Maryland Philosophy Conference
We are delighted to announce the third meeting of the Maryland Philosophy Conference.
The conference will be hosted at Towson University in October of 2026 and is sponsored by the Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies and Mary Wong.
Conference Date
Stay tuned for the 2026 Meeting Date.Register for the Conference
Online registration will open once a date has been determined.
Agenda Example
- 9 a.m. - Registration and Breakfast | LA Cafe
- 9:30 - 11:25 a.m. - Concurrent Sessions 1A-1C
- 11:30 a.m. - Lunch
- 12:30 - 2:25 p.m. - Concurrent Sessions 2A-2C
- 2:25 p.m. - Break
- 2:45 - 5:20 p.m. - Concurrent Sessions 3A-3C
- 5:20 p.m. - Reception | LA Cafe
Session Details - 2025 Conference
Session 1A: Social Philosophy | LA 4302 | Chair: Patrick Roney, Towson University
- 9:30 - 10:05 a.m. — Mary Peterson, University of Hamburg, “Mary Astell on Distrusting
Men”
- 10:10 - 10:45 a.m. — David Atenasio, Frostburg State University, “The Deep Structure
of Mass Incarceration”
- 10:50 - 11:25 a.m. — Daniel Cunningham, Miami University (Ohio), “Modern Political Culture and its Assumptions”
Session 1B: Metaphysics, Language and Logic | LA 4303 | Chair: Ziren Yang, University of Miami
- 9:30 - 10:05 a.m. — Jacob Lettie, Johns Hopkins University, “No Unique Best System:
Not a Skeptical Hypothesis”
- 10:10 - 10:45 a.m. — Fei Zhou, University of Toronto, “Sobel Sequences, Contexts,
and Indicative Conditionals”
- 10:50 - 11:25 a.m. — Bangrui Chen, Johns Hopkins University “Logic, Rule-Following,
and Justice”
Session 1C: Theoretical Philosophy | LA 4315 | Chair: Nick Tebben, Towson University
- 10:10 - 10:45 a.m. — Colin Caret, Utrecht University, “Two Myths About Obvious Implications”
- 10:50 - 11:25 a.m. — Alex Mendez, The City College of New York, CUNY, “The Aesthetic Self-Expression Argument for Narrow Meaning-Incompatibilism”
Session 2A: Metaphysics and Epistemology | LA 4302 | Chair: Gilad Sharvit, Towson University
- 12:30 - 1:05 p.m. — Olle L?vgren, Johns Hopkins University, “Material Plenitude and
the Objects of Experience”
- 1:10 - 1:45 p.m. — Cooper Sarafin, American University, “Hesitation and the Epistemic
Structure of Perception: A Phenomenological Account of Coherence and Alterity in Merleau-Ponty,
Ngo, and Al-Saji”
- 1:50 - 2:25 p.m. — Justin Harmon, Notre Dame of Maryland University, “From Unamendability to Inexhaustibility: Speculative Hermeneutics as Metaphysical Realism”
Session 2B: Ethics | LA 4303 | Chair: Kristen Hine, Towson University
- 12:30 - 1:05 p.m. — Sonya Ringer, Johns Hopkins Berman Institute of Bioethics, “Pregnancy,
Praiseworthiness, and the Politics of Abortion”
- 1:10 - 1:45 p.m. — Jake Bartholomew, Towson University, “América as Utopia, Utopia
in America”
- 1:50 - 2:25 p.m. — Lauretta Halstead, Towson University, “Ethics of Education, Instruction and Intellectual Freedom”
Session 2C: AI | LA 4315 | Chair: Colin Caret, Utrecht University
- 12:30 - 1:05 p.m. — Ricky Mouser, Johns Hopkins Berman Institute of Bioethics, “When
(if ever) is AI Non-Consequentialist?”
- 1:10 - 1:45 p.m. — Walker Chavatel, Towson University, “AI Ethics in Mental Health:
Insights from Existential Philosophy”
Session 3A: Reflections in Honor of Dr. Christos Evangeliou | LA 4310 | Moderator: Madeline Georgevich, University of Maryland, College Park, Independent Scholar
- 2:45 - 3:20 p.m. — Phillip Mitsis, New York University
- 3:25 - 4:00 p.m. — John Murungi, Towson University
- 4:05 - 4:40 p.m. — Rose Cherubin, George Mason University
- 4:45 - 5:20 p.m. — Linda Ardito, Independent Scholar
Session 3B: Non-Western Panel | LA 4317 | Chair: Suk Choi, Towson University
- 2:45 - 3:20 p.m. — Joonho Lee, University of Maryland, Baltimore County, “Separable
Virtue: A Mencian Challenge to the Unity Thesis” - 3:25 - 4:00 p.m. — Bongrae Seok, Alvernia University, “Ecology, Embodiment, and
Aesthetics of Confucian Moral Psychology for Moral Development and Artificial Intelligence” - 4:05 - 4:40 p.m. — Suk Gabriel Choi, Towson University, “A Silhak (實學 Practical Learning)’s Challenge to the Confucian Idea of Cultivation”
Session 3C: Science and Epistemology | LA 4302 | Chair: Jill Stinchcomb, Towson University
- 2:45 - 3:20 p.m. — Saathvik Devarakonda, Claremont School of Theology, “What Grounds Grounding: A Regress Argument Revisited”
- 3:25 - 4:00 p.m. — Ryan Ross, Morgan State University, “Conspiracy Theories in the Ordinary Sense”
- 4:05 - 4:40 p.m. — Ziren Yang, University of Miami, “Rethinking Target Systems: A Deflationary View”