2016 Capen Lectures & Seminars

The Capen Chair often sponsors a three-day seminar in the Fall. It usually consists of three lectures delivered on subsequent days by a distinguished speaker who addresses important topics in philosophy and contemporary society.

In addition, the Chair sponsors other lectures by both established and younger scholars throughout the year to encourage the dialogue across disciplines and to maintain UB faculty and students up to date on recent developments.

The Capen Lectures are free and open to the public.

Lecture media, audio, papers, photos, materials, and related links

ABOUT THE AUDIO PLAYERS ON THIS PAGE

Please note: The audio player component on this page operates best in desktop view. In mobile view, the audio player's performance is inconsistent or non-functioning. Adobe intends to upgrade the audio player for improved performance in the near future.

Capen Lectures 2016 — Christia Mercer, Agency and Suffering: Women Then and Now

Christia Mercer
6/18/19
Areas of Specialization: Early Modern Philosophy; History of Platonism; History of Women in Philosophy.

MERCER PODCASTS, PAPERS, PHOTOS, AND RELATED MATERIALS ON OUR WEBSITE

Capen Lectures 2016.

Capen Lecture Series 2016 — Philosophy and Its History

Lecture materials, papers, photos, audio players, and related links

Barry Smith, "Philosophome: The Future of the History of Philosophy"
6/18/19
Area of Specialization: Ontology
Philosophical Historiography—A Symposium for Speakers: Thomas Sullivan and Russell Pannier
6/18/19
Near the beginning of the twentieth century, celebrated quantum physicist Niels Bohr confided to a friend that he had “made a discovery, a very great discovery.” It wasn’t in physics. “All that philosophers have ever written is pure drivel."
Carlos Alberto Sanchez, "Mexican Philosophy and the Trope of Authenticity"
6/18/19
Areas of Specialization: Phenomenology, Existentialism, Hispanic/Latin American Philosophy, Social and Political Philosophy.
Applied Ethics (Business and Bio/Medical Ethics),
Robert Gooding-Williams, "History of African American Political Thought and Antiracist Critical Theory"
6/18/19
Areas of Specialization: Social and Political Philosophy (esp. antiracist critical theory); History of African-American Political Thought; 19 Century European Philosophy (esp. Nietzsche); Existentialism; and Aesthetics

Capen Lecture Series.

Poster: Capen Lecture Series 2016

Return to top

Listing of Capen Lectures and Seminars since 2009

Fall 2017 Capen Lectures
José Medina, Northwestern University
Taking responsibility for racial violence: Shooting the racial imagination, Lecture 1
Racist Propaganda and Epistemic Activism , Lecture 2

Fall 2016 Capen Lectures: Agency and Suffering—Women Then and Now
Christia Mercer, Columbia University
Meditating on Truth: How women changed the course of philosophy 1300-1600 and laid the groundwork|
for Descartes’ Meditations, Lecture 1
Early modern women, suffering and agency: The Case of Anne Conway (1631-79), Lecture 2
Race, Gender, and Suffering in the Prison Industrial Complex, Lecture 3

Fall 2016 Capen Lecture Series: Philosophy and Its History
Barry Smith, University at Buffalo
"Philosophome: The Future of the History of Philosophy"

Thomas D. Sullivan, University of St. Thomas
“Philosophy Unshackled”

Russell F. Pannier, William Mitchell College of Law
“Burying the philosophical past: Reflections on the endlessly recurring philosophical impulse to start all over again."

Carlos Alberto Sanchez, San Jose State University
"Mexican Philosophy and the Trope of Authenticity"

Robert Gooding-Williams, Columbia University
"History of African American Political Thought and Antiracist Critical Theory"

Fall 2015 Capen Lectures: Facing Ferguson
Paul C. Taylor, Pennsylvania State University
Facing the Fire: On Mr. James Baldwin and Others, Lecture 1
Facing Foolishness: On Philosophy and the Academy, Lecture 2
Facing the Future: What Will Happen To All That Beauty?, Lecture 3

Fall 2014 Capen Seminar: On Life
Juan Manuel Gamido, Universidad Diego Portales, Santiago, Chile
The Knowledge of Life, Lecture 1
The Poetry of Life, Lecture 2
The Promise of Life, Lecture 3

Fall 2013 Capen Symposium: Metaphysical Fundamentals
Lynn Baker, University of Massachuetts
Jorge J. E. Gracia, University at Buffalo
John Heil, Washington University
Ted Sider, Cornell University
Erwin Tegtmeier, University of Mannheim, Germany
Javier Cumpa, University at Buffalo

Fall 2013 Capen Seminar: Navigating Race Theory Today
Linda Martin Alcoff, Hunter College and CUNY Graduate Center
The Future of Whiteness, Lecture 1
Anti-Latino Racism, Lecture 2
A Realist Theory of Social Identity, Lecture 3

Fall 2012 Capen Seminar: Racist Logics
Robert Bernasconi, Penn State University
I am also a racist, Lecture 1
I am not a racist, but…, Lecture 2
I do not see race, Lecture 3

Fall 2011 Capen Seminar
Andrés Claro, Universidad Chile
The Arts of Language as Political Resistance and Transcendental Revolution: The Great Traditions of Love Poetry

Fall 2010 Capen Seminar: Time, Desire, Affect
David Marriott, University of California, Santa Cruz
History of Consciousness Program
The Exile of Black Representation, Lecture 1
The Black Time-Image, Lecture 2
Whither Fanon? The Afterlife of Postcolonial Sovereignty, Lecture 3

Fall 2009 Capen Seminar
Mirta Kupferminc, Arist - Buenos Aires
From Words to Images: A Jewish View on Borges
Jorge J.E. Gracia, University at Buffalo
Carlos Estévez's Images of Thought

Spring 2009 Capen Lecture
Andrés Claro, Universidad Chile
Broken Vessels: Philosophical Implications of Poetic Translation (The Limits, Hospitality, Afterlife and Marranism of Languages)