Talks & Presentations

Recent & Forthcoming Talks and Presentations

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Conferences, Workshops and Invited Lectures

• @ 2024  (TBD)  Leibniz University 0f Hannover, philosophy department colloquium. Title: TBA. [Organized by Uljana Feest & Nicola Mößner]

• @ 2024 (TBD) University of L'Aquila, philosophy department colloquium. Title: TBA. [Organized by Lorenzo Greco]

• @ (October) Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, philosophy department colloquium. Title: TBA.

• @ 2024 (October). University of Helsinki, Department of Philosophy. Workshop on moral responsibility. [Organized by Lillian O'Brien & Dane Gogoshin.]

•  2024  (June)  Friedrich Alexander University, Institute of Philosophy, Erlangen Workshop on "Reactive Attitudes in the Strawsonian Tradition".  With R. Jay Wallace and others. [Organized by Erasmus Mayr]

• 2023 (September) University of Glasgow.  Philosophy department colloquium. Title: "'Morality' and Responsibility Scepticism'". 

• 2023 (September) . University of Salzburg. Salzburg Conference for Young Analytic Philosophy (SOPhiA). University of Salzburg, Austria. Invited keynote speaker. Title: "'Morality' and Responsibility Scepticism".

•   2023 (May). [Zoom] Ohio Northern University; Online Workshop on Free Will & Moral Luck. "Moral Luck and Disenchanted Ethics"  [Organized by Robert Hartman.]

• 2023 (March) - King s College London; The Yeoh Tiong Lay Centre for Politics, Philosophy and Law. Lecture Series on Practical Agency. '"Morality' and Responsibility Skepticism" [Organized by Massimo Renzo.]

• 2022 (August) - Bern, Switzerland. 9th International Lauener Symposium on Analytical Philosophy on Themes from Susan Wolf. Invited speaker. "The Reason View and 'the Morality System'".

• 2022 (July) -- Portland, Oregon. NEH Summer Institute: David Hume in the Twenty-first Century: Perpetuating the Enlightenment. Invited speaker. Organizers Angela Coventry & Elizabeth S. Radcliffe.

• 2022 (June) -- University of Copenhagen, "Workshop on Action & Responsibility". Title: "Responsibility and the New Scepticism". [Organized by ColnAct/ Filippos Stamatiou]

• 2021 (October ) -- University of Zürich, Center for Ethics. Masterclass on Moral Responsibility. [via Zoom] Invited teacher. Organized and led by Philipp Schwind & Jörg Löschke.

• 2021 (September) University of Antwerp, Belgium. Conference: ‘Natural Religion and the Scottish Enlightenment’. Invited keynote speaker (title: "David Hume and the Radical Enlightenment"). Organised by Willem Lemmens & Esther Kroeker.

• 2020 (March) University of Antwerp. Antwerp Philosophy Lecture: Title: Responsibility and the New Scepticism. Organisers: Jo Bervoets, Emma Moormann, and Willem Lemmens

• 2019 (November) KU Leuven, Belgium . P.F. STRAWSON AT 100 International Conference : "Responsibility after 'Morality': Strawson's Naturalism and Williams' Genealogy" [Organizers: Prof. Stefaan Cuypers, Prof. Stefan Rummens, Dr. Benjamin De Mesel, Audun Bengtson, Sybren Heyndels]

• 2019 (October) Chigwell School, Essex: The Williams Project: 'The Life and Philosophy of Bernard Williams'

• * 2019 (June) KU Leuven - University of Leuven . Institute of Philosophy.     Conference: “Free Will and Methodology” (June 6-7, 2019). Keynote speaker. [Co- organized by Stefaan Cuypers and Audun Bengtson] Title: “Free Will and the Tragic Predicament: Reflections on Williams”.      

• - * 2018 (November) University of British Columbia (February). UBC Association of Professors Emeriti. Topic: Free Speech. Panelist and Presenter.

• -  * 2018 (March) University of British Columbia . Nexus | ISGP Annual Student Conference: “Is Responsibility an Illusion?”. Keynote speaker.

• - *2017 (November) University of Hamburg . Title: Hume’s Scepticism and the Problem of Atheism”. Hume Workshop. Maimonides Centre for Advanced Studies. (Organized by Máté Veres, Stephan Schmid and Josef Stern.)

• - *2017 (October) Ferrara, Italy . Title : “Hume’s Sensible Atheism”. International Symposium "Around the Eighteenth Century" (Organized by Andrea Branchi.)

