Western Canadian Philosophy Association WCPA

61st WCPA-CSEP Meeting, Edmonton, Alberta, October 17-19, 2025

Posted on September 20, 2025 by rzach

Conference website: https://wcpa2025.weebly.com/

Program:

wcpa_2025_-_programme__2_Download

CfP: 61st WCPA, October 17–19, 2025, Edmonton

Posted on June 10, 2025August 1, 2025 by Luke Kersten

The 61^stannual meeting of the

Western Canadian Philosophical Association

in conjunction with the 9^thannual meeting of the

Canadian Society for Environmental Philosophy/ Société Canadienne de Philosophie Environnementale

will be held 17-19 Octoberat the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Alberta

Keynote Speakers

Amy Kind, Russell K. Pitzer Professor of Philosophy, Department of Philosophy, Claremont McKenna College

Amandine Catala, Professor of Philosophy, Department of Philosophy, Université du Québec à Montréal, Canada Research Chair on Epistemic Injustice and Agency

Submission Details

Submissions of papers from all areas of philosophy are welcome. Papers should be no more than 4,000 words (excluding notes), presentable in 25-30 minutes to allow for commentary and discussion, and prepared for anonymous review. The submission deadline is EXTENDED TO AUGUST 15, 2025.

Please submit papers in electronic form (PDF) and a brief abstract (no more than 150 words) via EasyChair: https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=wcpa2025

Proposals for panels or symposia are also welcome. Please submit the proposed title of the symposium as well as a collection of abstracts in electronic form (PDF), and a brief abstract (no more than 150 words) indicating that you are proposing a panel/symposium via EasyChair (in the same way as you would submit a paper). Symposia are allotted 2 hours.

Colloquium papers and panels/symposia on environmental topics may be submitted for presentation either on the WCPA main program or the program of the CSEP/SCPE but will automatically be considered for presentation on both programs. Please indicate if you are submitting with the CSEP/SPCE in mind at the top of your abstract.

Both the WCPA and CSEP will be awarding a Student Essay Prize, so if you are a student, please indicate this.

For more information, and a link to the EasyChair submission page, please visit: https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=wcpa2025

CfA: 60th WCPA, September 27–29, 2024, Saskatoon – Extended deadline

Posted on May 30, 2024July 4, 2024 by rzach

WESTERN CANADIAN PHILOSOPHICAL ASSOCIATION 2024

Call for Papers

60^th Annual Meeting

27-29 September 2024

University of Saskatchewan

This year the WCPA will be held in conjunction with 9^th annual meeting of the Canadian Society for Environmental Philosophy/ Société Canadienne de Philosophie Environnementale.

The University of Saskatchewan Philosophy Department’s Annual Murray Lecture, will also be delivered on Friday, 27 September.

Keynote Speakers

Murray Lecture: Mohan Matthen, Professor Emeritus, University of Toronto

WCPA: Ishtiyaque Hussein Haji, Professor, University of Calgary

Submissions on any topic in academic philosophy are welcome. Submissions should be in the form of extended abstracts (500-750 words). They should give a clear idea of the central theses defended, and, more importantly of the arguments to defend them. Please include indicative bibliography (max. 3-6 items) and 3-5 keywords. Full papers can also be submitted but should include an abstract. Final papers should be a maximum of 3500 words (presentable in 25-30 minutes), and must be made available for commentators by 14 September.

Electronic submissions as attachments to your email, in .rtf, .doc, or .pdf, anonymised for refereeing. Include your name, email address, and academic affiliation (if applicable) in your email. To be eligible for the student prize, mention student status. If you are interested in commenting on a paper, please email wcpa.usask.2024@pm.me

Extended Submission Deadline

Email submissions to wcpa.usask.2024@pm.me by July 14, 2024, with file name <ABSTRACT – last name – title>, e.g., <ABSTRACT – Nietzsche – Why I am so great>.

Proposals for panels with 3-5 speakers, on any topic in philosophy. Papers do not need to be submitted. Panel proposals can be in any format, such as Author-meets-Critic or Symposia. Please ensure that proposed speakers are able to attend the conference prior to submitting. Panels will be allocated time slots of 2 hours 15 minutes or 3 hours 30 minutes, depending on number of participants.

