The Department of Philosophy hosts a full array of educational and social events for the benefit of its graduate students, faculty, and others.
Tanner Lecture on Human Values
The Tanner Lectures are a collection of educational and scientific discussions relating to human values, conducted by leaders in their fields. The University of Michigan is one of nine institutions worldwide that has received the honor of being an annual host for this event. Past lecturers invited by the department have included Ruth Bader Ginsburg (Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States), John Broome (Emeritus White's Professor of Moral Philosophy at the University of Oxford), and Radhika Coomaraswamy (Sri Lankan human rights activist and former Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations).
Spring Colloquium
The Spring Colloquium is a graduate student-run event that invites three to four speakers to speak on a single theme and gives graduate students the opportunity to comment on each talk.
Other Departmental Events
The department features a full event calendar throughout the academic year. Regularly reoccurring events include the department colloquia series, reading and working group events, alumni conference, and both student- and department-wide social gatherings.
Partner Events
The department partners with COMPASS, a workshop program dedicated to increasing diversity in graduate philosophy programs, and A2Ethics, a nonprofit that promotes ethics education to high school students through an annual Ethics Bowl kick-off, competition and symposium. The graduate students also coordinate annual collaborations with other graduate philosophy programs, like the Michigan-MIT workshop and Princeton-Michigan Normativity workshop. The department also sponsors inter-departmental events at the University of Michigan, such as the Ancient Philosophy series, the Ferrando Family Lecture, and the Marshall M. Weinberg Symposium.
