Mangoletsi-Potts lectures 2026

The Mangoletsi-Potts Lectures are an annual series of four public lectures aimed at a general academic audience, addressing topics in 'theoretical philosophy' broadly construed

The series is funded by the Mangoletsi Trust. The trust was set up by our late colleague Dr Timothy Potts to honour the commitment of his mother to education.

The Mangoletsi-Potts lectures will be given this year by Professor Kevin Timpe (Calvin University, USA) on Structures Worthy of Caring.

Four lectures will take place on the following dates:

• 29th April 2026, 16.30 – 18.00 followed by drinks reception
• 30th April, 16.30 – 18.00
• 5th May, 16.30 – 18.00
• 6th May, 16.30 – 18.00

Professor Kevin Timbe said:

“In the first lecture, I explore the centrality of social systems for human flourishing, with an eye toward how systems can also contribute to injustices or other patterns that undermine flourishing. I begin with the fact that to be human is to be social. We are not able to live, much less to flourish, as mere individuals. To be human is to depend on others in the various communities that we’re a part of, and to depend on the social systems that surround us. 

“In the second lecture, in light of the importance of the social systems, I examine various ways that systems can fail to be what we need them to be. Sometimes systems are set up for malicious or unjust purposes, whether or not those in charge of them would recognize that description. In such cases, the problematic nature of the system can be explained by vice in those who design or have central roles in the system. But there are also systems for which the problematic nature of the system is not a function of and cannot be reduced to individual vice. Social system can be unjust even if no one in those systems intends them to be so or has that particular injustice themselves. That is, there can be non-reductionistic systemic injustices. 

“The third lecture turns from how systems can fail to the nature of good systems. It explores what is required of systems if they’re to help us flourish. To be human is to be particular: each of us is located within particular communities with particular dynamics. What it means for us to flourish will vary according to our community, our time in history, etc. So that lecture in particular will require us to look at specific systems, what they are able to contribute to our flourishing, and then what features they need to have in order to play those caring rolls. 

“The final lecture explores what it means to build and hold systems that are worth caring about, systems that themselves can support our care for each other. I argue we need to be deliberate in how we approach such systems if they are to help us flourish together. So the overarching trajectory of these four lectures is intended to be a moral, and political, argument for system construction.”

Please visit EventBrite to reserve your seat.