Concordia Philosophy Student Weekly Tabloid Vol. 32
I don’t have much for you this week as an intro, other than I’m swimming in academic work and responsibilities. I hope you all endure through the midterm period and take time for yourself if needed (and don’t subsequently drown yourselves). A week’s break is just around the corner!
Midterm break will be from February 27th-March 5th. Take some much needed rest but this is also an opportunity to catch up and get ahead.
Final note: Our executive meeting scheduled for 11:30 Monday February 20th has been cancelled.
Without further ado, here’s the 32nd Volume of the Concordia Philosophy Student Weekly Tabloid, which brings you all the hottest and best events and relevant philosophy news.
This week, we tell you about:
- Philosophy program curriculum changes
- An exciting speaker event!
- Our Sheila Mason Bursary
- ASFA academic awards
- A Champlain College Speaker Series
- Philopolis inter-university conference
- People’s Potato emergency food baskets
- Various Concordia events
- A book recommendation from our library
Philosophy Program Degree Requirement Changes
The department has been hard at work revising the philosophy program. This includes degree requirements, course numbers and description changes, and implementing new programs (some of you may have heard of the new program soon to be offered).
Here is a list of all the changes to curriculum which are effective beginning Fall 2023.
- Students from both the major and honours can now take PHIL-220 (Intro phil. of science), PHIL-263 (intro epistemology), or PHIL-265 (intro metaphysics) as a necessary requirement in stage 1 of their degree.
- It was previous just 263 or 265 as a requirement.
- Honours students now have more options in the logic disjunct in stage three of their degree.
- Addition of PHIL-441 (Philosophical foundation of Biology), PHIL-464 (Advanced Studies in Epistemology), and PHIL-467 (Advanced Studies in Metaphysics)
- Change of names for PHIL-463 (Current Research in Epistemology), 464 (Advanced Studies in Epistemology), 465 (Current Research in Metaphysics), and 467 (Advanced Studies in Metaphysics).
- Addition of PHIL-429: Values and Biotechnology to the ethics disjunct requirement of the honours degree.
- Change of course number and description for PHIL-498: Advanced Topics in Philosophy: Values and Biotechnology. It will now be PHIL-429: Values and Biotechnology.
Note that students may use any program requirements in place since their beginning semester. Note also that the minor program requirements remain unchanged.
See the new honours and major program requirements.
Speaker Talk: How Should We Thin Today? Some Imperatives for Philosophy in Times of Ecocide
SoPhiA’s Inclusivity Project is hosting a second exciting speaker event this term! Dr. Michael Pelias joins us this time to discuss some imperatives for philosophy in times of ecocide.
As part of an intent to create rigorous discussion on the necessity of Philosophy in times of intersecting global crises, Dr. Michael Pelias will engage with questions on the end of Western metaphysical thinking, the seemingly unprecedented and neglectful domination of nature, and the demand for a reorientation within the current crises in late liberal politics and hyper-industrialization.
Michael Pelias has taught both ancient and modern philosophy for over thirty years at Long Island University-Brooklyn campus, and in the Political Science and Sociology departments at Brooklyn College since 2020. He is the editor-in-chief of the journal, Situations: Project of the Radical Imagination and the director of the Institute for the Radical Imagination which offers alternative classes in Philosophy and Political Theory.
His most recent publication is in the forthcoming issue of Social Text on the legacy of Stanley Aronowitz and is writing the idea of Convergence Philosophy.
This is a public event and it will be hybrid.
To receive information about the event and the Zoom registration link, please email us at: [inclusivity dot sophia at asfa dot ca]
Limited capacity at the event, please arrive early!
Drinks and snacks will be served.
Who: Dr. Michael Pelia and the SoPhiA Inclusivity Project
What: A speaker talk and roundtable discussion
When: Feb 21, 2023, 12pm
Where: 4thspace Concordia
See the Concordia event and the Facebook event.
Sheila Mason Bursary
Each year, SoPhiA provides our Sheila Mason Bursary, an essay-based student bursary, to one or more lucky students! We do not evaluate academic performance or GPA, but how well the student engages in promoting diversity and inclusivity in the philosophy or Concordia community.
The bursary is restricted to current undergraduate students enrolled in a major, minor or honours program in the philosophy department.
Those eligible for application include (as self-disclosed):
- Women
- LGBTQAI+ (lesbian, gay, bi, trans, queer, asexual, intersex, and others included in this umbrella)
- BIPOC (black, indigenous, people of colour)
- Students with disabilities
The application process typically includes:
- Personal statement, which must include a description of community involvement, how the individual is working towards creating an inclusive environment within philosophy, and an explanation of financial need.(500-750 words)
- Essay, on the topics of queer, postcolonial, intersectional, feminist, or race theory (1500-2000 words)
- Letter of recommendation (e.g., from teacher, advisor, employer, etc.)
- C.V. (resume), updated to include information pertinent to the award
Start thinking now about compiling your application and if you have a great essay on queer, postcolonial, intersectional, feminist, or race theory topics from one of your courses, that’s completely acceptable as a submission! Or you can write your midterm in one of your courses on this topic and use it as a submission.
See more information from our 2022 bursary, including previous year’s winners, on our Inclusivity Project page.
Stay tuned with more updates on exactly how and when to apply!
