Advancing research initiatives in philosophy and interdisciplinary activities
2017 Capen Lectures
The Capen Chair sponsors lectures and seminar in the Fall. 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
On this page
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José Medina, Northwestern University
Organized by Jorge J. E. Gracia
José Medina's latest book, The Epistemology of Resistance: Gender and Racial Oppression, Epistemic Injustice, and Resistant Imagination, received the 2012 North-American Society for Social Philosophy Book Award.
Lecture 1.
Taking responsibility for racial violence: Shooting the racial imagination
September 26, 2017
Tuesday, 4:00 pm
640 Clemens Hall
UB North Campus
AUDIO: José Medina, Capen Lecture, September 26, 2017
- Presentation, Day 1
AUDIO: José Medina, Q & A, September 26, 2017
- Question and Answer Session, Day 1
Lecture 2.
Racist Propaganda and Epistemic Activism
September 27, 2017
Wednesday, 4:00 pm
640 Clemens Hall
UB North Campus
AUDIO: José Medina, Capen Lecture, September 27, 2017
- Presentation, Day 2
AUDIO: José Medina, Q & A, September 27, 2017
- Question and Answer Session, Day 2
José Medina
About the Speaker
José Medina
Walter Dill Scott Professor of Philosophy
Northwestern University Faculty Profile
Research Interests: Race and Gender Theory, Social and Political Philosophy, Social/Political Epistemology, and political topics in Philosophy of Language and Mind.
Recent Seminars: Hate Speech, Critical Race Theory, the Imagination, Meaning and Identity, Social Theories of Mind, Truth and Interpretation, and Wittgenstein.
Specializations: Race and Gender, Political Philosophy, Social Epistemology, and Philosophy of Language and Mind
Lecture sponsored by Minorities & Philosophy and the Capen Chair
Meena Krishnamurthy, University of Michigan
Organized by Harjeet Parmar
September 28, 2017
Thursday at 4:00 pm
106 Clemens Hall
UB North Campus
Meena Krishnamurthy
White Blindness
AUDIO: Meena Krishnamurthy, 9/28/2017
- Meena Krishnamurthy, Intro
- Meena Krishnamurthy, Main Lecture
About the Speaker: Meena Krishnamurthy
Assistant Professor, Philosophy, University of Michigan College of Literature, Science, and the Arts
At the most general level, Professor Krishnamurthy’s work addresses three questions: What are just political institutions? Why are current political institutions unjust? And, how ought we progress from unjust to just political institutions? Most of her research has focused on these questions as they relate to the practice of democracy both at the national and international level. Her early work argues that, because of the values of self-respect, autonomy, and ownership, just political institutions are those that are democratic. She also argues that current political institutions, such as the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, are unjust because they are undemocratic and also because they do not satisfy the basic demands of distributive justice. Her current work focuses on the question of what sorts of attitudes are necessary among citizens for the promotion of democracy. Building on the work of Martin Luther King Jr. and other radical political thinkers, she defends the non-standard view that distrust promotes (rather than undermines) democracy and, for this reason, is a morally valuable attitude.
Samuel P. Capen Chair Lectures on Race and Ethnicity
Stephanie Rivera Berruz
Organized by Jorge J. E. Gracia
October 11, 2017
Wednesday at 4:00 pm
640 Clemens Hall
UB North Campus
Stephanie Rivera Berruz
Writing Latinas into Philosophical History
AUDIO: Stephanie Rivera Berruz, 10/11/2017
- Stephanie Rivera Berruz, Lecture, October 11, 2077
About the Speaker
Stephanie Rivera Berruz
Assistant Professor, Philosophy
William Paterson University Faculty Profile
Stephanie Rivera Berruz received her Ph.D. in Philosophy at SUNY Buffalo in 2014. Her main interests lie in social and political philosophy with an emphasis on philosophy of race and feminist philosophy, as well as, Latin American philosophy. Rivera Berruz approaches these topics at their intersections as she is committed to the importance of diverse approaches to philosophical praxis. Her dedication to these topics stem from an investment in exploring her own identity as a Latina in philosophy. Her research has explored racial and gendered embodiment, the relationship between language and identity, the concept of boomerang perception in Latina feminist scholarship, and the metaphilosophical question of Latin American philosophy.
Her teaching interests include: Social and Political Philosophy; Feminist Philosophy; Latin American Philosophy; Caribbean Philosophy; Philosophy of Justice; Philosophy of Human Rights; and, Philosophy of Race.
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)