General information about the Lecture Series: The concept of invisible work describes the forms of work that fall outside the traditional model of waged employment and are not recognized, in a monetary and/or symbolic sense, to the point that even their nature as “work” is often disputed. Invisible work takes place behind the scenes of more recognized and valued work. Given its liminal nature with respect to long-established categories, it serves as a prism for exploring a number of issues, from recognition to social segregation to the critical questioning of the normative assumptions behind what is supposed to count as “work.” The notion of invisible work promises to shed light, as it were, on the mechanisms of valorization that operate behind social cooperation. This series of lectures, open to the public, explores the subject from both a philosophical and interdisciplinary perspective.
Past events
Calendar archives
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Study Day on Radicalization @ Laval University
10 h 00 – 17 h 00
Join us for a study day on radicalization, scheduled for April 23, 2026, from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., at the Félix-Antoine Savard Pavilion at Laval University, 2325 rue des Bibliothèques, in Quebec City. This event will feature a presentation by guest speaker Miriam Schleifer McCormick, professor of philosophy at the University of Richmond, titled “The Value of Doubt.”
Schedule:
Morning (room FAS-428)
- 10:00 a.m. – 10:30 a.m.: Laurence Lévesque (PhD student in philosophy, ULaval), “Changement de valeurs et radicalisation : une objection à la théorie du bien-être de Valerie Tiberius”
- 10:30 a.m. – 11:00 a.m.: Vincent Rochelle (PhD student in philosophy, ULaval), “Rationalité et temporalité dans la radicalisation émotionelle”
- 11:00 a.m. – 11:15 a.m.: Break
- 11:15 a.m. – 11:45 a.m.: Romane Marcotte (PhD student in philosophy, ULaval), “Faut-il blâmer les personnes radicalisées ?”
- 11:45 a.m. – 12:15 p.m.: Erika Olivaux (PhD student in philosophy, ULaval), “À quoi sert le concept de victime ?”
Lunch, from 12:15 p.m. to 1:45 p.m.
Afternoon (room FAS-413)
- 1:45 p.m. – 2:45 p.m.: Catherine Rioux (Professor of Philosophy, ULaval), “Engagements profonds et vie épanouie : une tension insurmontable ?”
- 2:45 p.m. – 3:30 p.m.: Break
- 3:30 p.m. – 5:00 p.m.: Miriam Schleifer McCormick (Professor of Philosophy, University of Richmond), “The value of doubt”
*Please note that all presentations will be given in French, with the exception of the keynote speaker’s lecture.
This event is organized by the Centre de recherche en éthique (CRÉ), the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (CRSH – SSHRC) and the Groupe de recherche interuniversitaire sur la normativité (GRIN).
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“Casal on interspecies justice without over-demandingness” @ Room 309 at the CRÉ, hybrid mode
12 h 00 – 13 h 15
As part of the Midis de l’éthique du CRÉ lecture series, Will Gildea will present on “Casal on interspecies justice without over-demandingness.” The presentation will be given in English, but the ensuing discussion can be held in French and/or English.
To participate on Zoom, click here.
Credit : Harmut Kiewert, “Evolution in Revolution“.
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Philosophy and Ethics of Economics Reading Group @ HEC
12 h 00 – 13 h 30
You are cordially invited to the next Philosophy and Ethics of Economics Reading Group, which will be held in hybrid format (Zoom) on Monday, April 20, 2026, from 12:00 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. (Montreal time). The meeting will take place in room 2.880 (space z), 2nd floor at HEC, 3000 Côte Ste-Catherine (in the premises of the Alphonse-et-Dorimène-Desjardins International Institute of Cooperatives at the end of the hallway next to the library).
This session will focus on an article by Simone Sommer Degn entitled “Yes, Friendship and Love Can Be Bought and Sold” (Journal of Applied Philosophy, 2026). To participate via Zoom, click here.