• - * 2017  (June) University of Bonn. Conference: "Free Will and Moral Responsibility in Historical and Cultural Perspective". (Organized by M. Forster, M. Gabriel, and C. Wenze.)

• - * 2017  (June) Ghent University . Conference: “Justice Without Retribution”. Title: “Naturalism, Genealogy and Responsibility Scepticism. (Organized by G. Caruso, F. Focquaert, D. Pereboom, E. Shaw.)

• - * 2017 (February) Central European University, Budapest : Invited lecturer CEU Center for Religious Studies, for the university-wide doctoral seminar “Reason, Unreason and Nature in Religion”. Topic: TBA. (Organized by Aziz Al-Azmeh.)

• - * 2016 (December) Einstein Foundation, Berlin. Workshop: "Moral Address". Title: “Moral Address and Free Will Pessimism”.  (Organized by R. Jay Wallace and Daniele Bruno.)

• - * 2016 (October) Basel University. Seminar on Scepticism. Title: Naturalism, Genealogy and Responsibility Scepticism. (Organized by Gunnar Hindrichs.)

• - * 2016 (May) Swedish Academy of Letters, History and Antiquities. Stockholm. Invited Lecture. Title – Free Will Pessimism.

• - *  2016 (May) Oxford Hume Forum. Invited Talk. Title: “Hume’s Sensible Atheism”.

• - * 2015 (November) Oxford University (November): Invited Keynote Speaker: Interdisciplinary Network on the ‘Affections and Ethics’ at Oxford University. Conference on "Feeling for Another: The Role of Empathy in Moral Theory and Moral Psychology. Title: “Sympathy, Impartiality and ‘the Morality System’”. (Organized by  Erasmus Mayr and Lorenzo Greco.)

• - *  2015 (November) "Free Will Pessimism". Tulane University, The Murphy Institute. “New Orleans Workshop on Agency and Responsibility”.  (Organized by David Shoemaker.)

• - * 2015 (October): "Free Will Pessimism".  Philosophical Society at the University of Gothenburg.

• - *2015 (April):  "Hume, Williams and the 'Science of Man'". Hume Society Session @ American Philosophical Association, Pacific Division. With Graciela De Pierris (Stanford). (Organized by David Landy.)

• - *2015 (March): Invited Keynote Speaker.   Annual Meeting of the Danish Philosophical Association.   Aarhus University, Denmark. Topic: “Free Will Pessimism”. (Organized by Asbjørn Steglich-Petersen.)

• - *2014 (September) The American University of Rome (September): Mandeville Readings in Rome. Panel participant (with Eugenio Lecaldano) discussing Mikko Tolonen's Mandeville and Hume Anatomists of Civil Society. [Organized by Andrea Branchi.]

• - *2014 (April) -The Oxford Research Centre in the Humanities (TORCH), Oxford University.  (April): The Moral and Political Legacy of Bernard Williams:

• “Hume, Williams and ‘the Morality System’”.

• - *2014 (April) “Compatibilism, Pessimism and ‘the Morality System’.” University of Chicago, Center for Law, Philosophy and Human Values: “Skepticism about Freedom and Responsibility” [The other speakers were Sarah Conly (Bowdoin), Jesse Prinz (CUNY),  Saul Smilansky (Haifa), and Gideon Yaffe (Yale).  (Organized by Brian Leiter.)

• - *2014 (February) University of Calgary (February) - invited Keynote Speaker – “Old Atheism in New Bottles: Historical Reflections on the Contemporary Debate”.      "The 1st Annual Canadian Undergraduate Philosophy Conference."

• - 2013 (May): Yale University:  New England Colloquium in Early Modern Philosophy,  "Hume's Scepticism and the Problem of Atheism"

• - *2013 (April): “Compatibilism, Pessimism and ‘the Morality System’”. Invited speaker. University of Delaware: "Free Will and the Scientific Worldview: Optimistic and Pessimistic Perspectives." [The other speakers were John Martin Fischer, Cendri Hutcherson, and Derk Pereboom – organized by Seth Shabo.]

• - *2012 (March): “Critical Compatibilism and the Limits of Free Will”. Invited keynote speaker at the Western Canadian Undergraduate Conference of Philosophy at the University of Victoria.

• - 2011 (November): “Responsibility, Naturalism and ‘the Morality System’”, 2011 New Orleans Workshop on Agency and Responsibility, The Murphy Institute, Tulane University. (Organized by David  Shoemaker.)