Colloquium papers and panels/symposia on environmental topics may be submitted for presentation either on the WCPA main program or the program of the CSEP/SCPE, but will automatically be considered for presentation on both programs. Please indicate if you are submitting with the CSEP/SPCE in mind at the top of your abstract. The CSEP will be awarding a Student Essay Prize, so if you are a student, please indicate this.

59th WCPA-CSEP Meeting: UBC Vancouver

Posted on October 20, 2023October 24, 2023 by Chris Stephens

Meeting on traditional, ancestral and unceded lands of the Musqueam people

WCPA & CSEP welcome you to a weekend of friendly, insightful and creative philosophical discussion! Buchanan Building, A, B and D blocks

Coffee room: Buchanan D324

No registration or fees – all are welcome. Name-tags for presenters can be found outside Friday keynote session/coffee room Saturday, or possibly earlier.

Organizing team: Sophie Au, Sylvia Berryman, Alex Bryant, Alexander Jewell, Michael Jimenez, Chris Stephens, Michelle Tobias, Jennifer Welchman, Jenna Yuzwa, Erika Yep

Special thanks for financial assistance: UBC Philosophy Department, Centre for Applied Ethics, Arts Workshop Grant

WCPA-2023-Programme Download

Emergency contacts:

UBC Campus Security: 604-822-2222 (building access, emergencies)

Sylvia Berryman: 778-881-4227 Chris Stephens: 604-724-0913

	Authors	Title	Commentator	Room	Chair
	Friday 2-4.15
2-4.15	Jen Foster, Jonathan Ichikawa and Emily Tilton	PANEL: Ethics of Belief and Moral Psychology		Buch B219	Note room change

2-3pm	Alisabeth Ayars	Reason, Inclination, and the Ground of Moral Worth	Bruno Guindon	Buch B312	Andrew Allison
3.15-4.15	Andrew Allison	Every Man Has His Price… And His Dignity: Value Pluralism and a Price for Everything	Peter Dietsch	Buch B312	Alisabeth Ayars

2-3pm	Dominic Alford-Duguid and Tashi Alford-Duguid	Privacy at the Limits of Control	Chelsea Rosenthal	Buch B313	Ivy Spector
3.15-4.15	Manuela Ungureanu	Historiography of the Former Soviet Bloc and Totalitarianism Theory: Might new approaches to institutions help break the deadlock?	Cindy Holder	Buch B313	Chelsea Rosenthal

		CSEP moved to Sunday morning

2-3pm	Tyler Paetkau	Reasoned Resistance: Inductive Risk and Vaccine Hesitancy among Healthcare Workers	Jenna Yuzwa	BUCH D218	Jade Hadley
3.15-4.15	Alyssa Izatt and Kimberley Brownlee	A Protocol for Treating Impregnated Children like Saviour-Siblings: On the Provision of Abortion as Adequate Care	Colin Macleod	Buch D218	Tyler Paetkau

2-3pm	Farid Saberi	A Case for Transcendental Optimism: Comparing Feminist and Realist Philosophies of Science	Alison Wylie	Buch B315	Matthew Smithdeal
3.15-4.15	Angella Yamamoto	How To Ask Biologists Metaphysical Questions Without Explaining Metaphysics	Daniel Saunders	Buch B315	Farid Saberi


	WCPA keynote	Welcome, Graduate Student Essay Prize: Elias Yuan (Calgary)

4.30-6	Endre Begby	Signal-to-Noise: Toward an Alternative Account of the “Fake News” Phenomenon		BUCH A201	Chris Stephens
	Reception 6-7			Buchanan A

