Summer Programs (and Similar) in Philosophy for Undergraduates, 2020

PIKSI summer institutes are designed to encourage undergraduates from groups traditionally underrepresented in philosophy to consider future study of philosophy. Undergraduates and recent graduates are urged to apply; groups traditionally underrepresented in (anglophone) philosophy include women, LGBTQ and gender non-conforming people, people from economically disadvantaged communities, people with disabilities, and people of color or people racialized as nonwhite, including Chicano/a/xs and Latino/a/xs, Indigenous people, Pacific Islanders, people of African descent, and people of Asian descent. Transportation and lodging are provided. Stipends are awarded to all.

PLUSS 2020 invites members of historically marginalized groups to participate in a week-long summer reading school, which will be divided into two sections: (i) Discussion: Informed and sophisticated discussion concerning a number of historic American and Canadian legal decisions (and/or dissenting opinions) and their continued impact and (ii) Workshop: The opportunity for participants to improve their writing samples through dynamic group discussion and close reading of one another’s work. The program will include topics such as the devaluation of Black bodies in the law, legal regulation of Arab bodies post-9/11, undocumented migration and border detention centres, the (un)equal standing of women and gender minorities in the law, and the effective erasure of disabled bodies.

SPWP is a ten-day program for undergraduate women who are interested in pursuing graduate study in philosophy. SPWP is hosted by the UC San Diego Philosophy Department, and features philosophy seminar courses taught by visiting and UC San Diego faculty, along with a variety of workshops taught by faculty and graduate students — all geared towards providing an engaging philosophical learning experience and helpful preparation for applying to and succeeding at graduate school in philosophy and beyond.

SIPP@Brown is a two week residential program for undergraduate students who are interested in pursuing a graduate degree in philosophy and who are members of groups that traditionally have been underrepresented in the field.

During the program, participants will attend two daily seminars: The Philosophy of Time, taught by Nina Emery, and Global Justice, taught by David Estlund. They will also participate in regular social and educational activities arranged by the Brown Department of Philosophy, and in the SIPP@Brown Conference. Participants can expect to leave the program with a better understanding of what graduate school in philosophy is like and how to prepare applications for both MA and PhD programs.

The Seminar is intended for outstanding undergraduates who are considering graduate school in philosophy. The aim is to introduce students to the atmosphere of a graduate-level seminar, giving participants a chance to explore and sharpen their philosophical abilities before they commit to a graduate program. The topic for the 2020 Summer Seminar is “Agreement, Disagreement, and Uncertainty”. The seminar will be team taught by twelve or more faculty members and will cover a wide variety of historical and contemporary issues in metaphysics, epistemology, and ethics. Expected class sessions include discussions of: agreement and sexual consent, agreement and the social contract tradition, religious disagreement, disagreement and the status of intuitions, individual disagreement and group-level mental states, moral disagreement and moral realism, moral uncertainty and the law, uncertainty and external world skepticism, uncertainty and inductive skepticism, uncertainty and quantum physics, and ethical theory and uncertainty about the future.

Northeastern