To receive the text, please write to the organizers: Morgane Delorme (morgane.delorme1@umontreal.ca) ; Gabriel Monette (gabriel.monette@hec.ca) ; and Nicolas Pinsonneault (nicolas.pinsonneault@hec.ca).
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Advising policymakers. Choice and responsibility @ Room C-3061 Carrefour des arts et des sciences, Pavillon Lionel-Groulx, Université de Montréal
16 Apr – 17 Apr All day
RéCCord’s Second Annual Meeting
Thursday, April 16, 2026
- 8:30 a.m. – 9:00 a.m.: Welcome and opening remarks
- 9:00 a.m. – 10:45 a.m.: Emmanuel Picavet (Paris I Panthéon-Sorbonne), “Sur les rapports entre norms au croisement de la connaissance et du conseil”; Marc-Kevin Daoust (École de technologies supérieur), “Déférence et collaboration dans les systèmes à viseurs publics”
- 11:15 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.: Xavier Chatron-Colliet (Aix-Marseille School of Economics), “L’eudaimonia, entre justice sociale et agentivité relationnelle”; Morgane Delorme (ESG-UQÀM, ULaval), “La banque centrale comme « conseiller public » : éthique de la justification en démocratie”
- 2:00 p.m. – 3:45 p.m.: Luca Timponelli (U. of Lausanne), “Responsabilité individuelle et société industrielle : la synthèse républicaine”; Constanze Binder (Erasmus U. Rotterdam), “Walking a Mile in Your Shoes: Policy-Making and Partial Agreement in Plural Societies”
- 4:00 p.m. – 5:30 p.m.: Keynote speaker, Daniel Weinstock (McGill), “La voie du conseil”
Friday, April 17, 2026
- 9:00 a.m. – 10:45 a.m.: Ryoa Chung (UdeM), “Justice en santé et politiques publiques”; Sacha-Emmanuel Mossu (ULaval), “Philanthropie et innovation sociale : le rôle des fondations en démocratie”
- 11:15 a.m. – 12:45 p.m.: Adrienne Sala (Waseda U., School of International Liberal Studies), “L’expertise à l’épreuve du droit et de la justice procédurale : le cas du nucléaire japonais”
- 1:45 p.m. – 3:30 p.m.: François Claveau (U. of Sherbrooke), “Scientifique en chef aux pouvoirs étendus : y a-t-il un inacceptable conflit d’intérêts?”; Gilles Campagnolo (CNRS), “Du Caméralisme à la Sozialwirtschaft. Retour sur l’évolution du conseil politique en économie”
- 4:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m.: Network meeting
Open to all. No registration required. To participate via Zoom, click here.
For more information, please send an e-mail to the following address: democratieehiqepublique.chaire@ulaval.ca.
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Eszter Kollar (KU Leuven) @ University of Montreal
12 h 30 – 14 h 15
You are cordially invited to the second conference in the Invisible Labour lecture series organized by the Ésope Chair, in collaboration with the Centre de recherche en éthique. For this second event, we are pleased to welcome Eszter Kollar (KU Leuven), who will give a talk entitled “On the Normative Significance of Colonial Legacies for Justice in Labour Migration.” The conference will be held in English.The event will take place on April 14, 2026, from 12:30 p.m. to 2:15 p.m., in room 422 of the University of Montreal’s Department of Philosophy (2910 Édouard-Montpetit Boulevard, Montreal, QC). Please register via the following link.
