Annual Institute Lecture
The AIPCT is pleased to present its annual Institute Lecture, which doubles as the Residency Lecture from our fall resident fellow, Kimberly Ann Harris of the University of Virginia. Her residency lecture will be the Annual Institute Lecture in observance of the 9th anniversary of AIPCT, October 15, 2025, at 7 PM, at AIPCT in Murphysboro. This is a pre-conference event for the Centennial Celebration Conference of Dewey’s Experience and Nature.
The lecture is free and open to the public. Doors open at 6:30 pm. Attendees are welcome to bring snacks to share and drinks for themselves. Light refreshments and drinks will also be provided. The lecture will be followed by a reception for Professor Harris, and to welcome visiting scholars who have arrived for the Dewey Conference.
“The Truth of Race: The Philosophical Thought of W. E. B. Du Bois”
This lecture argues that W. E. B. Du Bois should be recognized not only as a historian, sociologist, literary theorist, novelist, activist, and editor, but also—crucially—as a philosopher. His questions and insights into the concept of race and the debate amongst philosophers about how to interpret them were foundational in shaping the philosophy of race as a distinct subfield. To substantiate this, I examine several of Du Bois’s major works, highlighting how their arguments continue to inform and challenge contemporary debates across multiple areas in philosophy of race, theory of truth, social metaphysics, the philosophy of social science, epistemic democracy, and aesthetics. I’ll focus on his account of facts, view of science, and distinctive formulation of a pragmatist theory of truth.
Kimberly Ann Harris is assistant professor of philosophy in the Corcoran Department of Philosophy at the University of Virginia. Her research focuses on African American Philosophy, Philosophy of Race, and Nineteenth Century German Philosophy, especially Hegel. Her work has appeared in The Monist, Philosophy Today, Critical Philosophy of Race, Metaphilosophy, and Idealistic Studies. She is at work on essays concerning Black Hegelianism, Hegel’s racism, interpreting Du Bois’s “Conservation of Races” from a black feminist perspective, and Du Bois’s view on the role of the philosopher in democracy. She is spending her fall sabbatical (2025) at AIPCT, completing a monograph entitled Du Bois’s Metaphilosophy: The Truth of Race. Harris completed her Ph.D. in philosophy at Penn State University in 2018. Formerly, she was at Marquette University as an Assistant Professor. She serves as an associate editor for Critical Philosophy of Race. Her residency lecture will be the Annual Institute Lecture in observance of the 9th anniversary of AIPCT, October 15, 2025, and as a pre-conference event for the Centennial Celebration Conference of Dewey’s Experience and Nature.