	Saturday morning 9-12.30	coffee/muffins Buchanan D324
9-12.30	Margaret Schabas, François Claveau, Colin Macleod and Peter Dietsch	PANEL: Recent Topics in the Philosophy of Economics		Buch D229
9-12.30	Jennifer Welchmann, Michel-Antoine Xhignesse, John Dyck and James Young	PANEL: Author Meets Critics on James Young’s A History of Western Philosophy of Music		Buch D 221
9-12.30	Dwayne Moore, Neil Campbell, John Lemos and Ishi Haji	PANEL: Recent Issues in Free Will		Buch D204
9-12.30	Peter Alward, Christopher Viger, Manuela Ungureanu, Elizabeth Stoll, Henry Jackman	PANEL: Metaphysics of Language		Buch D228	Patrick Rysiew

9-10am	Logan Ginther	Epicurus on Deathbed Pangs of Conscience	Emily Lawson	Buch D205	Siranat Thamtrachai
10.15-11.15	Siranat Thamtrachai	The Transformation for Wholeness and the Transcendence of Ideal Love in Aristophanes’ Speech	Sarah Hogarth Rossiter	Buch D205	Logan Ginther
11.30- 12.30	Sherif Salem	Against the Logicians: Ibn Taymiyya’s Rejection of the Aristotelian Theory of Definition	Hassan Masoud	Buch D205	Sarah Hogarth Rossiter

9-10am	Laurence Blomme	Agreement Within the Disagreement on Defining Life	Mukund Maithani	Buch D214	Clarisse Paron
10.15-11.15	Clarisse Paron	Are the New American Pediatric Obesity Guidelines Eugenic? Evidence of Fatphobia	Alyssa Izatt	Buch D214	Larry Bloome
11.30-12.30	Avontay Williams	The Ethics of Blood Donation: It’s in you to Give	Neha Nandakumar	BUCH D214	Mukund Maithani

9-10am	Kousaku Yui	The Dogma of the Conscious Self	Tyeson Davies-Barton	Buch D207	Eric Hockstein
10.15-11.15	Eric Hochstein	Are There Two Distinct Projects of Naturalism Regarding Mental Representation?	Elena Holmgren	Buch D207	Julia Minarik
11.30- 12.30	Julia Minarik	The imaginative limitations of text-to-image generators	Jing Chang	Buch D207	Kousaku Yui
9-10am	Sophia Kimiagari	Logical Nihilism: Where the Disagreement Stems from	Shamima Akter	Buch D213	Mark Battersby
10.15-11.15	Mark Battersby	Practical Rationality: Critical Questions for Rational Decision Making	Buğra Sagsen	Buch D213	Cindy Holder
11.30- 12.30	Adam Jackson	Mitigating Bias: A Wittgensteinian Pedagogy	Jade Hadley	Buch D213	Sophia Kimiagari

9-10am	Kent Peacock	The Last Loophole in Bell’s Theorem? A prima facie problem with superdeterminism.	Richard Johns	Buch D 216	Elias Yuan
10.15-11.15	Elias Yuan	What is an Answer without a Question?: Context Should be Considered when Determining Explanatory Power	Angella Yamamoto	Buch D 216	Richard Johns
11.30- 12.30	Milos Mihajloivc	On Woodward’s Causation with Human Face	Ronaldo Shrestha	Buch D 216	Angella Yamamoto

9-10am	Scott Woodcock	A Puzzle for Epistemic Partialism	Gurpreet Rattan	Buch D201	Saila Jubara
10.15-11.15	Naila Jubara	Hermeneutical conflict and epistemic ruts	Alex Bryant	Buch D201	Gurpreet Rattan
11.30- 12.30	Brandon Beasley	From Pragmatism About Content to Pluralism About Intentionality	Ron Willburn	Buch D201	Scott Woodcock
	Saturday lunch break 12.30-2
12.30-2	Matthew Smithdeal, Jas Heaton, Alison Wylie, Kristin Conrad Kilgallen, Cam Gilbert	Diversity, Equity, Inclusiveness in Philosophy: The Philosophy Exception Project		Buch D229
12.30-2	John Miller, Carrie Jenkins, Anna Cook, Jorge Sanchez-Perez	Teaching, Place, and Power		Buch D324	Robin Roberts
	Saturday pm 2-4.15
2-4.15	Elizabeth Brake, Macy Salzberger, Carrie Jenkins, Kimberley Brownlee	PANEL: Relationship wrongs		Buch D228
2-4.15	Eric Wilkinson and Ritam Chakraborty	PANEL: Moral Epistemology Panel		Buch D229
2-4.15	Chelsea Rosenthal, Kino Zhao and Sun-ha Hong	PANEL: New Concerns Regarding Decision-Making by Algorithm		Buch D201

