Postgraduate "Work In Progress" Seminar
Postgraduate Work-In-Progress SeminarA weekly seminar for Philosophy postgraduates to present their in-progress work, followed by a well-spirited trip to the pub. OverviewThe WIP provides a risk-free and supportive space for postgraduates to present their work and receive feedback from other graduates and faculty.
Attendance optional but highly recommended. All postgraduates are welcome to present or attend -- whether MA, MPhil, PhD, Visitors, etc. Useful InfoThe WIP is a unique opportunity for graduates to develop their presenting and writing skills, take risks, test out ideas, and receive constructive feedback from peers.
Presentations need not be watertight or polished pieces at all. You are encouraged to present work at all stages of the writing process. Should you present?Are you a postgraduate? Then yes, you should present. |
NEXT TALKBen Long (PhD) Scepticism Thursday 04/06/2026 5pm - 6:15pm S1.50 ORGANISERS |
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Departmental Colloquium - Kate Kirkpatrick (Oxford)
Week 2, 30 April - Kate Kirkpatrick (Oxford): The Myth of Recognition in The Second Sex
Since Eva Lundgren-Gothlin鈥檚 Sex and Existence and Nancy Bauer鈥檚 Simone de Beauvoir, Philosophy, and Feminism, several philosophical interpreters of The Second Sex have shared the assumption that The Second Sex is Hegelian and that 鈥渢he Hegel question鈥�—namely, the debate about whether and to what extent Beauvoir鈥檚 account of woman as the Other is indebted to Hegel鈥檚 Master/Slave dialectic—is best answered by reading Beauvoir through 鈥淔rench Hegel鈥�, and especially through the reading of Alexandre Koj猫ve. This paper argues on historical, textual, and conceptual grounds that Beauvoir鈥檚 philosophical and political project in The Second Sex is better characterized as anti-Hegelian, sharing methodological and political commitments with the 鈥渢urn to the concrete鈥� and 鈥淔rench Marx鈥�. Moreover, reading Beauvoir as a "French" Hegelian theorist of recognition overlooks her suspicion—a longstanding suspicion in French philosophy—of what she calls the "myth" of recognition itself.