News and Events
News
Read stories and articles for and about current and prospective students and faculty in the Philosophy program.
Get the latest Philosophy news
You can also browse an archive of books published by program faculty and scholars.
Events
Our Event Series
- Philosophy Colloquium
Download the full schedule for Spring 2023
Each colloquium (unless noted below or circumstances change) will be IN PERSON 4:15 P.M. to 6:15 P.M, room 9205/9206 - Cognitive Science Speaker Series
- Logic and Metaphysics Workshop
- Annual Philosophy Graduate Student Conference
- New York Philosophy of Language Workshop
Center Events
In addition, many of our associated centers run events as well, most are listed in our upcoming events list, but you can also check their websites:
Recent News
May 19, 2023
Graduate Center Students Win Prestigious Dissertation Fellowships
Ph.D. candidates secure highly competitive grants for their dissertation projects.
- GC Stories
- Student News
May 11, 2023
Announcing the Alumni Award Winners
The Graduate Center will honor the 2023 and 2020 Alumni Award recipients on May 18.
- GC Stories
- Alumni News
- Faculty News
Apr 26, 2023
Three Graduate Center Professors Elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
Linda Martín Alcoff, Ofelia García, and Virginia Valian join the prestigious honorary society.
- GC Stories
- Faculty News
Apr 3, 2023
Black, Race and Ethnic Studies Fellowships Awarded to 65 CUNY Faculty and Doctoral Students
The fellowship is designed to enhance Black, race and ethnic studies scholarship and teaching at CUNY and is part of a $3 million, Mellon Foundation-funded initiative.
- GC Stories
- Faculty News
- Student News
Recent Books
View all Philosophy books
Cognitive Ontology
Taxonomic Practices in the Mind-Brain Sciences
The search for the 'furniture of the mind' has acquired added impetus with the rise of new technologies to study the brain and identify its main structures and processes. Philosophers and scientists are increasingly concerned to understand the ways in which psychological functions relate to brain structures. Meanwhile, the taxonomic practices of cognitive scientists are coming under increased scrutiny, as researchers ask which of them identify the real kinds of cognition and which are mere vestiges of folk psychology. Muhammad Ali Khalidi present a naturalistic account of 'real kinds' to validate some central taxonomic categories in the cognitive domain, including concepts, episodic memory, innateness, domain specificity, and cognitive bias. He argues that cognitive kinds are often individuated relationally, with reference to the environment and etiology of the thinking subject, whereas neural kinds tend to be individuated intrinsically, resulting in crosscutting relationships among cognitive and neural categories.
Published January 2023
Cambridge University Press

Plato's Exceptional City, Love, and Philosopher
This book reconnoiters the appearances of the exceptional in Plato: as erotic desire (in the Symposium and Phaedrus), as the good city (Republic), and as the philosopher (Ion, Theaetetus, Sophist, Statesman). It offers fresh and sometimes radical interpretations of these dialogues.
Those exceptional elements of experience - love, city, philosopher - do not escape embodiment but rather occupy the same world that contains lamentable versions of each. Thus Pappas is depicting the philosophical ambition to intensify the concepts and experiences one normally thinks with. His investigations point beyond the fates of these particular exceptions to broader conclusions about Plato's world.
Plato's Exceptional City, Love, and Philosopher will be of interest to any readers of Plato, and of ancient philosophy more broadly.
Published February 2021
Routledge, 2020

Spinoza
Justin Steinberg and Vatteri Viljanen
Benedict de Spinoza is one of the most controversial and enigmatic thinkers in the history of philosophy. His greatest work, Ethics (1677), developed a comprehensive philosophical system and argued that God and Nature are identical. His scandalous Theological-Political Treatise (1670) provoked outrage during his lifetime due to its biblical criticism, anticlericalism, and defense of the freedom to philosophize. Together, these works earned Spinoza a reputation as a singularly radical thinker.
In this book, Steinberg and Viljanen offer a concise and up-to-date account of Spinoza’s thought and its philosophical legacy. They explore the full range of Spinoza’s ideas, from politics and theology to ontology and epistemology. Drawing broadly on Spinoza’s impressive oeuvre, they have crafted a lucid introduction for readers unfamiliar with this important philosopher, as well as a nuanced and enlightening study for more experienced readers.
Accessible and compelling, Spinoza is the go-to text for anyone seeking to understand the thought of one of history’s most fascinating thinkers.
Published January 2021
Polity, 2020