2-3pm	Chris Tillman and Joshua Spencer	Science, Fiction: Creatures of fiction, legend, science, and imagination	Chris Mole	Buch D205	Peter Alward
3.15-4.15	Peter Alward	Characters and Their Names	Emma Esmaili	Buch D205	Chris Mole

2-3pm	Emer O’Hagan	The Rationality of Grief’s Demise	Jelena Markovic	Buch D214	Eileen Wang
3.15-4.15	Eileen Wang	Virtues and Control: On the Proper Grounds of Reactive Love	Ivy Madden	Buch D214	Emer O’Hagan

2-3pm	Jonathan Ichikawa	How Racist is Racist?	Jorge Sanchez Perez	Buch D221	Madeleine Ransom
3.15-4.15	Madeleine Ransom and Albert Cotugno	Perceiving Race	Kathleen Akins	Buch D221	Jonathan Ichikawa

2-3pm	David Scott	Doubts on Descartes’ “Curb-Your-Enthusiasm” Theory of Right Thinking	Amy Schmitter	Buch D204	Nicholas Michieli
3.15-4.15	Nicholas Michieli	The Leibnizian Problem of Monadic Aggregation	David Scott	Buch D204	Amy Schmitter

2-3pm	Bernard Linsky	A Note on “The Principle of Contradiction and Symbolic Logic” Lukasiewicz 1910	Kent Peacock	Buch D207	Nic Fillion
3.15-4.15	Katalin Bimbo	Church’s paradox	Nicolas Fillion	Buch D207	Kent Peacock

2-3pm	Shamima Akter	Defending Russell’s Theory of Definite Descriptions against the Objection Arising from the Argument from Incompleteness	Yangyang Wang	Buch D213	Hao Yang
3.15-4.15	Felix Amaya-Spornitz	Tolerance and Kinds	Hao Yang	Buch D213	Shamima Akter

	CSEP Keynote	Passing of the Baton

4.30-6	Brett Buchanan	How to Talk about How Animals Talk: An Ethical & Ethological Foray		Buch A201	Jennifer Welchman

	Reception 6-7			Buchanan A



	Sunday 9am-12.30	coffee/muffins Buchanan D324
9-12.30	Alex Bryant, Alison Wylie, Emily Tilton, Karoline Paier	PANEL: “Standpoint Theory: Formations, Contestations, Legacies” Podcast Launch		Buch D204

9-10am	Samuel Carlsson Tjernström	Substantializing The Metaphysics of Doxastic Wronging	Jacob Schwartz	Buch D221	Daniel Munro
10.15-11.15	Daniel Munro	Conspiracy Theories as Emotionally Satisfying Narratives	Cihan Capan	Buch D221	Ella Zhang
11.30-12.30	Miriam Khan	Epistemic Resistance and Objectification: Considerations for Sexual Agency and the Harm of Pornography	Ella Zhang	Buch D221	Jacob Schwartz

9-10am	Nathaniel Dansereau	Ontology and Being in Nietzsche and Heraclitus	Abdulrahman Bajodah	Buch D201	Luis Melo de Andrade Lima
10.15-11.15	Luis Eduardo Melo de Andrade Lima	Foucault’s neglected reading of Adam Smith: a critique of Foucault’s views on the homo economicus	Laurent Dobuzinskis	Buch D201	Abdulrahman Bajodah
11.30-12.30	Joseph Carew	Three Models of a Secular Religion in Hegel	Trevell Hamilton-Frederick	Buch D201	Nathaniel Dansereau

