last two years, and provide an overview of the current situation on the ground in Ukraine and in the corridors of political power in Europe and North America.

Shad Canada is hiring Program Assistants, Facilitators, Coordinators and Leads to help us deliver our STEAM & entrepreneurship program hosted at 21 universities across Canada, including a virtual campus.

Three of these positions are digital roles and the other is a live-in opportunity. All roles are for the month of July with some pre-commitments that vary based on the role.

Visit Shad Canada to learn more.

This upcoming lecture is presented by our colleagues in Modern Languages and Literatures.

Another fascinating virtual public lecture this afternoon!

Insect farming, green protein, and the promise of AI

Another addition to our roster of intriguing guest speakers this term!

A virtual public lecture with Lee Bess PhD, Chief Insect Officer, Bug Mars, Havelock, Ontario
Tues., January 30, on MS Teams, 2:30-3:50pm AST
Contact [email protected] for more info.

Abstract:
Touted as a green solution to an ever-increasing global demand for protein, industrial scale insect agriculture has received substantial financial investment and public attention in the past decade. It is not clear, however, that current industrialized insect farming practices live up to the hype. I'll discuss the current state of insect farming, the food justice implications of the "insect apocalypse," and how AI holds promise for deepening our understanding and refining our ethics around the treatment of insect livestock.

With funding from the Frank McKenna School of PPE

A reminder that Dr. Stinson's lecture is today at 4:30pm! Join us in the Crabtree Auditorium or on MS Teams.

What is ChatGPT Made of?
The news is full of stories about AI tools that can write essays, screenplays and songs, pass the bar exam, and win prizes for painting and photography. How do these tools work? What are the risks to using them? And should we believe claims that AI is soon going to be smarter than humans?

Public Lecture with Dr. Catherine Stinson
Monday, January 29, 2024
4:30pm
Crabtree Auditorium
Lecture will also be available via MS Teams livestream. Registration link in the comments.

Dr. Catherine Stinson is the Queen's National Scholar in Philosophical Implications of Artificial Intelligence and an Assistant Professor in the Philosophy Department and School of Computing at Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario.

A reminder this virtual class lecture with Dr. Procyshyn, where the public is also invited, is happening tomorrow afternoon.

On Tuesday, January 23rd, Dr. Beiweis will welcome Dr. Alexei Procyshyn to her aesthetics class and you're invited to join the lecture on MS Teams!

"Beauty and Form in Kant" with Dr. Alexei Procyshyn, Lecturer, Queen's University Belfast.
Tuesday, Jan 23, 1:00-2:20 pm AST.
Email [email protected] for the MS Teams link.

With funding from the Frank McKenna School of PPE.

Insect farming, green protein, and the promise of AI

Another addition to our roster of intriguing guest speakers this term!

A virtual public lecture with Lee Bess PhD, Chief Insect Officer, Bug Mars, Havelock, Ontario
Tues., January 30, on MS Teams, 2:30-3:50pm AST
Contact [email protected] for more info.

Abstract:
Touted as a green solution to an ever-increasing global demand for protein, industrial scale insect agriculture has received substantial financial investment and public attention in the past decade. It is not clear, however, that current industrialized insect farming practices live up to the hype. I'll discuss the current state of insect farming, the food justice implications of the "insect apocalypse," and how AI holds promise for deepening our understanding and refining our ethics around the treatment of insect livestock.

With funding from the Frank McKenna School of PPE

As you start to approach the end of your undergraduate journey, thinking about what to do next can be tricky! Coming from Politics, Philosophy, and Economics, the world is your oyster… but that leaves you with a lot of choice.

Attention current students:

Dr. Hughes is hosting an event on Friday 26th January at 10.30am in Avard Dixon 111 to help you think about the next steps in your career. The event will feature four speakers with a broad array of career backgrounds, a number of whom are Alumni of Mt. Allison and know what it’s like to be in your shoes.

Each speaker will be talking about their workplace and how you can position yourself and show off your skills to prospective employers. There will be lots of time for questions, so you can help to tailor the event to your needs.

If you have any questions about the event, please contact Dr. Thomas Hughes ([email protected]).

Look forward to seeing you there.

On Tuesday, January 23rd, Dr. Beiweis will welcome Dr. Alexei Procyshyn to her aesthetics class and you're invited to join the lecture on MS Teams!

"Beauty and Form in Kant" with Dr. Alexei Procyshyn, Lecturer, Queen's University Belfast.
Tuesday, Jan 23, 1:00-2:20 pm AST.
Email [email protected] for the MS Teams link.

With funding from the Frank McKenna School of PPE.

What is ChatGPT Made of?
The news is full of stories about AI tools that can write essays, screenplays and songs, pass the bar exam, and win prizes for painting and photography. How do these tools work? What are the risks to using them? And should we believe claims that AI is soon going to be smarter than humans?

Public Lecture with Dr. Catherine Stinson
Monday, January 29, 2024
4:30pm
Crabtree Auditorium
Lecture will also be available via MS Teams livestream. Registration link in the comments.

Dr. Catherine Stinson is the Queen's National Scholar in Philosophical Implications of Artificial Intelligence and an Assistant Professor in the Philosophy Department and School of Computing at Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario.