Department of Philosophy

The study of philosophy improves how we think and changes how we live.

At its core a search for understanding, philosophy helps students recognize their deep-rooted beliefs and ideas and challenges them to examine these ideas in detail.

We often make certain assumptions about the world around us without even realizing it. Philosophy helps us uncover and analyze these assumptions.

This process helps us better understand our world. It promotes progress by helping us see which of our assumptions can be justified and which cannot. It multiplies our freedoms, promotes equality, rids us of superstitions, and better equips us to live good and useful lives. It helps us develop into thoughtful, engaged, global citizens.

Our department values an interdisciplinary approach to education. We've partnered with three programs to enrich learning in the sciences and social sciences:

40th Anniversary of the Hastings Lecture in Philosophy

The Department of Philosophy is celebrating the 40th anniversary of the Hastings Lecture Series. The public is welcome to attend the lecture given by Dr. Alison Wylie, Professor and Canada Research Chair at UBC, and MtA alumna. The title of her lecture will be "The Future History or Philosophy: Engaged and Amphibious Field Philosophy." Reception to follow. Windsor Grand Room, Friday, May 22nd at 7pm.

We're excited to announce that Madeleine Léger will be joining our Department for a two year term as the McKenna School of Philosophy,Politics and Economics (PPE) Post-Doctoral Fellow in Philosophy. This fall, Madeleine Léger will teach a course on “Land and the Enlightenment.” In the winter, she will teach the inaugural PPE capstone seminar, entitled “Philosophy of Place.”

Madeleine Léger is a PhD candidate at Georgetown University. Her primary interests are in the philosophy of place, the philosophy of language, and feminist philosophy. Her dissertation examines the intersection of material cultures, social imaginaries, and history in placemaking processes, with a particular focus on Mi’kma’ki and Wolastokuk/the Maritimes. Some of her other projects concern Acadian language practices and minoritized linguistic futures, a topic that is near to her heart.

Madeleine’s research and teaching engage closely with political science, geography, and the arts. She was the Assistant Managing Editor of the Kennedy Institute of Ethics Journal from 2022–25, and she has held several positions in the public sector. She is delighted to join Mount Allison’s Philosophy Department and PPE program to continue doing interdisciplinary and locally driven work in her community.

Prof. Léger graduated from Mount Allison University with an honours in Philosophy in 2019. Welcome back to campus!

Dr. Moser publishes philosophical dialogue

Congrats to Dr. Robbie Moser on his recently-published and innovative philosophical dialogue!

On a Road from Eleusis to Larissa is a dialogue by Mount Allison University Philosophy professor Robbie Moser. Modelled on the Meno dialogue and following in the tradition of imaginative re-writings by Iris Murdoch and others, this text sets contemporary and ancient philosophers in conversation with one another. The voices here recall and respond to Jan Zwicky, Ludwig Wittgenstein, Plato, and others.

Read more on the Hardscrabble Press website.

Want a little taste of an upper-year philosophy course?

Watch Dr. Jane Dryden discuss one of her specialties, the philosophy of disability! For more on this general topic, students can take PHIL 3741: Philosophy of Disability. The video was created in August 2020 to engage students who self-isolated as a precautionary measure during the Covid-19 pandemic.