Digest Week 3 Michaelmas Term 2026
MT26, Week 3 (25 October - 31 October)
If you have entries for the weekly Digest, please send information to admin@philosophy.ox.ac.uk by midday, Tuesday the week before the event.
For events occurring at the Institute for Ethics in AI, see here.
Notices
Other Philosophy events, including those taking place elsewhere in the university and beyond
Enlarging Reason Seminar Series
Action and Embodied Reason
Date: Monday, 26 October, 4–5:30pm
Venue: Large Seminar Room, St Cross College
Speaker: Michael Wee
For more information on the workshop series and details of each talk, please check the website. Registration is recommended to help with event-planning.
Please feel free to contact the organisers at jana.sedlakova@ethox.ox.ac.uk or michael.wee@ethox.ox.ac.uk in case of any queries.
Oxford Mathematics Public Lecture
On the origins of Riemann’s Hypothesis - David E Rowe
Date: Wednesday, 28 October, 5-6.00pm
Venue: Andrew Wiles Building, Mathematical Institute, Oxford
Much has been written about the Riemann hypothesis, which many consider to be the most important unsolved problem in mathematics today. It concerns the zeros of the Riemann zeta function, which Riemann introduced in his famous 8-page paper from 1859. This talk aims to explain the motivation behind his paper, which only incidentally mentioned the Riemann hypothesis. This story has many sequels.
David E. Rowe is Professor Emeritus for History of Mathematics and Natural Sciences at Johannes Gutenberg University in Mainz.
Please email external-relations@maths.ox.ac.uk to register to attend in person.
The lecture will be broadcast on the Oxford Mathematics YouTube Channel on Wednesday 18 November at 5-6 pm and any time after (no need to register for the online version).
Avicenna Reading Group
Convenor: Ibrahim Safri
Date: Tuesday, 27 October, 2–3:30pm
Venue: Magdalen College, McFarlane Library
The theory of time remains one of the most complex and significant subjects of inquiry, central to both philosophical and physical discourse globally. Throughout the history of world philosophy, this concept has been continually refined, spanning Late Antiquity and Neoplatonism through to Islamic, Medieval, and Early Modern philosophical traditions. Within the global corpus of Arabic philosophy, diverse interpretations of time have emerged, shaped by three primary perspectives that influenced Islamic medieval conceptions of this theory. This reading class will focus on Avicenna’s The Physics of The Healing, in which he presents various notions of time before establishing his own account.
This MT26, and following a comprehensive introduction to the concept of time in global Arabic philosophy, we will continue with Chapter 11, on the Essence of Time.
Text: Avicenna, The Physics of The Healing; a Parallel English-Arabic Text. Translated by: Jon McGinnis. Provo, Utah: Brigham Young University Press, 2009.
Wittgenstein Reading Group
Wittgenstein’s Remarks on Colour.
Convenor: Richard Gipps
Date: Tuesday, 27 October, 5–7pm
Venue: Cherwell Room, St Hilda's College
Please contact Richard Gipps (richard.gipps@bfriars.ox.ac.uk) to enquire about attending the meeting and the relevant passages to read.
Brain and Mind Workshop Series
Animal Consciousness and the Brain
Speakers: Walter Veit (University of Reading), Lars Chittka (Queen Mary University of London), and Alexandrina Guran (University of Hamburg).
Date: Tuesday, October 27, 5-7:15pm
Venue: Jacqueline du Pre Music Building, St Hilda's College
The workshop will investigate the topic of animal consciousness and the brain from the points of view of philosophy, psychology, and neuroscience. The talks will be followed by a Q&A session.
This is an in-person event, where all are welcome. It is free, but booking on Eventbrite is required at the link: Brain and Mind: Animal Consciousness and the Brain Tickets, Tuesday, October 27 • 5 PM - 7:15 PM | Eventbrite