Karla Kelsey, Professor of English and Creative Writing, Susquehanna University
Tuesday, March 3, 2026 5:30 pm
Stevenson Library - 1st Floor Recovering women writers from literary obscurity is both an archival and a feminist act. Join poet and scholar Karla Kelsey for a reading exploring the revolutionary work of modernist writer and artist Mina Loy (1882-1966), followed by a conversation with Alys Moody. As editor of Lost Writings: Two Novels by Mina Loy and author of the poet's novel Transcendental Factory: For Mina Loy, Kelsey uncovers multiple ways fragmented archives can activate new creative possibility. This event offers participants insight into the editorial process, poetic homage, and the generative power of lost texts.Sponsored by: Division of Languages and Literature; Gender and Sexuality Studies Program; Literature Program.
For more information, call 845-758-6822, or e-mail [email protected].
Bruce Chilton, Bernard Iddings Bell Professor of Philosophy and Religion; Director, Institute of Advanced Theology
Friday, March 6, 2026 12:30–1:30 pm
Bard Hall Berenice (born circa 28) was the most notorious Jewish woman in the Roman Empire of her time. Multiple marriages, rumors of incestuous relations with her brother (Agrippa II of the Herodian dynasty), and her scandalous liaison with Titus, the Roman general and emperor‑to‑be, guaranteed Berenice’s celebrity. This reputation does not, however, paint a complete portrait of Berenice, nor does it capture her significance. Her political acumen was as effective as it would become legendary. The great‑granddaughter of Herod the Great and the daughter of King Agrippa I, she promoted the family’s unusual version of Judaism as well as its outsized ambitions. Berenice was a pivotal figure in Agrippa II’s advance in imperial preferment; played a crucial role during the Jewish‑Roman war; and, as consort to Titus, supported his father, Vespasian, in his accession to the role of emperor.
Join us every other Monday starting Feb. 23rd.
Monday, February 23rd
Monday, March 9th
Monday, March 23rd
Monday, April 6th
Monday, April 20th
Monday, May 4th
For more information, call 845-758-7667, or e-mail [email protected].
Hudson Valley Political Theory presents: The Social Costs of the Elite's Work Hours: An Egalitarian Case for Universal Work TIime Regulations
Julie L. Rose Professor of Government, Dartmouth College
Friday, March 6, 2026 5 pm
Lippman 100, Union College In the United States today,work is increasingly polarized around “good jobs” and “bad jobs”, generally following familiar patterns of social stratification.There is, however, a striking exception to the congruence between labor market polarization and socioeconomic inequality. That is, in the US today, the good jobs of the socially and economically advantaged are often marred by one undesirable feature: long work hours. If people have claims to limits on their work hours, should such claims apply universally, protecting even those workers who are otherwise advantaged? Or should highly-paid professionals be excepted, as they are in the Fair Labor Standards Act? Recent arguments in political philosophy support an ‘exempt the elite’ position. On this view, the elite’s long hours are acceptable, even desirable, because they generate tax revenue that can be redistributed to the less advantaged. I here challenge the position that the elite’s long hours should be welcomed by showing how their long hours generate a range of inegalitarian social costs. If the elite’s long hours are more detrimental than beneficial to the realization of broadly egalitarian commitments, there is an egalitarian justification for not exempting the elite from work time regulations.
Paper will be pre-circulated. Contact [email protected] or Pinar Kemerli at [email protected] for the paper.Sponsored by: Union College Political Science and Philosophy Departments, American Studies Program, and The Dean of Bard College.
For more information, call 845-758-6822, or e-mail [email protected].
Bruce Chilton, Bernard Iddings Bell Professor of Philosophy and Religion; Director, Institute of Advanced Theology
Monday, March 9, 2026 12:30–1:30 pm
Bard Hall Berenice (born circa 28) was the most notorious Jewish woman in the Roman Empire of her time. Multiple marriages, rumors of incestuous relations with her brother (Agrippa II of the Herodian dynasty), and her scandalous liaison with Titus, the Roman general and emperor‑to‑be, guaranteed Berenice’s celebrity. This reputation does not, however, paint a complete portrait of Berenice, nor does it capture her significance. Her political acumen was as effective as it would become legendary. The great‑granddaughter of Herod the Great and the daughter of King Agrippa I, she promoted the family’s unusual version of Judaism as well as its outsized ambitions. Berenice was a pivotal figure in Agrippa II’s advance in imperial preferment; played a crucial role during the Jewish‑Roman war; and, as consort to Titus, supported his father, Vespasian, in his accession to the role of emperor.
Join us every other Monday starting Feb. 23rd.
Monday, February 23rd
Monday, March 9th
Monday, March 23rd
Monday, April 6th
Monday, April 20th
Monday, May 4th
For more information, call 845-758-7667, or e-mail [email protected].
Bruce Chilton, Bernard Iddings Bell Professor of Philosophy and Religion; Director, Institute of Advanced Theology
Friday, March 20, 2026 12:30–1:30 pm
Bard Hall Berenice (born circa 28) was the most notorious Jewish woman in the Roman Empire of her time. Multiple marriages, rumors of incestuous relations with her brother (Agrippa II of the Herodian dynasty), and her scandalous liaison with Titus, the Roman general and emperor‑to‑be, guaranteed Berenice’s celebrity. This reputation does not, however, paint a complete portrait of Berenice, nor does it capture her significance. Her political acumen was as effective as it would become legendary. The great‑granddaughter of Herod the Great and the daughter of King Agrippa I, she promoted the family’s unusual version of Judaism as well as its outsized ambitions. Berenice was a pivotal figure in Agrippa II’s advance in imperial preferment; played a crucial role during the Jewish‑Roman war; and, as consort to Titus, supported his father, Vespasian, in his accession to the role of emperor.
Join us every other Monday starting Feb. 23rd.
Monday, February 23rd
Monday, March 9th
Monday, March 23rd
Monday, April 6th
Monday, April 20th
Monday, May 4th
For more information, call 845-758-7667, or e-mail [email protected].
Sarale Ben-Asher Assistant Professor of Philosophy, University of New Mexico
Tuesday, March 24, 2026 3:30 pm
Olin Humanities, Room 203 Socrates’ defense of recollection in the Phaedo (72e–77a) turns on the claim that sensible reality falls short of the corresponding form. Socrates illustrates the point with sticks, which he argues “strive” (oregetai) to be like the form of equality but “fall short” (endeesterōs echein, 74d–75a). On the traditional reading, material objects cannot be exactly equal—e.g., no stick is exactly equal to any other. Contemporary scholars tend to reject this reading, arguing instead that sensible items fall short by admitting equality as well as inequality. I show that both readings fail.
To understand the inferiority claim, we must bring in the pedagogical context in which it occurs, rather than treating it in strict metaphysical terms. I argue that the inferiority of sensibles is an evaluative stance that permeates the pedagogical situation on the side of learners and teachers. Since learning aims at the form of each thing, the material examples from which teaching and learning proceed have conditional value relative to the forms they communicate. Equal sticks, for example, enter a mathematical context as symbols of equality, never in themselves, i.e., as the material objects they are. This interpretation explains the striving—and inevitable depreciation—of sensible reality relative to the forms, shedding new light on the overall argument.Sponsored by: Dean of the College; Philosophy Program.
How to Research Like a Dog: Kafka's New Science (MIT Press, 2024)
A talk by Aaron Schuster
Friday, March 27, 2026 12 pm
Hegeman 204A Aaron Schuster is presenting his new book How to Research Like a Dog: Kafka's New Science (MIT Press, 2024).
Dr Schuster is a writer and philosopher, who lives in Amsterdam. He works at the intersection of continental philosophy and psychoanalysis, and engages with modernist literature, film, theater, and contemporary art. He has written on a wide range of topics, including the history of levitation, the philosophy of tickling, the psychopathology of AI, the comedy of Ernst Lubitsch, Jean Genet’s political theater, Andrei Platonov’s Anti-Sexus, the Bolshevik feminism of Alexandra Kollontai, the theory of the breakup, and complaining. He is the author of The Trouble with Pleasure: Deleuze and Psychoanalysis (MIT Press, 2016), co-author of Sovereignty, Inc.: Three Essays in Politics and Enjoyment (University of Chicago Press, 2020), and he is the editor of E-flux Notes.Sponsored by: Philosophy Salon.
For more information, call 845-758-6822, or e-mail [email protected].
