1. Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Cultures
  2. School of Philosophy, Religion and History of Science
  3. Mangoletsi-Potts lectures

Mangoletsi-Potts lectures

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.

2025 lectures

The 2025 Mangoletsi-Potts lectures will be given by Professor Kristie Dotson (University of Michigan – Ann Arbor) on the theme of: ‘Collective Agendas After Apocalypse’.

Professor Kristie Dotson specializes in epistemology, metaphilosophy, and feminist philosophy (particularly, women of color and Black feminisms). Specifically, Dr. Dotson works on how knowledge-related concerns play a role in maintaining and obscuring oppression. She has published numerous journal articles in political epistemology, Black feminist philosophy, and metaphilosophy.

Lecture 1: Lessons from #WhyWeCantWait: Tracking Affectability Imbalances in an Executive Initiative

Wednesday 14 May, 16:30 – 18:00, Nathan Bodington Chamber

Lecture 2: Beyond the Now: Epistemic Oppression and the “Common” Sense of Incarceration

Thursday 15 May, 16:00 – 17:30, Nathan Bodington Chamber

Lecture 3: Quiet as its Kept: Generating Epistemic Frailty in Political World Building

Wednesday 21 May, 16:00 – 17:30, Nathan Bodington Chamber

Lecture 4: Dear Toni Morrison: Notes Towards a Sustainable, Black Sovereignty

Thursday 22 May, 16:00 – 17:30, Nathan Bodington Chamber

Previous lectures:

  • 2024 Professor Marya Schechtman: Still Me: The experience of self in time, personal identity, and the depth of a human life
  • 2023 Professor Mark Schroeder: When Things Get Personal
  • 2022 Professor John Norton: The Material Theory of Induction – Introduced; Analogy, Abduction and Simplicity; Why Not Bayes; There is No Complete Calculus of Inductive Inference
  • 2019 Christina Van Dyke: Philosophy as a Way of Life: Self-Knowledge, Love, and Wisdom in the Medieval Contemplatives
  • 2018 Sally Haslanger: Ameliorating Social Practices: Cognition, Culture, and Critique
  • 2017 Mohan Matthen: Art's for Pleasure's Sake
  • 2016 Rae Langton: Doing and Undoing Things with Words
  • 2015 Helen Beebee: Turf Wars: Science and Metaphysics
  • 2014 John Cottingham: Towards a More Humane Philosophy of Religion
  • 2012 Dominic McIver Lopes: Four Arts of Photography
  • 2011 Jane Heal: Other Minds
  • 2010 Katherine Hawley: Distrust, Ignorance and Injustice
  • 2009 Peter van Inwagen: God, Science and Philosophy
  • 2008 John Dupré: The New Philosophy of Nature