• - * 2011 (July):  “Hume’s Scepticism and the Problem of Atheism”.   Philosophy in Assos (Turkey) - David Hume On God, Religion and Morality: [Organized by Orsan Oymen.] 

• - * 2011 (May) “Author Meets Critics session on Riddle of Hume's Treatise”,   The New England Colloquium on Early Modern Philosophy, Dartmouth College   [Critics: Justin Broackes and Ken Winkler, ]

• - *  2010 (October): Moral Agency, Deliberative Awareness and Conscious Control: Erasmus University, Rotterdam (Holland): “Responsibility, Naturalism and ‘the Morality System’”.

• - *2010 (May) Nanjing Normal University, China (2 lectures). “Moral Sense and Responsibility”; “Hobbes and the Free Will Problem”

• - *  2009 (June) Humean Readings: Themes from Hume: University of Rome, La Sapienza; “Author meets Critics - The Riddle of Hume’s Treatise”  [Critics: Eugenio Lecaldano, Luigi Turco, Paola Zanardi, Peter Kail ]

• - * 2009 (April) American Philosophical Association, Pacific Division:   “Author meets Critics - The Riddle of Hume’s Treatise”  [Critics: Joseph Campbell, Don Garrett, James Harris]

• - * 2009 (February) Second Annual North Sea Early Modern Philosophy Workshop. Leiden University, The Netherlands [Theme: Moral and Political Theory]:      "Of Gods and Clocks: On the Hobbes-Bramhall Debate". (Organized by Eric Schliesser).

• - * 2006 ISSEI International Society for the Study of European Ideas, University of Malta:  “Hume’s Lucretian Mission”

• - * 2006  Humean Readings: Themes from Hume: University of Rome, La Sapienza:    “Hume’s Lucretian Mission”. [Orgnized by Tito Magri, Eugenio Lecaldano, et al.]

• - *2006 Bled Philosophical Conference, on Freedom and Determinism; Bled, Slovenia.  “Free Will, Art and Morality”

• - *2006 Inland Northwest Philosophy Conference, Washington State University;  “History, Implantation and (Selective) Hard Compatibilism”. (Organized by Joe Campbell & Michael O’Rourke.)

• - *2006 American Philosophical Association, Pacific Division (Portland, Oregon):  Session on Hume and Naturalism; “Naturalism, Religion and Hume’s Lucretian Mission”

• 2005 Fifth European Congress for Analytic Philosophy, University of Lisbon;   “Compatibilism, History and Implantation Problems”

• - *2004  Values and Virtues: Aristotelianism in Contemporary Ethics, University of Dundee;     “Moral Sense and Virtue in Hume’s Ethics”. (Organized by Tim Chappell.)

• - *2004  Moralische Motivation. Kants Ethik in der Diskussion, Marburg University;   “Practical Reason and Motivational Scepticism”

• - * 2003 Lecture on Adam Smith’s Moral Philosophy, University of Rome, La Sapienza;  “Irreligion and the Impartial Spectator in Smith’s Moral System”

• - *2001  28th Annual Meeting of the Hume Society, University of Victoria;    “Author-Meets-Critics on Freedom and Moral Sentiment” [Critics: Francis Dauer, Jackie Taylor]

• *2001   Humean Readings: Themes from Hume: University of Rome, La Sapienza:  “Irreligion and Hume’s Treatise”   . [Orgnized by Tito Magri, Eugenio Lecaldano, et al.]

• - *1999 Inland Northwest Philosophy Conference (April),  Washington State University; "Moral Sense and Wide-Responsibility"

• - *1998 Hume Society, Eastern APA: Washington, DC;   "Newtonianism, Immaterialism and Hume's 'Atheism'"

• - *1998 25th Annual Meeting of the Hume Society, University of Stirling, Scotland;      "Hume's Moral Sense and Wide-Responsibility"

• - *1998 Conference on Moral Responsibility and Ontology:  Utrecht, Netherlands;   "Compatibilist-Fatalism". (Organized by Ton van den Beld.)

• - 1995   22nd Annual Hume Conference, University of Utah;   "Hume on the Involuntary Nature of Moral Character". [Organized by Don Garrett.]

