CEU Philosophy Department

30/09/2026

❓️ Have you heard about the OPEN SOCIETY SCHOLARSHIP?

The Open Society Scholarship provides need-based financial aid to talented at-risk students from underprivileged family backgrounds who are deeply committed to social change. This opportunity is open to candidates applying for their first master’s degree.

🔥 The scholarship provides a full tuition award, along with a monthly stipend and/or housing benefits, valued at €8,000 per academic year.

🛑 To be considered you must apply for an eligible MA program before the first-round deadline of October 15!!

👉️ Check out our MA Philosophy admission here: https://buff.ly/iQQCmce

👉️or to find out more about the scholarship: https://buff.ly/023Etot

24/09/2026

PHIL COLLOQUIUM
Join us next Tuesday when Jonathan Knutzen ( Central European University and Knowledge in Crisis ) talks about 'How False Beliefs Scaffolded Moral Knowledge'.

📅 Tuesday 29th September
⏰️ 3:40 – 5:20 pm
📍 Central European University

Many historical arguments for moral equality can be interpreted as having reached true conclusions based on false factual premises. My interest in this talk is how to interpret such cases. Specifically, my interest is in how to think about the epistemic fruitfulness of false factual beliefs in moral inquiry, both at the level of individual inquiring agents and at the level of collective inquiry over time. After giving a series of historical cases, I outline a view of cultural scaffolding on which factually false beliefs can be epistemically beneficial insofar as they afford epistemic access to important moral truths in particular historical and cultural contexts.

This colloquium talk is planned as an in-person event.
Registration is only required for non-CEU members.
Register here: https://buff.ly/BWJPBjC

21/09/2026

Orientation Week 2026: What a welcome! 🎓

At the beginning of Septmeber, CEU welcomed its newest cohort — including our incoming MA and PhD Philosophy students!

Between treasure hunts, smoothie-bikes, ice cream, photo booths, board games, and a spin of the wheel of fortune, the new students from around the globe also found time to explore the campus, meet the units that help students settle in, and figure out exactly where the best coffee is!

The week also brought the opening ceremony, speed socials, yoga, and more — culminating in a Student Union party on Saturday night!

You could be part of it all next year! Find out more about our MA and PhD programs https://buff.ly/5L2rxla

Take a look at how the week unfolded 👇

17/09/2026

🗣️ COLLOQUIUM - Save the date!

🎶 Contemporary Music Notation: What, and Who, Is It For? With Gabriel Rabin (New York University Abu Dhabi and New York University ) 🎼

📍 Tuesday, September 22, 2026 · 3:40 – 5:20 pm at Central European University

What, and who, is contemporary music notation (the ubiquitous system of horizontal lines dotted with flag-adorned circles) for? The obvious answer is that the system is for representing music. I will argue that this answer is woefully incomplete.

👉️ Join us to hear why! More info including registration details here: https://buff.ly/us1BYI1

15/09/2026

CEU department of Philisophy offers two MA philosophy programs - 1- and 2-year. Let’s find out which one is right for you and join us in 2027!

11/09/2026

💥 TODAY at 12pm

Our Senior Visiting Researcher Michael Schmitz presents "Asking Ourselves How to Live" at the Group Agency and Metaethics Conference at Universität Wien

To find out more about the workshop: https://buff.ly/79QIldu

Workshop Group Agency and Metaethics Metaethics concerns the study of the metaphysical, epistemological, semantic and psychological presuppositions and commitments of moral thought, talk and practice. However, the answers to these various questions are typically developed with a focus on individuals...

10/09/2026

MA Philosophy — Which one do I choose?
The Department of Philosophy at CEU offers a world-class MA in Philosophy, in either a 1-year or 2-year format.

Both tracks offer:
💡 Funding options
🎓 World-class faculty
🗣️ Small, interactive seminars
🔍 Specializations and Advanced Certificates
📅 Weekly colloquium
🌍 An expansive international research network..and more!

Wondering which format suits you? Scroll through the slides above and hopefully you'll find out which is right for you. Still unsure? We're always happy to talk through your questions.
Check out our program page or reach out — https://www.ceu.edu/academics/degrees/ma-philosophy

09/09/2026

WORKSHOP 9-11 September

Asst. Prof. Asya Passinsky will present "A Norm-First Account of Social Objects and Their Functions," at the workshop on "Group Agency and Metaethics,".ac.at .

Running from 9-11th September, the workshop aims to explore the significance of the possibility of group agency for debates in metaethics, and vice versa and hears from four keynote speakers.

The workshop will focus on group agency in connection to topics such as naturalism/non-naturalism; realism/anti-realism; cognitivism/non-cognitivism; the nature of normativity and norms; normative reasons; rationality; and experimental metaethics.

02/09/2026

🔥 Current Philosophy PhD Student Balint Bekefi Publishes Three Papers!

Our PhD student Balint Bekefi has already published two papers this year and a third one has been accepted for publication in "Ergo: An Open Access Journal of Philosophy".

👏 Congratulations Balint, we can't wait to see what you're working on next!

🌟 If you're thinking about joining us for an MA or PhD in Philosophy find out more about our programs at https://buff.ly/IVDFtVO

For more about the papers read below

In "No Ghost in the Machine: Doubting AI Ensoulment" (Faith and Philosophy), Balint develops objections to Brian Cutter's arguments regarding artificial general intelligence having a soul. Cutter's missing-integrity objection contends that functional human-likeness is insufficient for fitness for ensoulment. The system’s physical parts and functional capacities should also be difficult to decouple, but this isn’t true for AI systems ordinarily conceived. The mimicry objection argues that our knowledge of how AI systems are engineered de feats the justification for their ensoulment in a way that is disanalogous with aliens. The paper concludes that Cutter has not given us reason to increase our credence in AI ensoulment.
https://place.asburyseminary.edu/faithandphilosophy/vol42/iss1/7/

In "Traducian Dualism: A Comparative Defence" (Religious Studies), Balint defends the traducian answer to where the soul comes from – the unfashionable view that souls are passed on by the parents through procreation. The defence is comparative: the paper argues that traducianism’s two main alternatives – emergent and creationist dualism –endorse assumptions based on which an at least equally plausible traducian model can be constructed. Two of the three traducian models proposed turn out also to be versions of emergentism or creationism. After reconstructing traducianism based on its paradigmatic historical representatives, the paper develops the comparison first with emergentism, then with creationism. Finally, two objections to traducianism are considered. The objection from the origin of the first soul is argued to fail, but the objection from monozygotic twinning appears to hold some weight for those not already committed to life beginning at conception. Thus, traducianism’s plausibility is higher than usually thought, but it partly depends on one’s broader positions.
https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/religious-studies/article/traducian-dualism-a-comparative-defence/F6DFC73C094BC4B34EB5891E54366CAD

In "Dualism’s Animal Problem(s) Resolved (Ergo), forthcoming, Balint aims to resolve the argument that animals pose a problem for substance dualism by distinguishing its two aspects: the problem of diverse mental capacities and the problem of vagueness. With respect to the former, it is argued that the best dualist accounts of embodiment in the human case already imply that mental capacities correlate with neural complexity. The implication of vast unexercised capacities in lower animals can be avoided if we allow that minds or souls can differ in their capacities. With respect to the problem of vagueness, the paper points out that the vagueness of consciousness is contested, and defending it comes at the cost of precluding the identification of any particular instance of a borderline case. Therefore, there is no reason to think there are borderline conscious animals. Taken together, these responses aim to resolve dualism’s animal problem.
https://philpapers.org/rec/BKEDAP