9-10am	Eric Wilkinson	Logical Rationalism	Paul Bartha	Buch D205	Anthony Rowden
10.15-11.15	Tyler Wark	The Argument from Inquiry for Pragmatic Encroachment	Emily Tilton	Buch D205	Paul Bartha
11.30-12.30	Anthony Rowden	Conciliationism Is Still Too Demanding: A Dilemma	Samuel Carlsson Tjernström	Buch D205	Tyler Wark

9-10am	Scott Anderson	A Pragmatic Field Guide for Distinguishing Conditional Threats and Offers	Ella Zhang	Buch D207	Matt Bedke
10.15-11.15	Javier Gomez-Lavin and Matthew Rachar	Better Together: An empirical investigation of strategic interaction and shared agency	Daniel Saunders	Buch D207	K.T. Falvey
11.30-12.30	K. T. Falvey	On Knowing What I’ve Done	Matt Bedke	Buch D207	Daniel Saunders

9-10am	Richard Johns	Causality and Determination: the order of existence	Elias Yuan	Buch D209	Mojtaba Soltani
10.15-11.15	Noa Latham	Fundamental Dynamical Laws and Initial Conditions	Kino Zhao	Buch D209	Richard Johns
11.30-12.30	Bryson Brown	Achilles, van Fraassen and the Laws of Nature	Mojtaba Soltani	Buch D209	Noa Latham

9-10am	Holly Longair	Conceptualizing Relations of Equality in Relational Egalitarianism	Susan Dieleman	Buch D213	Chrysogonus Okwenna
10.15-11.15	Chrysogonus Okwenna	Autonomy Crisis in Medicine and the Liberal-welfarist Intervention	Evan Cave	Buch D213	Erik Severson
11.30-12.30	Connor Cosgrove	Once More Unto the Breach: On Emancipatory Interest	Erik Severson	Buch D213	Susan Dieleman

9-10am	Howard Nye, Maddie Youngman and Avontay Williams	Strategic Collective Action and the Proportionality of Reasons to Expected Benefits	François Claveau	Buch D216	Cam Gilbert
10.15-11.15	Setareh Ezzatabadi	Relational Autonomy and Oppressive Socialization; Toward an Externalist Account of Personal Autonomy	Jasper Heaton	Buch D216	François Claveau
11.30-12.30	Yanjie Ding	The Significance of Hope for Social Movement Mobilization Revisited	Cam Gilbert	Buch D216	Jas Heaton

9-10am	Jorge Sanchez-Perez	CSEP: The Philosophical Basis for Andean Environmental Philosophy: Sumak Kawsay and the Grounding of Existence	Jennifer Welchman	Buch D217
10.15-11.15	Jennifer Welchman	Aesthetics of Last Chance Tourism	Jennifer Ingle	Buch D217
11.30-12.30	Jodi Newman	CSEP: More Than Climate Anxiety: Youth and the Moral Injury of Climate Change	Ann Levey	Buch D217	Jennifer Welchman

9-10am	Neha Nandakumar	The Role of ‘Importance’ in Friendship and the Self	Mete Han Gencer	Buch D218	Willow Verkerk
10.15-11.15	Madeline Youngman	Towards a Lesbian Phenomenology: How Lesbians ‘Queer’ Relationship Dynamics	Willow Verkerk	Buch D218	Neha Nandakumar
11.30-12.30	Evan Cave	Pluralism About Aesthetic Value	Alex King	Buch D218	Mete Han Gercer

CfP: WCPA-CSEP 2023 Joint Meeting, Vancouver, October 20–22

Posted on June 13, 2023June 13, 2023 by rzach

WCPA 2023: Western Canadian Philosophical Association, held jointly with
CSEP 2023: Canadian Society for Environmental Philosophy

2023 Buchanan D Block, University of British Columbia Vancouver, Canada, October 20-22, 2023

Abstract registration deadline July 15, 2023
Submission deadline July 15, 2023 Topics: philosophy environmental philosophy

Western Canadian Philosophical Association stands for a group of philosophy departments in Western Canada who have been passing the ‘baton’ for half a century to host an annual philosophy conference, usually in late October. UBC is pleased to host this year.

Canadian Society for Environmental Philosophy meets with WCPA for several years now and invites submissions on topics in environmental philosophy.