Abstract
Colonial systems of labour organization, structured through racial hierarchies and differentiated migration schemes, re-emerge in contemporary labour immigration regimes that differentiate migrants by skills and rights. How this resurfacing should be properly accounted for in normative theorizing, and what its normative implications are, remains insufficiently understood in contemporary political philosophy. This paper aims to address that gap. First, I argue that a historically informed mapping of the structural processes of colonialism and capitalism enables theories of migration justice to capture a previously overlooked dimension of injustice in today’s differentiated labour immigration regimes: namely, that racialization as skill devaluation is a key form of labour control that is reinforced through contemporary border control regimes and their stratified migration systems. Second, I argue that a historically grounded understanding of injustice and labour deepens our normative grasp of what is unjust about contemporary labour migration and border control. It paves the way for rearticulating the normative problem of differentiated skills and rights through borders as a seemingly race-neutral, meritocratic organization of labour that, in fact, perpetuates a global racialized hierarchy. The injustice of differentiated labour migration regimes thus lies not merely in the restriction of migrant workers’ rights that conflict with liberal-democratic principles of social and political equality. Contemporary borders are a crucial site of global structural injustice, whereby present-day labour migration regimes systematically constrain the rights, mobility, and opportunities of racialized workers from the Global South, devalue their labour through border control, and expose them to persistent conditions of exploitation and marginalization.The Lecture Series on Invisible Work is an initiative by Denise Celentano (University of Montreal), holder of the Aesop Chair, in collaboration with the Centre de recherche en éthique.
For more information, please contact Denise Celentano at the following address: denise.celentano@umontreal.ca.
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CANCELED! Valerio de Stefano (York University) @ University of Montreal
16 h 30 – 18 h 30
Please, note that this event is canceled.
You are cordially invited to the second conference of the lecture series on invisible labor organized by the Aesop Chair in collaboration with the Centre de recherche en éthique. For this conference, we are pleased to welcome Valerio de Stefano (York University), author of the book Your Boss Is an Algorithm (Bloomsbury Publishing, 2022), with a presentation entitled “The Legally Invisible Platform Workers.”
The event will take place on April 2, 2026, at 4:30 p.m., in room C-2059 of the Lionel Groulx building at the University of Montreal (3150 Jean-Brillant Street, Montreal, QC H3T 1N8). Please register via the following link.
Abstract
Platform workers are increasingly visible in our communities, and their work attracts growing public attention. Yet the law has not fully recognised platform work. Even recent legislation specifically targeting platform work often fails to make it visible and legally salient across the full spectrum of protections. In some cases, it operates as a barrier, placing platform work behind a façade that risks concealing from workers fundamental rights and protections that should belong to all workers. This presentation analyses the legal mechanisms that produce this invisibility and discusses potential solutions to lift the cloak of legal invisibility now affecting platform workers.
The Lecture Series on Invisible Work is an initiative by Denise Celentano (University of Montreal), holder of the Aesop Chair, in collaboration with the Centre de recherche en éthique.
For more information, please contact Denise Celentano at the following address: denise.celentano@umontreal.ca.
General information about the Lecture Series: The concept of invisible work describes the forms of work that fall outside the traditional model of waged employment and are not recognized, in a monetary and/or symbolic sense, to the point that even their nature as “work” is often disputed. Invisible work takes place behind the scenes of more recognized and valued work. Given its liminal nature with respect to long-established categories, it serves as a prism for exploring a number of issues, from recognition to social segregation to the critical questioning of the normative assumptions behind what is supposed to count as “work.” The notion of invisible work promises to shed light, as it were, on the mechanisms of valorization that operate behind social cooperation. This series of lectures, open to the public, explores the subject from both a philosophical and interdisciplinary perspective.
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Philosophy and Ethics of Economics Reading Group @ HEC
12 h 00 – 13 h 30
You are cordially invited to the next Philosophy and Ethics of Economics Reading Group, which will be held in hybrid format (Zoom) on Monday, March 30, 2026, from 12:00 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. (Montreal time). The meeting will take place in room 2.880 (space z), 2nd floor at HEC, 3000 Côte Ste-Catherine (in the premises of the Alphonse-et-Dorimène-Desjardins International Institute of Cooperatives at the end of the hallway next to the library).
This session will focus on an article by Gabriel Monette (HEC) and Alexis Morin-Martel (McGill University) entitled “The Ethics of Kingmaking” (Ethical Theory and Moral Practice, 2026). Gabriel and Alexis will present their recently published article and participate in the discussion.
