Department of Philosophy
Question everything.
Departmental News
- Nico Orlandi awarded DAAD international guest professorship
Nico Orlandi has been awarded a DAAD international guest professorship at Ruhr University Bochum. Professor Orlandi will teach courses and collaborate on research with Professor Tobias Schlicht in Spring quarter 2026. Congratulations, Nico! - E. Hande Tuna Named Quinn Fellow at NHC
We are delighted to announce that Emine Hande Tuna has been awarded a prestigious fellowship at the National Humanities Center for the 2025–26 academic year. Selected from a highly competitive pool of 588 applicants, she will join a cohort of 32 distinguished scholars as part of the Center’s forty-eighth class of resident fellows. Professor Tuna has been… Read more: E. Hande Tuna Named Quinn Fellow at NHC - Welcome to Sara Bernstein, new faculty member and new Philosophy Chair
Sara Bernstein joined the faculty of the Philosophy Department as our new chair on July 1, 2025. Sara specializes in metaphysics, especially the metaphysics of causation, and in related topics in ethics and the law. Sara has additional interests in the metaphysics of time and time travel, and in the metaphysics of feminist theory. - Welcome to Daniel Nolan, new faculty member
Daniel Nolan joined the faculty in July 2025. Daniel specializes in metaphysics, especially hyperintensionality and the use of impossible worlds to resolve metaphysical problems. Daniel has additional interests in possible worlds, dispositions, states of affairs, universals and particulars, parts and wholes, time and space, the metaphysics of vagueness, and methodology in metaphysics. - Queer Aɸ Conference held at UCSC
The Queer Analytic Philosophy Conference was held at UCSC April 12-13, 2025. The conference, organized by Caro Flores, Lauren Lyons, and Nico Orlandi, brought together scholars from all over the globe to to discuss analytic philosophy from a queer perspective and strategize about the future. See the program here.
Calendar
Events
- Welcome Week 2025Monday, September 22nd, 2:30-3:30 – Prospective and current students are invited to join the Philosophy Department’s 2025 Welcome Week event.
- Philosophy Colloquium: Lowry PresslyThursday, October 9th, 2025, 3:15 – Speaker Lowry Pressly will give a talk titled Talk to a Human . . . Speak to a Human [. . .] On AI Agents as Partners in Democratic Deliberation, followed by a Q&A. Abstract: There is a rapidly developing normative literature concerning the potential effects of artificial intelligence… Read more: Philosophy Colloquium: Lowry Pressly
- Philosophy Colloquium: Geoff LeeThursday, November 13th, 2025, 3:15 – Speaker Geoff Lee will give a talk followed by a Q&A
- Fall Grad ForumTuesday, October 14th – 3:15-5:00 – Philosophy Graduate Students and Faculty are invited to the Fall Grad Forum.
Humanities Division Philosophy News
Life Beyond the Redwoods: Smeet Mehta at 100x.VC Mumbai
One year after graduating from UC Santa Cruz, Smeet Mehta (Crown ’24, philosophy) works as an analyst at 100x.VC—an early-stage venture capital firm based in Mumbai—to help startups get the funding they need to start their journeys.
Making metaphysics matter: Two new UC Santa Cruz Philosophy professors bring big questions down to Earth
Metaphysics has never had a “fun” reputation. Many people—if they’ve even heard of the M-word— tend to associate it with woozy, abstract lectures about time and space. But with the arrival of Philosophy Professor and new Department Chair Sara Bernstein and Philosophy Professor Daniel Nolan, two internationally respected experts in metaphysics, the UC Santa Cruz Philosophy Department is bolstering its strengths in this realm and setting out to change perceptions.
2024 CITRIS Interdisciplinary Innovation Program supports wide range of campus research
The CITRIS Interdisciplinary Innovation Program (I2P) provides UC Santa Cruz Principal Investigators with funding for projects focussed on developing information technology solutions to significant societal challenges.