Spawn Returning Home: Ethics at Syracuse
July 15-17, 2025
500 Hall of Languages
This conference brings back to town some recent Syracuse Philosophy Ph.D.’s who work in ethics or related areas.
Tuesday, July 15
9:15am – 10:45am:
Preston Werner, 2016 (Hebrew University of Jerusalem)
“Considerative Justice and Patterns of Moral Force”
Commentator: Sarah Stroud (UNC)
11am – 12:30pm:
Travis Timmerman, 2016 (Seton Hall)
“Immutable Obligations” (co-authored with Yishai Cohen)
Commentator: Holly Smith (Rutgers)
12:30pm – 1:30pm Lunch
1:30pm – 3pm:
Aatif Abbas, 2024 (Colgate)
“Adaptive Preferences and Context Sensitivity”
Commentator: Ruth Sample (New Hampshire)
3:15pm – 4:45pm:
Rowan Bell, 2022 (Guelph)
“The (Dis)Functions of ‘Gender Identity'”
Commentator Talia Bettcher (Cal State, LA)
Dinner
Wednesday, July 16
9:15am – 10:45am:
Lorenza D’Angelo, 2024 (Pompeu Fabra University)
“Qualities of Pleasure”
Commentator: Jason Raibley (Kansas)
11am – 12:30pm:
Nikki Fortier, 2023 (Cornell)
“How the Attention-Demandingness of Pain Favors Felt-Quality Accounts”
Commentator: Anthony Kelley (LSU)
12:30pm – 1:30pm Lunch
1:30pm – 3pm
Teresa Bruno-Niño, 2022 (Rice) and Joseph Van Weelden (College of New Caledonia)
“The Many Resonance Constraints on Well-Being”
Commentator: Connie Rosati (Texas, Austin)
Optional Activities!
Dinner
Thursday, July 17
9:15am – 10:45am
Yishai Cohen, 2015 (Southern Maine)
“The Opposition of Omnibenevolence Towards Evil”
Commentator: Derk Pereboom (Cornell)
11am – 12:30pm
Huzeyfe Demirtas, 2023 (Harvard)
“Responsibility Doesn’t Require Alternate Possibilities”
Commentator: Michael Robinson (Chapman)
Conference End
This conference is free and open to the public. Register by July 1 through this link.
Conference organizers are Hille Paakkunainen (hpaakkun@syr.edu) and David Sobel (davidsobel3@gmail.com).

Poster designed by Nikki Fortier