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Political satire—long a staple of late-night TV—plays a critical role in democracy, cutting through partisanship and exposing hypocrisies that traditional news often can’t, says philosophy professor David Shoemaker.
Migdalia Arcila-Valenzuela is one of 20 recipients of Newcombe Doctoral Dissertation Fellowships for 2025-26, selected from nearly 600 applicants.
Migdalia Arcila-Valenzuela is a doctoral candidate in philosophy from Medellín, Colombia. She earned her B.A. in philosophy and literature from Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana in Medellín, Colombia, and M.A., magna cum laude, in philosophy from Universidad de los Andes in Bogotá, Colombia and now studies how praise and pride reflect the values embraced by a given society under the guidance of John M. Doris at Cornell. She was recently featured in the Cornell Grad School's "Student Spotlight".
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The professorships are made possible because of gifts from alumni, parents and friends.
Projects spanned topics from Confederate cemeteries to Korean textiles.
Hanako Yamasaki is majoring in comparative literature and philosophy.
S. Gottfried is a Robert S. Harrison College Scholar who is also majoring in philosophy & English.
Sina Toussi ’91 established a new undergraduate scholarship in honor of Professors David B. Lyons and Allen W. Wood. The gift contributes to Cornell’s Undergraduate Affordability Initiative, and it is focused on supporting first-generation college students from the Bronx, New York.
A senior talks about one of his favorite classes.
For Steinberg, the relevance of history extends beyond academia. He is heartened by the increasing number of philosophers engaging in public philosophy, especially in relation to contemporary issues like social media and AI.
I'm interested in understanding norms. There are moral norms that tell us how to conduct ourselves in relation to others, there are epistemic norms for how we should orient our beliefs in relation to the world [...] and then there are legal norms that tell us, for example, that no one should be deprived of life, liberty or property without due process of law.
"Is Fat Female? Evolution, Feminism, and Getting the Story Right” takes place in person March 5; a virtual conversation between the two will be livestreamed March 6.
Wednesday's executive order prohibiting transgender women and girls from competing in female sports discriminates not only against transgender people, but also against women, says philosophy professor Kate Manne.
The darker-than-darkly humorous comments and the horrified responses to them are compatible forms of righteous blame, says David Shoemaker, a professor in ethics and public life.
Philosopher David Shoemaker examines the complicated nature of both modes of response, teasing out their many varieties while defending a general symmetry between them.
The results of the 2024 U.S. presidential election aren’t due to a simple dislike or distrust of women, but a reflection of America’s violent indifference to women.
Following former President Trump’s campaign rally at Madison Square Garden on Sunday, Cornell experts comment on the event's speeches and on Democrats' responses.
Six fellows from a broad swath of humanities fields will present their projects in progress during the annual Fall Fellows’ conference, on Friday, Oct. 25.
Kate Manne is one of twenty-five finalists to contend for National Book Awards in the categories of Fiction, Nonfiction, Poetry, Translated Literature, and Young People’s Literature.
Toni Alimi, Philosophy
Justin Steinberg, Philosophy
"Cornell alumni are generous with their time and efforts to assist students, to answer questions from students, or connect them to people and places."
Peter John Loewen says he's excited to support faculty in their research, meet students and showcase the value of a liberal arts education.
Directed by College of Arts and Sciences (A&S) faculty in psychology and philosophy, the NEH-funded institute featured presentations from many leading figures in moral psychology, which studies human thought and behavior in ethical contexts
Assistant professor Toni Alimi traces the connections between Augustine’s understanding of slavery and his broader thoughts.
As Vice President Kamala Harris garners crucial support for her presidential campaign, Cornell University experts discuss the potential implications and challenges she might face.
Arundhati Singh approached the task using game theory and logic, to “strategize how women can go forward in this economic game that we seem to be stuck with."
With these new appointments, the number of A&S faculty appointed to endowed professorships since fall 2018 has reached 76.
Many generations of Sage professors have established a lasting legacy in Cornell’s history and have deeply influenced the study of philosophy and psychology worldwide.
Vonnegut, the grandson of author Kurt Vonnegut, is a rising senior at Tufts University.
In his new book, David Shoemaker, professor of philosophy, explores the need for spirited, sometimes prickly humor and the ethics that distinguish an innocent gibe from an offensive insult.
Coming from the University of Toronto, where he was the director of the Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy, Loewen began his five-year appointment as the Harold Tanner Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences Aug. 1.
A&S graduate students and faculty were among those honored with 2024 Distinguished Awards at the Graduate Diversity and Inclusion Awards and Recognition Celebration on May 14.
Cornell Speech Team members shared stories about gender, ethnicity, racism and their hometowns during the most successful season in the team’s 40-year history.
“This year’s Humanities Scholar Program conference was spectacular. The range of topics covered, the diversity of approaches, and the level of mastery demonstrated by the students were inspiring,” said interim director Lawrence Glickman.
Among the faculty members being recognized this year for exceptional teaching and mentorship are Liliana Colanzi, Durba Ghosh, and Nick Admussen.
Kim Montpelier is a classics and philosophy major.
Derrick Jones is a Philosophy major.
Organized by trans Cornellians, the event will address issues and harms facing the community from a trans perspective.
A new study highlights how demoralizing it can be for a person to work in a climate of repetitive skepticism and doubt.
The grants provide funding for students in unpaid or low-paying summer experiences to offset the cost of taking on those positions.
Sophia Gottfried '25 talks about putting on Cornell's first undergraduate philosophy conference.
After penning two acclaimed books on misogyny, Kate Manne turns her attention to a different—but related—form of oppression
"There’s something kind of beautiful about that sort of devotion to studying questions that really matter." Toni Alimi
Hodes works primarily in logic and the philosophy of mathematics, so he is accustomed to getting confused looks when he explains his projects. “I am interested in defending some version of logicism, the idea that an awful lot of mathematics is really fancy logic, which is to say higher order logic,” Hodes explains, “But I’m not sure how intelligible this is likely to be to someone without any philosophical training. I mean, what I do is kind of arcane.”
An accomplished philosopher of language, social philosopher, cognitive scientist, and mathematician with a full roster of other interests and experiences behind them, Professor Starr reflects on having “gotten deeply into a number of different things at different stages of [their] life.”
In her new book, “Unshrinking: How to Face Fatphobia,” Prof. Kate Manne draws on personal experience as well as scientific research.
Kate Manne writes that “food noise,” ubiquitous on social media, is a rebrand of some of the most basic human drives: hunger, appetite, craving – and she argues that we should resist this reframing.
The award honors “standout pieces that successfully blend philosophical argumentation with an op-ed writing style.”
The key to funny sarcasm is found in empathy, says professor David Shoemaker, who studies the moral psychology of humor.