To receive the text, please write to the organizers: Morgane Delorme (morgane.delorme.1@umontreal.ca), Gabriel Monette (gabriel.monette@hec.ca) and Nicolas Pinsonneault (nicolas.pinsonneault@hec.ca).
To participate via Zoom, click here.
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The Faces of Responsibility @ Law Faculty, Maximilien-Caron Building and Carrefour des arts et des sciences, Université de Montréal
25 Mar 12 h 00 – 27 Mar 16 h 10
The conference The Faces of Responsibility aims to explore the plurality of forms that responsibility takes in our individual, social, and institutional practices. From an interdisciplinary perspective, bringing together scholars in moral and political philosophy, political science, and legal theory, the objective is to examine the concepts of moral responsibility, political responsibility, and legal responsibility.
The conference will be held in a hybrid format. David Owen’s and Philip Pettit’s presentations will be delivered via Zoom. To attend the conference yourselves by Zoom, you are invited to register here. You will then receive the connection link.
The program (PDF) is available here, and the presentation abstracts are available here.
Organization: Alex Carty (McGill), Melissa Hernandez-Parra (UdeM), Christian Nadeau (UdeM), Christine Tappolet (UdeM) & Daniel Weinstock (McGill).
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Second Session – CRÉ Graduate Fellows’ Seminar @ Room 309, CRE, hybrid
15 h 00 – 16 h 30
You are invited to the second session of the 2025–2026 edition of the CRÉ Graduate Fellows’ Seminar.
On this occasion, Alexandra Stankovich (UdeS) and Olivier Boucher (UdeM) will present their work. Each presentation will last approximately 20 minutes and will be immediately followed by a discussion of about 25 minutes.
The aim of the Seminar is to provide our graduate fellows with constructive feedback and critical discussion in order to help them strengthen their research projects. It also offers them the opportunity to practise delivering an academic presentation in a format comparable to that of scholarly conferences. We very much hope that many of you will join us for this activity, which we intend to be especially formative.
Both presentations will be in French, but questions may be asked either in French or English.
Program
1) 3:00–3:45 p.m. – Presentation by Olivier Boucher, master degree student in philosophie, working under the supervision of Denise Celentano (UdeM).
Limitarisme et limites planétaires
In my presentation, I would like to develop the central problem that will structure my thesis project, which will examine the relevance of limitarian theory in distributive justice for thinking about ecological issues—and, conversely, the relevance of ecological issues for limitarianism.
Limitarianism is a theory of distributive justice which holds that “in the world as it is, no one should have more than a certain amount of certain goods, such as income or wealth” (Robeyns, 2022; my translation). Two main arguments have been advanced in support of this view. The Democratic Argument (DA) claims that any wealth beyond a certain threshold constitutes a threat to political equality and to the stability of democratic regimes (Robeyns, 2022: 184). The Unmet Urgent Needs Argument (UUNA) maintains that any form of wealth beyond a certain threshold should be taxed in order to meet the urgent needs of a significant portion of humanity (Robeyns, 2022: 184).
Environmental concerns are already incorporated into limitarian arguments, but most often only in a secondary way. Yet it seems to me that the treatment of environmental issues within limitarian theory deserves closer examination, for at least three reasons.
First, recent research in environmental science argues that there are absolute “planetary boundaries” that should not be crossed in the exploitation of natural resources if humanity is to remain within a “safe operating space” (Steffen et al., 2023). Recent work has attempted to show the relevance of limitarian arguments for debates in environmental ethics concerning these planetary boundaries (Green, 2023; Bohnenberger, 2025). It thus seems that research on planetary boundaries could strengthen the UUNA, but also the DA, since the integrity of the biosphere is plausibly a condition of possibility not only for meeting human needs, but also for political equality and democracy (Steffen et al., 2023).
