The Annual Southwest Graduate Philosophy Conference
Each year, the Graduate Philosophical Society at ASU holds a graduate conference in the spring to give graduate students in the southwest an opportunity to present their work, receive feedback and network with other graduate students.
Friday, April 24–Saturday, April 25, 2026
Lattie F. Coor Hall, ASU Tempe Campus
976 S Forest Mall, Tempe, AZ 85281
Call for papers
The 2026 Southwest Graduate Philosophy Conference theme will be Civility and Incivility. We welcome graduate student submissions from any area of philosophy, but priority will be given to papers relevant to the theme and/or relevant to social philosophy broadly constructed. This year our conference is co-hosted by ASU’s MAP chapter, so we particularly encourage graduate students to submit papers on topics that are relevant to marginalized communities."
Submissions are now open. Each presenter will be given 30 minutes for their presentation and 15-20 minutes for comments and Q&A. We welcome submissions in all areas of philosophy. For details on how to apply, see the call for papers.
Questions may be directed toward Scout Etterson
Keynote Speaker
Schedule
Friday, April 24
She Was Asking For It; Blame-Shifting and Guilt-Trapping
Sofia Koukia, University of Bern, Switzerland
Commentator: Scout Etterson
Stop Expressing Blame
Jamie Carmichael, California State University, Long Beach
Commentator: Spencer Heitman
Perfectionism Without Autonomy
Nurit Matuk Blaustein, University of Southern California
Commentator: Joshua Uterstaedt
Defiance as a Reactive-ish Attitude
Jacob Blitz, University of Arizona
Commentator: Jamie Carmichael
Where There is Trust, Comes Sincerity
Lancy Lopez, California State University, Long Beach
Commentator: Sophia Koukia
Civility, Civic Friendship, and Uncivil Disobedience
Gabriel Sánchez Ainsa, Northwestern University
Commentator: Yashin Voss
Saturday, April 25
A Theory of Defensive Attitudes: An Account of Blame and Praise Under
Oppression
Godesulloh Bawa, Cornell University
Commentator: Jacob Blitz
Better Knowledge?
Gabby Xin Zhang, Washington University in Saint Louis
Commentator: Joshua Uterstaedt
Diagnosing a (Dis)Agreement: Conservatives and Scholars of Race on White Guilt
William Moix, SUNY - Binghamton
Commentator: Abel Peña
Make Room for Incivility on Campus
Wenwen Li, University of Wisconsin - Madison
Commentator: Gabriel Sánchez Ainsa
Dr. Sukaina Hirji, University of Pennsylvania
* Our funding will cover breakfast, lunch and Saturday’s dinner costs for the conference.
Postino Annex is a 10 minute walk from the conference venue, and we will walk over after the Keynote on Saturday.
Funding provided by:
