News

Professor Ward, together with Assistant Professor Tom Juzek (Linguistics), will be featured in an episode of NPR’s “Science Friday” to be aired Friday, March 21st. They will discuss their work investigating why large language models like ChatGPT overuse words like 'delve' and 'intricate'. Tune in on WFSU or listen to the live stream at https://wfsu.org/listen/.

Qiaohua Liu successfully defended her dissertation, “Historical Compatibilism: Essays in Defense of a Novel Positive Historical Approach to Moral Responsibility Regarding Little Agents,” on March 7. Qiaohua's committee was chaired by Alfred Mele.

Zachary Smith successfully defended his dissertation, "Freedom and Control: Essays on the Metaphysics of Free Will," on February 28th. Zach's committee was chaired by Alfred Mele.

FSU Philosophy Department's Zina Ward's research was recently featured by Florida State University News.

FSU Philosophy Department's Jack Justus was recently interviewed as part of The College of Arts and Sciences' Faculty Spotlight series.

Save the date for the 2025 Werkmeister Conference. Join us Feb. 7-8 as we explore imagination and mental imagery, topics of increasing importance in philosophy and empirical psychology.

Michael Ruse, who from 2000 until his retirement in 2020 was Lucyle T. Werkmeister Professor of Philosophy at Florida State University, died on November 1. Michael founded and directed the Program in History and Philosophy of Science at FSU. He had previously taught at the University of Guelph, after receiving his doctorate from the University of Bristol in 1970.

We are very sad to report the death of Jan-Felix Müller, a third-year Ph.D. student in our program. Jan-Felix’s main philosophical interests were free will, decision theory, and time. He is the author of “Compatibilist Libertarianism: Advantages and Challenges” (Kriterion 2022) and “A New Role for Rollbacks: Showing How Objective Probabilities Undermine the Ability to Act Otherwise” (accessible on PhilPapers). Jan-Felix was a brilliant young philosopher and a delightful young man. We miss him sorely, and we offer our heartfelt condolences to his family.

Marc Kaufman successfully defended his dissertation, “Stoic Moderation and the Pursuit of a Meaningful Life,” on October 25th. Marc’s committee was chaired by Edward Hinchman.

FSU Philosophy Department's Michael Bishop was recently interviewed as part of The College of Arts and Sciences' Faculty Spotlight series.