Second, it seems plausible that the establishment of limitarian thresholds is more strictly constrained by ecological considerations than by political or economic ones. Indeed, a limitarian threshold that failed to keep humanity within the biosphere’s “safe operating space” would likely also fail to achieve the aims of either the UUNA or the DA. For the ecosystemic conditions that make current economic and political institutions possible would be undermined (Steffen et al., 2023), thereby compromising the conditions under which urgent needs can be met and political equality preserved—both of which depend on the existence of these basic institutions. Moreover, this consideration could lead to a re-examination of what distinguishes limitarianism from other partial theories of justice, such as sufficientarianism, egalitarianism, and prioritarianism (Timmer, 2021). It may turn out that a limitarian threshold compatible with the ecological constraints of the biosphere would be so low that the distinction between these theories would collapse at the level of operationalization; alternatively, limitarianism might come to subsume the others logically (Hickey, 2019).
Third, and in light of the preceding points, limitarian theory might be reconsidered as a component of an ideal theory of justice, rather than as a component of a non-ideal theory of justice (Robeyns, 2022: 179). As Hickey (2019) suggests, it is plausible that there exists a “pre-institutional” limit to the appropriation of natural resources—that is, an absolute theoretical limit to the exploitation of natural resources that any theory of justice must respect. If so, the relevance of limitarian theses would not only be increased, but limitarian principles should be regarded as relevant not merely in “the world as it is and the closest possible worlds” (Robeyns, 2022: 199; my translation), but also in any world governed by the laws of thermodynamics—that is, in all physically possible worlds (Lee, 1989). Limitarian principles could therefore be integrated into an ideal theory of justice, for instance Rawls’s, as Christian Neuhäuser proposes (2018; 2023).
2) 3:45–4:30 p.m. – Presentation by Alexandra Stankovich, PhD candidate in practical philosophy at the Université de Sherbrooke,, under the supervision of Allison Marchildon (UdeS) and the co-supervision of Jessica Roda (Georgetown).
Expansion des frontières identitaires : dynamiser les orthodoxies juives par la voix de ceux·celles·celleux s’identifiant comme queer d’expérience hassidique
While the presuppositions connecting queerness and Jewish Orthodoxy are often conceived as antithetical, the panorama of embodiment of these identities is both vast and complex (Kabakov, 2010; Stankovich, 2025a). Without framing the discussion in binary terms — inside and outside orthodoxy —, but rather placing it on a spectrum, ranging from traditionally observant circles to the margins, the experience of queer and religious identities does not unfold in the same way in every context. While some use identity tactics to maintain their place in the Orthodox Jewish communities where they grew up, negotiating the terms of self-disclosure in order to fit into a halakhic framework, for others, living a double life becomes too emotionally, morally, and/or practically challenging; when this limit is reached, some make the more radical choice to distance themselves from it (Fader, 2020). However, those who leave these communities do not necessarily reject faith (or religion) but rather construct an alternative that explicitly unites their queerness and their Hasidic heritage (Stankovich, 2025a, 2025b).
Using a field philosophy framework (Briggle, 2015; Frodeman and Briggle, 2016; Vollaire 2016) – combining social science and practical philosophy approaches –, I will explore the intermarginality of queer public figures of Hasidic experience. They embody a specific position between two groups: the liberal, secular New York society and their Hasidic communities (Stankovich, 2025a, 2025b, 2020). I argue that, through their status, these public figures actualize their intermarginality by queering — to different degrees — the norms within the circles they inhabit, since they make them visible and question them (Ahmed, 2008).
More specifically, for this talk, I will focus on how exiters reclaim the term “Hassidic experience” informs us about the fluidity of Orthodox labels. This new form of self-definition contributes to the discursive process through which Jewish identities are experienced (Avishai, 2023) as well as constructed (Gaddi, 2023). By challenging boundaries, these marginal positionalities indicate a desire to reclaim Hasidic practices and beliefs beyond strict and hegemonic institutional definitions in order to (re)define their observance (Fader, 2020; Newfield, 2020a; Roda, 2024, 2022; Stankovich 2025a, 2025b, 2020).
Chair: Ryoa Chung (UdeM).
To attend via Zoom, click here (Meeting ID: 818 6254 4190; Passecode: 9Me2EW).
