Graduate Student Reading Groups

 

Aesthetics Reading Group

Faculty Sponsor: Professor Lydia Goehr

The Columbia University Faculty-Student Aesthetics Group meets once a week (more or less) to discuss papers, chapters, themes, and topics pertaining to aesthetics, social theory, and the arts. All approaches and methods are discussed in an open and critical environment. Faculty, graduate students and visitors passing through town are welcome, though membership and attendance should be approved by Professor Lydia Goehr ([email protected]).

 

Feminist Philosophy Reading Group

Faculty Sponsor: Professor Christia Mercer

The Feminist Philosophy Reading Group focuses on contemporary feminist philosophy works. We will discuss topics like misogyny, gaslighting, epistemic injustices, and systemic oppression. We are also open to any suggestions about reading materials. All faculty, graduate, and undergraduate students are welcome. We will meet weekly every Wednesday from 3 pm to 4 pm. If you are interested, please contact Alice Ma ([email protected]). 

 

German Idealism Reading Group

Faculty Sponsor: Professor Axel Honneth

The German Idealism Reading Group focuses on texts from the period in the history of philosophy known as German Idealism. The group is based on reading texts from major authors of the period, with an eye to reconstructing the views defended, historical context, and the problems and advantages of each text’s approach. We’ve traditionally focused on Hegel, but the group is open to studying other authors, such as Kant, Fichte, Schelling, or their contemporaries. The group meets weekly and is open to current grad students, former grad students, and faculty. If you’re interested, please contact Jared Jones ([email protected])!

 

The Limits of Ethics Reading Group

Faculty Sponsors: Professors Akeel Bilgrami and Lydia Goehr

We will read critiques of and approaches to ethics that differ from what we find in philosophy departments today.  The goal is to reconstruct an alternative way of doing ethics that has largely been forgotten. To do so, we will work through many traditions, such as Marxism, existentialism, critical theory, communitarianism, virtue ethics, psychoanalysis, and decolonial thought. If you’re interested, please contact Jared Jones ([email protected]) or Sara Wexler ([email protected]).

 

Non-western Philosophy Reading Group

Faculty Sponsor: Professor Katja Vogt

The Non-Western Philosophy Reading Group meets every semester to read and discuss philosophical texts from a non-western tradition. For Spring 2025, the group will focus on Classics in Confucianism and will meet every other Tuesday from 5:10-6:00pm in 302 Philosophy Hall, starting Jan. 28th. This series of discussions will systematically cover selections from the Analects, Mengzi, Xunzi, Zhu Xi, the Rites, and The Greater Learning, as well as areas of disagreement with other contemporaneous schools of thought.  In previous semesters, the group has read Vasubandhu's Vimsatika-Karika (Twenty Verses on Consciousness-Only), Vasubandhu's Abhidharmakosa, Nāgārjuna’s Vigrahavyāvartanī (The Dispeller of Disputes), Jñānaśrīmitra’s Apohaprakaraṇa (Monograph on Exclusion), Wang Yangming's Instructions for Practical Living (《传习录》), Chapter Two of the Zhuangzi (the “Equalizing Assessments of Things” 《齐物论》), and the Daodejing. All faculty, graduate, and undergraduate students are welcome. No prior experience with philosophy or traditions of non-Western thought is required. If interested, please direct emails to Helen Han Wei Luo ([email protected]) to be added to the mailing list.

 

Philosophy and AI Reading Group

Faculty Sponsor: Professor Katja Vogt

The Philosophy and AI reading group meets weekly to discuss contemporary papers in artificial intelligence and the intersection of philosophy and AI. This semester, we will be focusing especially on issues of AI and fairness. The reading group is open to current and former graduate students, visiting scholars, lecturers, and faculty. We especially welcome people from other disciplines outside of philosophy, such as computer science, engineering, cognitive science, law, etc. If you are interested, please contact Syan Timothy Lopez ([email protected]).

 

Philosophy of Language Reading Group

Faculty Sponsor: Professor Karen Lewis

The Philosophy of Language Reading Group meets on Thursdays 11:00-12:00pm in 716 Philosophy Hall to discuss a variety of issues in philosophy of language. All faculty and students are welcome. For more information, please contact Noah Betz-Richman ([email protected]).

 

Spinoza Reading Group

***This group will resume its meetings at a future date, TBA.***

Faculty Sponsor: Professor John Morrison

The Spinoza reading group will work its way through Spinoza’s Ethics, parts of the Theological-Political Treatise, and the Political Treatise. The focus throughout will be on the meaning and logic of Spinoza’s own arguments and their significance for German Idealism and certain variants of Marxism. We meet weekly on Tuesdays. All graduate students and faculty are welcome. If you are interested, please contact Sara Wexler ([email protected]).