Who: Undergrad philosophy students who self-identify as: women, LGBTQAI, BIPOC, or disabled
What: An essay-based student bursary
When: Deadline for application is March 17th, 2023
ASFA Student Academic Awards
The Arts and Science Federation of Associations (ASFA) has opened their applications for the 2022-2023 Concordia University undergraduate Arts & Science students!
ASFA is a student-led nonprofit consisting of student leaders for all students registered in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences. ASFA aims to recognize students who have worked hard academically, contributed to student life at the University or demonstrate a financial need.
They have awards for:
- Outstanding community contribution
- High academic achievement
- Most improved student
This is a great opportunity to get a small financial award for all your hard work!
Who: Arts and Science Federation of Associations
What: ASFA Academic Awards
When: March 15 Deadline
Champlain College Speaker Series: Plato on Dialectic, Being, and The Good
Champlain College is hosting a speaker series of undergraduate and graduate students in philosophy. Many of these speakers are your own peers, including Ashkan Haghighat, Sarah Fortin, and Dean Joseph!
- February 8: Sara Elianne Fortin (Concordia University): Dialectic in The Philebus
- February 22: Dean Joseph (Concordia University): Plato’s Political ᾈπορία: The Greatest Difficulty as a Practical Problem
- March 8: Bogdan Ovcharuk, (Concordia University, York University): Dialectic and The Political in Republic VI
- March 22: Ashkan Haghighat: (Concordia University): Being and Becoming in The Timaeus
- April 5: Angelo Fata (Champlain College, St-Lambert, McGill, University of Montreal): A Moment with Plato’s Parmenides
Talks take place in the Champlain College Amphitheatre from 12:30-2:30pm.
What: Speaker Series: Plato on Dialectic, Being, and The Good
When: Every second Wednesday of February and April
Where: Champlain College Amphitheatre (Champlain College of Saint-Lambert)
Philopolis Montreal Inter-University Philosophy Conference
Philopolis Montreal is coming back for their 14th iteration of their inter-university philosophy conference!
Philopolis is a public and completely free event whose goal is to foster positive philosophical discussions between the general public, students, teachers and scholars. It is a student-run project from all philosophy departments of Montreal (McGill University, Concordia University, University of Montreal, and University of Quebec in Montreal). We also give an annual donation to this event to make sure it happens each year!
This year, many of your Concordia philosophy peers will be presenting! This includes:
- Soline Van de Moortelle: Adorno’s Critique of Progress and the Envisioning of New Futures in the Ecological Crisis: The Case of Ecovillages
- Feb 25, 10am
- Diana Pylypenko: Merleau-Ponty’s Ambiguity and Buddhist Philosophy: The Absence of an Essential Self
- Feb 25, 11:05am
- Dean Joseph: The Yoke of Emancipation: A Reworked Toolkit for Social Transformation
- Feb 25, 2:10pm
- Andrew Wilcox: The Three Basic Axioms of Truth
- Feb 25, 3:15pm
- Wesley Smith: Law, Rationality, and Nationhood: John Locke’s Relativistic Moral World
- Feb 25, 3:15pm
- William Aylward: Spinozism in Kant’s “Only Possible Argument”
- Feb 26, 4pm
What’s more is several of your peers are also volunteering at the event.
Keep up to date on the Philopolis website or Facebook group
Who: Philopolis Montreal
What: Inter-university philosophy conference
When: February 24-26, 2023
Where: UQAM, Pavillon Sciences de la Gestion, 315 Sainte-Catherine East & 400 Sainte-Catherine East
Why: Come support your peers and see what sort of research they’re up to!
People’s Potato Emergency Food Baskets
Are you low on food or money? Don’t despair, People’s Potato is here!
People’s Potato is a nonprofit organization within Concordia that provides food for students and they are serving emergency food baskets throughout the term. (They also serve meals on the daily).
The emergency food baskets are on specific dates and they ask you to bring your own bags. First come, first serve.
Dates:
- Feb 24, 3:30pm
- Mar 17, 3:30pm
- Mar 31, 3:30pm
- Apr 14, 1pm
- Apr 21, 1pm
- Apr 28, 1pm
Check out their website for more information
Follow them on Facebook
Who: People’s Potato
What: Emergency food baskets
Where: Hall 7th floor
When: Various dates
Various Concordia Events
There are several events in the next week that may be interesting to philosophy students.
- Nothing for you this week! See below for Concordia’s list of events.
See more of Concordia’s events
SoPhiA Book Library: Weekly Book Recommendation
This week’s highlighted book:
No recommendation this week…
If you didn’t know, SoPhiA has a library of over 650 books! We have books from different domains of philosophy and some outside philosophy (psychology, business, political science, and even novels). We even have textbooks for some of your courses! (e.g., PHIL-210, 235, 260, 266, and more)
You can borrow a book for an hour, or even the whole semester. Just drop by our office or send us an email.
You can see our complete library of books online on our Librarika virtual library.
What: Books!
Where: The SoPhiA library (in our office space)
Do you know of any cool philosophy-related events in Montreal or the Concordia Community? Please let us know and we will advertise them here!
**Pictures are for representative effect only and aren’t actual photos of the events, products, or services we report on.
Students of Philosophy Association 