• - 1995   The Scottish Tradition in Philosophy, University of Aberdeen;   "Smith on Moral Sentiment and Moral Luck"

• - 1993   20th Annual Hume Conference, University of Ottawa;  "Hume's Treatise and the Clarke-Collins Controversy"

• - 1991   Le Moyne Forum on Religion and Literature, Syracuse, NY;   "Epigrams, Pantheists and Freethought in Hume's Treatise"

• - 1984  11th Annual Hume Conference, University of Iceland, Reykjavik;      "Hume's Treatise and Hobbes's The Elements of Law"

Papers Given at University Colloquia and Seminars

•  "Responsibility and the New Scepticism"

     - @ University of Glasgow. September 2023

- Philosophy Department Colloquium: Zürich University.  May 2022 

     - Philosophy Department Colloquium: Lund University.  May 2022. 

     - Philosophy, University of Haifa .   March 2019

- Departmental Seminar. Faculty of Law. Tel Aviv University. March 2019.

 - Department of Philosophy Colloquium, Linköping University.  October 2018

• "Responsibility after 'Morality': Strawson's Naturalism and Williams' Genealogy"

    - Department of Philosophy, Aarhus University, Denmark. October 2021.

    -  LGRP Workshop, Lund University, November 2020.

• "Free Will and the Tragic Predicament: Making Sense of Williams".

- Philosophy Department Colloquium: Uppsala University.  November 2019:

- Philosophy Department Colloquium: Copenhagen University. November 2019.

• “Responsibility, Illusion and Metaphysical Attitudes".  Workshop: Scepticism, Dualism and Illusionism: Themes from Smilansky. - Lund University. 

 -  LGRP Workshop. October 2017.

• “Naturalism, Genealogy and Responsibility Scepticism”.

- Queen’s University at Kingston. November 2016.

 - Lund University. May 2017.

 - Central European University, September 2017.

• “Hume and Williams on Voluntariness and ‘the Blame System’”.

- Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne.  Seminar on "The Will" (organized by Laurent Jaffro & André Charrak): May 2014.

• "Compatibilism and Moral Luck: Problem or Predicament?",

- University of Montreal -  (Inter university Research Group on Ethics):  January 2014.

• “Responsibility, Naturalism and “the Morality System”.

-  University of Arizona: February 2012

• “Hume’s Scepticism and the Problem of Atheism”

-  University of Arizona: February 2012

- Portland State University: May 2012

- University of California, San Diego (January, 2014)

- Basel University: November 2016

• “Critical Compatibilism and the Limits of Free Will”

            - Moral Philosophy Seminar: Oxford University: October, 2010

          -  Open University, November 2010

• “Is Moral Responsibility Truly Impossible?”

          - University of Aberdeen, June 2008

• “Free Will, Art and Morality”

-   Cambridge University (Moral Sciences Club); February 2007

-    Kwantlen College, Vancouver; March 2007

• “Hume’s Lucretian Mission: Is it Self-Refuting?”

-    University of California at San Diego, January 2007

-    University of Edinburgh, March 2007

• “History, Implantation and Selective Hard Compatibilism”

         -     University of British Columbia, Spring Colloquium; March 2006

    -     Queen’s University at Kingston, April 2006

     -     McGill University, April 2006

• “Irreligion and Hume’s Treatise”

-       Ithaca College; September 2004

-       University of Lodz (Poland); September 2005

• "The Material World and Natural Religion in Hume's Treatise"   ["Newtonianism, Immaterialism and Hume's 'Atheism'"]

      -   University of Utah: February 1999

      -   Canadian Philosophical Association,

           University of Alberta, May, 2000

      -    University of Toronto, March 2002

• “Responsibility, History and the New Compatibilism”

     - Canadian Philosophical Association,  Laval University, Quebec; May, 2001

• “Compatibilism and Moral Sense” ["Moral Sense and Wide Responsibility”]

       -  Western Canadian Philosophical Association,      

            University of British Columbia, November 1998

        -  University of Calgary, January 2002  

       -  University of Alberta, January 2003

       -  University of Victoria, March 2003

       -  North Carolina Philosophical Society,

            Duke University, February 2005       

• "Hume on the Involuntariness of Moral Character",

     -  Western Canadian Philosophical Association, University of Regina, October 1994

• "Compatibilist Fatalism" ["Optimists, Pessimists, and Compatibilist Fatalists"

     -  University of Washington (Seattle): May, 1993

     -  Simon Fraser University: October 1993

     -  University of British Columbia: February 29, 1996 [BUCH D202]

     -  Edinboro University, Pennsylvania: April 1997

     -  University of Virginia: April 1997

• "Hume on Character and Responsibility"