Karla Kelsey, Professor of English and Creative Writing, Susquehanna University
Tuesday, March 3, 2026 5:30 pm
Stevenson Library - 1st Floor Recovering women writers from literary obscurity is both an archival and a feminist act. Join poet and scholar Karla Kelsey for a reading exploring the revolutionary work of modernist writer and artist Mina Loy (1882-1966), followed by a conversation with Alys Moody. As editor of Lost Writings: Two Novels by Mina Loy and author of the poet's novel Transcendental Factory: For Mina Loy, Kelsey uncovers multiple ways fragmented archives can activate new creative possibility. This event offers participants insight into the editorial process, poetic homage, and the generative power of lost texts.Sponsored by: Division of Languages and Literature; Gender and Sexuality Studies Program; Literature Program.
For more information, call 845-758-6822, or e-mail [email protected].
Bruce Chilton, Bernard Iddings Bell Professor of Philosophy and Religion; Director, Institute of Advanced Theology
Friday, March 6, 2026 12:30–1:30 pm
Bard Hall Berenice (born circa 28) was the most notorious Jewish woman in the Roman Empire of her time. Multiple marriages, rumors of incestuous relations with her brother (Agrippa II of the Herodian dynasty), and her scandalous liaison with Titus, the Roman general and emperor‑to‑be, guaranteed Berenice’s celebrity. This reputation does not, however, paint a complete portrait of Berenice, nor does it capture her significance. Her political acumen was as effective as it would become legendary. The great‑granddaughter of Herod the Great and the daughter of King Agrippa I, she promoted the family’s unusual version of Judaism as well as its outsized ambitions. Berenice was a pivotal figure in Agrippa II’s advance in imperial preferment; played a crucial role during the Jewish‑Roman war; and, as consort to Titus, supported his father, Vespasian, in his accession to the role of emperor.
Join us every other Monday starting Feb. 23rd.
Monday, February 23rd
Monday, March 9th
Monday, March 23rd
Monday, April 6th
Monday, April 20th
Monday, May 4th
For more information, call 845-758-7667, or e-mail [email protected].
Hudson Valley Political Theory presents: The Social Costs of the Elite's Work Hours: An Egalitarian Case for Universal Work TIime Regulations
Julie L. Rose Professor of Government, Dartmouth College
Friday, March 6, 2026 5 pm
Lippman 100, Union College In the United States today,work is increasingly polarized around “good jobs” and “bad jobs”, generally following familiar patterns of social stratification.There is, however, a striking exception to the congruence between labor market polarization and socioeconomic inequality. That is, in the US today, the good jobs of the socially and economically advantaged are often marred by one undesirable feature: long work hours. If people have claims to limits on their work hours, should such claims apply universally, protecting even those workers who are otherwise advantaged? Or should highly-paid professionals be excepted, as they are in the Fair Labor Standards Act? Recent arguments in political philosophy support an ‘exempt the elite’ position. On this view, the elite’s long hours are acceptable, even desirable, because they generate tax revenue that can be redistributed to the less advantaged. I here challenge the position that the elite’s long hours should be welcomed by showing how their long hours generate a range of inegalitarian social costs. If the elite’s long hours are more detrimental than beneficial to the realization of broadly egalitarian commitments, there is an egalitarian justification for not exempting the elite from work time regulations.
Paper will be pre-circulated. Contact [email protected] or Pinar Kemerli at [email protected] for the paper.Sponsored by: Union College Political Science and Philosophy Departments, American Studies Program, and The Dean of Bard College.
For more information, call 845-758-6822, or e-mail [email protected].
Bruce Chilton, Bernard Iddings Bell Professor of Philosophy and Religion; Director, Institute of Advanced Theology
Monday, March 9, 2026 12:30–1:30 pm
Bard Hall Berenice (born circa 28) was the most notorious Jewish woman in the Roman Empire of her time. Multiple marriages, rumors of incestuous relations with her brother (Agrippa II of the Herodian dynasty), and her scandalous liaison with Titus, the Roman general and emperor‑to‑be, guaranteed Berenice’s celebrity. This reputation does not, however, paint a complete portrait of Berenice, nor does it capture her significance. Her political acumen was as effective as it would become legendary. The great‑granddaughter of Herod the Great and the daughter of King Agrippa I, she promoted the family’s unusual version of Judaism as well as its outsized ambitions. Berenice was a pivotal figure in Agrippa II’s advance in imperial preferment; played a crucial role during the Jewish‑Roman war; and, as consort to Titus, supported his father, Vespasian, in his accession to the role of emperor.
