Walkway on Yale Campus

Political Philosophy and Race Speaker Series

The Political Philosophy and Race Speaker Series (PP&R) is sponsored by the Yale Philosophy Department. It comprises publicly-accessible talks on a variety of topics ranging from Black Femicide to contemporary debates about Confederate monuments. All PP&R events are free and designed with a general audience in mind. No registration is required to attend. All talks will conclude with a Q&A session, followed by a reception with the speaker to which all (in-person) attendees are invited.

The Faculty Coordinator of the PP&R speaker series is Robert Gooding-Williams, the Brooks and Suzanne Ragen Professor of Philosophy at Yale.

Spring 2026 Schedule

(All events will take place at 451 College Street, Room B04.)

The Wings of Reverence and Ecstasy: Staging Hope in Dark Times | Tuesday, Feb 3, 4–6pm EST

Paul C. Taylor

A great preacher once ended a sermon by announcing his plan to “forsake the forums of reason” to let his “soul fly free on the wings of reverence and ecstasy.” Argument gave way to praise; reason had had its hearing, and something else was needed. I’ve been thinking about this shift while pondering how to sustain hope in hard times. When evidence of decline overwhelms reasons for hope, arguments help—but only for a while. Artist Amy Sherald’s work offers not reasons but images of hope: it models openness and possibility while resisting despair. This may not be reverence or ecstasy, but it bears study.

Paul Taylor headshot

Paul C. Taylor is the Presidential Professor of Philosophy at the University of California, Los Angeles. Specializing in aesthetics, social and political philosophy, philosophical race theory, American philosophy, and Africana philosophy, he is the author of Black is Beautiful: A Philosophy of Black Aesthetics (Blackwell, 2016) and Race: A Philosophical Introduction (Polity, 2003; 3rd Edition 2022). 

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Freedom, with Respect to Antiblack Racism, Decolonization, and Justice | Tuesday, Feb. 24, 4–6pm EST

Lewis R. Gordon

Building on ideas from the speaker’s books Freedom, Justice, and Decolonization, Fear of Black Consciousness, and Bad Faith and Antiblack Racism (of which 30th anniversary edition was published in 2025), this talk will focus on the distinction between liberty and freedom and its implications for (1) the study of injustice and oppression with a focus on antiblack racism and (2) the decolonization of normative life, including the concepts of justice and social health.

Lewis Gordon headshot

Lewis R. Gordon is Board of Trustees Distinguished Professor of Philosophy and Global Affairs and Head of the Philosophy Department at the University of Connecticut. Specializing in Africana philosophy, phenomenology, and social, political, and public philosophy, he is the author of Black Existentialism and Decolonizing Knowledge (Bloomsbury, 2023); “Not Bad for an N—, No?” (Daraja Press, 2023); and the 30th Anniversary Edition of his first book Bad Faith in Antiblack Racism (Humanity Classics/Bloomsbury, 2025).

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Race as Form of Life | Tuesday, March 31, 4–6pm EST

Vincent Lloyd

To what extent is the concept “form of life” useful in understanding talk of race, and particularly the normativity of race? The concept promises to address the swirl of practices around race in a way that biological, social constructivist, and political accounts of race struggle to do. Yet the concept is often underdeveloped, leaving unanswered questions about, for example, how to individuate forms of life and how different forms of life relate to each other. In addition to working with this concept, I critically examine recent attempts to apply “form of life” to social groups by Talal Asad and William Paris.

Vincent Lloyd headshot

Vincent Lloyd is Professor and Director of the Center for Political Theology at Villanova University, where he is also an affiliate of the Africana Studies Program. Specializing in philosophy of religion, religion and politics, and race, he is the author of Black Dignity (Yale UP, 2022) and Black Natural Law (Oxford UP, 2016). His biography of Harold Cruse is forthcoming from Yale UP in Fall 2026.

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Talk Title to be Announced | Tuesday, April 21, 4–6pm EST

Kristi Dotson

Abstract details available soon.

Kristie Dotson

Kristi Dotson is the University Diversity and Social Transformation Professor of Philosophy and of Afroamerican and African Studies at the University of Michigan. Specializing in epistemology, metaphilosophy, and Black feminist philosophy, she is the author of numerous articles, including publications in Philosophical Topics, Philosophy and Phenomenological Research, Ethics and Education, Social Epistemology, Hypatia, Feminist Philosophy Quarterly, The Black Scholar, Philosophical Compass, and Ethnic and Racial Studies Review. 

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