2026–27 · updated twice monthly

Boston Philosophy Docket

A single running list of philosophy talks, workshops and conferences across the Boston-area departments — Harvard, MIT, Tufts, Boston University and others as they post. Each speaker carries a line of research keywords, so you can tell at a glance whether a talk is in your area.

Compiled and maintained by Aaron Berman, Department of Philosophy, Boston University.

Compiled 09 Sep 2026 31 events · 4 of 9 departments reporting
■ Harvard ■ Boston University ■ Tufts ■ MIT

Every talk below lands in your own calendar and updates itself as new events are posted — nothing to sign up for. Any other calendar app: subscribe to this feed URL.

Fall 2026

21 events
  1. 01 Fri11 Sep Philip Pettit & Victoria McGeer Princeton “Two Kinds of Agents: From Psychology to Politics” / “Empathy Internalized: On the Scaffolding Power of Self-Directed Emotion” republicanism and freedom as non-domination · group agency · moral responsibility · empathy and mindshaping · philosophy of psychology Annual Hugo Bedau Lecture Tufts
  2. 02 Fri11 Sep Patrick Connolly Johns Hopkins “Newton’s Matter Theory: Between Mechanism and Hylomorphism” 17th–18th-century philosophy · Locke · history of science · philosophy of religion · Indigenous philosophy of the Americas History of Philosophy Workshop · Emerson 211 Harvard
  3. 03 Tue15 Sep Cinzia Arruzza Boston University “The Second Sex in Plato’s Timaeus” ancient Greek and Roman philosophy · Plato’s political thought · Marxist and feminist theory · social reproduction · critique of capitalism Work in Progress in Ancient Philosophy BU
  4. 04 Tue15 Sep Ken Wharton San José State retrocausality · quantum foundations · time symmetry · interpretations of quantum mechanics · Lagrangian approaches Boston Network for History & Philosophy of Physics BU
  5. 05 Fri18 Sep Matt Brewer philosophy of earth sciences · scientific models and representation · analogy in science · explanation and theory change Dissertation defense BU
  6. 06 Fri25 Sep Tom Parr Warwick “Markets, Firms, and the Gender Pay Gap” applied ethics · social and political philosophy · distributive justice and wealth · labour and the workplace · public shaming Colloquium · Emerson 305 Harvard
  7. 07 Fri02 Oct Dana Miranda UMass Boston Africana philosophy · political philosophy · existentialism · antiblack racism and mental health · psychosocial studies Friday Colloquium · 4:00–6:00 pm BU
  8. 08 Fri09 Oct Cinzia Arruzza Boston University “The Abolition of the Family and Women’s Eudaimonia in Plato’s Republic 5” ancient Greek and Roman philosophy · Plato’s political thought · Marxist and feminist theory · social reproduction · critique of capitalism Fall Colloquium Series Tufts
  9. 09 Fri09 Oct Sean Greenberg UC Irvine early modern philosophy · Leibniz · Malebranche · freedom of the will · theodicy and the problem of evil History of Philosophy Workshop · Emerson 211 Harvard
  10. 10 Fri16 Oct Carol Hay UMass Lowell feminist philosophy · oppression and resistance · Kantian ethics · autonomy · public philosophy Fall Colloquium Series Tufts
  11. 11 Tue20 Oct Vanessa de Harven UMass Amherst “Substantial Confusion: Why Stoic ousia Is Not Matter” ancient Greek and Roman philosophy · Stoicism · metaphysics · corporealism and the void · determinism Work in Progress in Ancient Philosophy BU
  12. 12 Wed21 Oct Céline Leboeuf Book release: The Tyranny of Thinness feminist philosophy · critical philosophy of race · phenomenology of the body · beauty standards · Beauvoir Porter Square Books · 7:00 pm Harvard
  13. 13 Thu22 Oct Laure Barillas New Hampshire “What Is Powerlessness? A Philosophical Exploration” continental and French philosophy · feminist philosophy · race, gender and social justice · powerlessness and agency Invited talk · 5:00 pm BU
  14. 14 Fri23 Oct Lauren Kopajtic Fordham 18th-century moral philosophy · Hume · Adam Smith · emotion regulation and self-control · gender and aesthetics History of Philosophy Workshop · Emerson 211 Harvard
  15. 15 Fri30 Oct Kathleen Creel Northeastern ethics and philosophy of AI · algorithmic monoculture · arbitrariness and fairness in automated decisions · transparency · philosophy of science Colloquium · Emerson 305 Harvard
  16. 16 Thu05 Nov Susan Brison Dartmouth trauma and personal identity · sexual violence · feminist philosophy · free speech and hate speech · narrative and the self Fall Colloquium Series Tufts
  17. 17 Fri06–07 Nov Society for German Idealism and Romanticism Annual conference · two days Conference BU
  18. 18 Thu12–14 Nov North American Nietzsche Society Annual conference · three days Conference BU
  19. 19 Fri20 Nov Alex Worsnip UNC Chapel Hill structural rationality and coherence · epistemic normativity · political epistemology · disagreement · practical reason Colloquium · Emerson 305 Harvard
  20. 20 Fri04 Dec Sally Haslanger MIT social ontology · ideology and social structure · race and gender as social kinds · critical social theory · ameliorative analysis Fall Colloquium Series Tufts
  21. 21 Fri04 Dec Claire Kirwin Northwestern value theory · Nietzsche · the creation of value · metaethics · 19th-century German philosophy Friday Colloquium · 4:00–6:00 pm BU

Spring 2027

10 events
  1. 22 Fri05 Feb Rafeeq Hasan Amherst social and political philosophy · Kant’s political thought · republicanism and structural domination · Rawls · freedom and poverty Friday Colloquium BU
  2. 23 Fri12 Feb Vida Yao UCLA moral psychology · philosophy of love · moral character · moral emotion · normative ethics Colloquium · Emerson 305 Harvard
  3. 24 Fri19 Feb Janum Sethi Michigan Kant’s metaphysics and epistemology · Kant’s aesthetics · judgment and the imagination · 17th–18th-century philosophy History of Philosophy Workshop · Emerson 211 Harvard
  4. 25 Fri26 Feb Calvin Normore UCLA medieval philosophy · Ockham and late scholastic logic · free will · history of ethics · metaphysics of modality Spring Colloquium Series Tufts
  5. 26 Fri05 Mar Nick Riggle San Diego aesthetics · social aesthetics and style · value theory · art and personal expression · aesthetic community Colloquium · Emerson 305 Harvard
  6. 27 Fri19 Mar Anja Jauernig NYU Kant · Leibniz · transcendental idealism · early modern metaphysics · the moral status of animals Friday Colloquium BU
  7. 28 Fri26 Mar Emily Kress Brown Aristotle · Plato · causation and explanation in ancient Greek philosophy · teleology · agency in natural processes History of Philosophy Workshop · Emerson 211 Harvard
  8. 29 Fri02 Apr Barbara Herman UCLA Kantian ethics · moral judgment and practical reason · the value of humanity · moral literacy · obligation Colloquium · Emerson 305 Harvard
  9. 30 Fri16 Apr Rachel Fraser MIT epistemology · narrative and testimony · feminist philosophy · language and gossip · social epistemology Friday Colloquium BU
  10. 31 Fri23 Apr Jon McGinnis Toronto Arabic and Islamic philosophy · Avicenna · medieval natural philosophy · classical and medieval science · causation Spring Colloquium Series Tufts
Listings and corrections welcome. This is compiled from what departments post publicly, so it lags anything announced only by mailing list — and a talk that moves rooms or dates may show the old details here. If your department has events that belong on it, or something above is wrong, send them along via aaronlberman.com/contact and they will go in at the next update.