      -  University of British Columbia: March, 1992

• "Strawson's Way of Naturalizing Responsibility"

     -  Simon Fraser University: January, 1991

     -  McGill University: February, 1991

• "Smith on Moral Sentiment and Moral Luck"

      -  Adam Smith Symposium,

         University of British Columbia, September 1990

     -  University of Washington (Seattle): May, 1995 

• "Hume on Personal Identity"

-  Stanford University: February, 1990   [John Perry's seminar on Personal Identity]

• "The Justification of Punishment"

     -  University of Virginia: January, 1988

     -  Stanford University: January, 1988

     -  University of Chicago: January, 1988

• "Causation, Compulsion & Compatibilism"

     -  Simon Fraser University: November, 1987

     -  University of British Columbia, November, 1987

     -  Brown University: February, 1989

• "Nozick, Need and Charity"

     - Cambridge University: October, 1984   [Social & Political Theory Seminar]

     - University of British Columbia: February, 1987

Invited Participant:

• 2022 (July) -- Portland, Oregon. NEH Summer Institute: David Hume in the Twenty-first Century: Perpetuating the Enlightenment. Invited speaker. Organizers Angela Coventry & Elizabeth S. Radcliffe.

• 2021 (October ) University of Zurich, Center for Ethics. Masterclass on Moral Responsibility. Invited teacher. Organized and led by Philipp Schwind & Jörg Löschke.

• - 2019 (May) The annual meeting of the Western Association of College and University Business Officers (WACUBO) - Vancouver, BC. Conference panel on: "Can Free Speech and Protection from Harm Coexist in Higher Education?". [Monday, 6th May @3:45 pm – 5:00 pm ]

• - 2013 (March) Invited Commentator on Miranda Fricker's  "What's the Point of Blame?". APA Pacific Division Meeting, San Francisco.

• - 2012 (September).  “Responsibility & Relationships: 50 years of Strawson’s ‘Freedom and Resentment”. College of William & Mary, Williamsburg VA.. Comments on Gary Watson, “Strawson on Responsibility and Sociality”.

• -  2012 (June). “Workshop on the Manipulation Argument”. Central European University, Budapest. Presentation: Manipulation and Moral Standing

• - 2011 (September). Invited commentator on Neal Tognazzini , “Blame as a volitional activity”. USF Conference on Responsibility, Agency, and Persons”.. University of San Francisco.

•     - 2011 (August) “Moral Psychology”, Summer School of the Netherlands Graduate School for Research in Practical Philosophy. Presentation: “The Free Will Problem”.

•    -  2010 (August). “Hume Fest: An Informal Workshop”, Simon Fraser University, Vancouver, BC, Canada.  “Hume’s Legacy and the Idea of British Empiricism”.

•     - 2009 (July) “Aspects of Responsibility”: Summer Course, Central European University, Budapest. Presentations on: Compatibilism and Pessimism; Moral Capacity and Moral Emotion; Is Morality Unfair?

•     - 2009 (April) “Spring Roundtable on Promissory Obligations”, Eagle Ridge Resort; Galena, Illinois. Sponsored by the Illinois Program in Law and Philosophy.

•     - 2009 (February) “Optimism, Pessimism and Critical Compatibilism”: Contemporary Free Will Workshop at Leiden University, The Netherlands.

•     - 2007 (January) “Liberty, Commerce and Character in Hume’s Essays”. Liberty Fund, Pasadena, California.

•     - 2006  (May) “Freedom and Responsibility in Addison and Smith”: Liberty Fund.    Seattle, Washington

•      - 2005  (April) Hume’s Naturalism, Hester Seminar, Wake Forest University

•      - 2004  (October)  Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations: Liberty Fund. Portland, Oregon

•      - 2000   American Philosophical Association, Eastern Division Meeting, New York

•      - 2000 (December). Commentator (on P. Kail: "Hume's Second Thoughts about Personal Identity") 

•      - 1992 (February). "Can We be Good Without God?", Feb. 6, 1992. Debate with Paul Chamberlain (Trinity Western University). Sponsored by the UBC Inter-Varsity Christian Fellowship. 

•     - 1987 (July). "An Ethical Discussion on Death and Dying". Medical Grand Rounds, Vancouver General Hospital (VGH). July 2, 1987. B Lecture Hall, Faculty of Medicine Bldg.

Andy Warhol , Hector and Andromache (After De Chirico). (1982)