Keynote speakers to be announced at a later date.

UBC is located on the traditional, ancestral and unceded territory of the Musqueam people.

Submission Guidelines

All papers must be original and not simultaneously submitted to another journal or conference. The following paper categories are welcome:

Full papers are welcome on any topic in academic philosophy, approximately 3000 words, 30 minutes reading time. Please precede papers with an abstract of up to 100 words. Papers on environmental philosophy will be considered as submissions to Canadian Society for Environmental Philosophy, which meets simultaneously. Papers should prepared for anonymous review and submitted electronically in electronic form, pdf, via easychair:

easychair.org/conferences/?conf=wcpa2023

Proposals for panels with 3-5 speakers, on any topic in philosophy. Papers do not need to be submitted. Panel proposals can be in any format, such as Author-meets-Critic or Symposia. Please ensure that proposed speakers are able to attend the conference prior to submitting. Panels will be allocated time slots of 2 hours 15 minutes or 3 hours 30 minutes, depending on number of participants.

Program Committee

Sylvia Berryman, UBC
Alex Bryant, UBC
Chris Stephens, UBC
Jenna Yuzwa, UBC

Questions about submissions can be emailed to sylvia.berryman@ubc.ca

58th WCPA 2022 Winnipeg

Posted on September 30, 2022June 7, 2023 by rzach

The 58th Annual Meeting of the Western Canadian Philosophical Association was held at the Alt Hotel in downtown Winnipeg, organized by the University of Winnipeg, September 30–October 2, 2022. It was held jointly with the 6th Annual Meeting of the Canadian Society for Environmental Philosophy.

WCPA 2022 Program

58th Annual WCPA: Winnipeg, September 30-October 2, 2022

Posted on July 18, 2022June 7, 2023 by rzach

Updated: September 17, 2022

This year’s meeting of the WCPA includes keynote presentations by Alex King (Simon Fraser University) and Eileen S. Nutting (University of Kansas). Closing remarks on Sunday, October 2 will be delivered by Niigaan Sinclair, Associate Professor and Department Chair in Indigenous Studies at the University of Manitoba.

See below for a copy of the conference program:

WCPA_program.09.26 Download

This year’s WCPA will occur in tandem with the annual meeting of the Canadian Society for Environmental Philosophy (http://csep-scpe.ca/). For CSEP-related information, please contact Prof. Jennifer Welchman at the University of Alberta: welchman@ualberta.ca

The conference will be held at Alt Hotel in downtown Winnipeg. (https://www.germainhotels.com/en/alt-hotel/winnipeg). For additional information, please contact the conference organizers at wcpa2022@gmail.com.

57th WCPA 2021 Victoria

Posted on July 14, 2022June 7, 2023 by rzach

The 57th Annual Meeting of the Western Canadian Philosophical Association was held at the University of Victoria, November 12–14, 2021. It was held jointly with the 5th Annual Meeting of the Canadian Society for Environmental Philosophy.

WCPA-CSEP 2021 Program

CfP: WCPA 57th Annual Meeting and Salish Sea Aesthetics Workshop, November 12-14th, Victoria

Posted on April 7, 2020June 7, 2023 by rysiew

Call for Papers

EXTENDED submission deadline: August 15.

NOTE: As of August 9, fully vaccinated Americans and residents of the US will be able to enter Canada without quarantine.

CfP: WCPA-CSEP 2019 Annual Meeting, October 25–27, 2019, Lethbridge

Posted on March 15, 2019June 7, 2023 by rzach

Call for Papers

The 56^th annual meeting of the

Western Canadian Philosophical Association

in conjunction with the 4^th annual meeting of the

Canadian Society for Environmental Philosophy/ Société Canadienne de Philosophie Environnementale

will be held October 25^th-27^th at the University of Lethbridge

in Lethbridge, Alberta

Keynote Speaker:

Andrew Light (George Mason University)

Paul Thompson (Michigan State University)

Please submit papers in electronic form (PDF) and a brief abstract (no more than 150 words) via EasyChair: https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=wcpa2019conference