Join us every other Monday starting Feb. 23rd.
Monday, February 23rd
Monday, March 9th
Monday, March 23rd
Monday, April 6th
Monday, April 20th
Monday, May 4th
For more information, call 845-758-7667, or e-mail [email protected].
Bruce Chilton, Bernard Iddings Bell Professor of Philosophy and Religion; Director, Institute of Advanced Theology
Friday, March 20, 2026 12:30–1:30 pm
Bard Hall Berenice (born circa 28) was the most notorious Jewish woman in the Roman Empire of her time. Multiple marriages, rumors of incestuous relations with her brother (Agrippa II of the Herodian dynasty), and her scandalous liaison with Titus, the Roman general and emperor‑to‑be, guaranteed Berenice’s celebrity. This reputation does not, however, paint a complete portrait of Berenice, nor does it capture her significance. Her political acumen was as effective as it would become legendary. The great‑granddaughter of Herod the Great and the daughter of King Agrippa I, she promoted the family’s unusual version of Judaism as well as its outsized ambitions. Berenice was a pivotal figure in Agrippa II’s advance in imperial preferment; played a crucial role during the Jewish‑Roman war; and, as consort to Titus, supported his father, Vespasian, in his accession to the role of emperor.
Join us every other Monday starting Feb. 23rd.
Monday, February 23rd
Monday, March 9th
Monday, March 23rd
Monday, April 6th
Monday, April 20th
Monday, May 4th
For more information, call 845-758-7667, or e-mail [email protected].
Sarale Ben-Asher Assistant Professor of Philosophy, University of New Mexico
Tuesday, March 24, 2026 3:30 pm
Olin Humanities, Room 203 Socrates’ defense of recollection in the Phaedo (72e–77a) turns on the claim that sensible reality falls short of the corresponding form. Socrates illustrates the point with sticks, which he argues “strive” (oregetai) to be like the form of equality but “fall short” (endeesterōs echein, 74d–75a). On the traditional reading, material objects cannot be exactly equal—e.g., no stick is exactly equal to any other. Contemporary scholars tend to reject this reading, arguing instead that sensible items fall short by admitting equality as well as inequality. I show that both readings fail.
To understand the inferiority claim, we must bring in the pedagogical context in which it occurs, rather than treating it in strict metaphysical terms. I argue that the inferiority of sensibles is an evaluative stance that permeates the pedagogical situation on the side of learners and teachers. Since learning aims at the form of each thing, the material examples from which teaching and learning proceed have conditional value relative to the forms they communicate. Equal sticks, for example, enter a mathematical context as symbols of equality, never in themselves, i.e., as the material objects they are. This interpretation explains the striving—and inevitable depreciation—of sensible reality relative to the forms, shedding new light on the overall argument.Sponsored by: Dean of the College; Philosophy Program.
How to Research Like a Dog: Kafka's New Science (MIT Press, 2024)
A talk by Aaron Schuster
Friday, March 27, 2026 12 pm
Hegeman 204A Aaron Schuster is presenting his new book How to Research Like a Dog: Kafka's New Science (MIT Press, 2024).
Dr Schuster is a writer and philosopher, who lives in Amsterdam. He works at the intersection of continental philosophy and psychoanalysis, and engages with modernist literature, film, theater, and contemporary art. He has written on a wide range of topics, including the history of levitation, the philosophy of tickling, the psychopathology of AI, the comedy of Ernst Lubitsch, Jean Genet’s political theater, Andrei Platonov’s Anti-Sexus, the Bolshevik feminism of Alexandra Kollontai, the theory of the breakup, and complaining. He is the author of The Trouble with Pleasure: Deleuze and Psychoanalysis (MIT Press, 2016), co-author of Sovereignty, Inc.: Three Essays in Politics and Enjoyment (University of Chicago Press, 2020), and he is the editor of E-flux Notes.Sponsored by: Philosophy Salon.
For more information, call 845-758-6822, or e-mail [email protected].
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