Welcome to BIOPOLITICAL PHILOSOPHY! BIOPOLITICAL PHILOSOPHY aims to provide the philosophical community with a forum for critical analysis of biopolitical asymmetries and other mechanisms and effects of power in philosophy and beyond. The BIOPOLITICAL PHILOSOPHY insignia in the banner depicts a dandelion, suggesting life, networks, systems, and change (photo credit: James Niland). BIOPOLITICAL PHILOSOPHY will […]
How Canadian Philosophy Plays a Vital Role in the Project of Eugenics: Or, Gender, Schafer, and Other Nondisabled White Male Bioethicists
The annual in-person meeting of the Canadian Philosophical Association (CPA) begins at Dalhousie University tomorrow. Given that Dalhousie has played, and continues to play, a formative role in the development of bioethical and legal arguments that promote MAiD, eugenics will be “in the air” once again at the CPA meeting, not least because two of […]
Quote of the Week (and It’s Only Thursday): Hypatia’s Ableist Legacy, co-authored with Nora Berenstain
This week’s quote-of-the-week post (though it’s only Thursday) addresses the historical legacy of ableism at Hypatia: A Journal of Feminist Philosophy. To open our discussion in the post, consider an excerpt from Shelley’s introduction to The Bloomsbury Guide to Philosophy of Disability. The introduction, which is entitled “Situating Philosophy of Disability in/out of Philosophy,” offers a summary […]
Dialogues on Disability on Wednesday, June 17, 2026, at 8 a.m.
“I have read almost all of your interviews and they are always wonderful. … I am really looking forward to the next installment of Dialogues on Disability.” — Adrian Piper “… a major contribution to our understanding of the field and the people in it.” — Vanessa Wills “I’ve learned so much about ableism in philosophy […]
A Working-Class Philosopher is Something to Be
The essay below appeared on the First-Generation Philosophers platform today. I enjoyed it so much that I reprinted it here. ********************************************************************************* A WORKING-CLASS PHILOSOPHER IS SOMETHING TO BE by Stephen Mumford Where I grew up, philosophy was not a career option. The area was mainly for farming and coal mining. Becoming an academic made me […]
Dialogues on Disability: Shelley Tremain Interviews Kristin Rodier
Hello, I’m Shelley Tremain and I would like to welcome you to the one hundred and thirty-fourth installment of Dialogues on Disability, the series of interviews that I am conducting with disabled philosophers and post to BIOPOLITICAL PHILOSOPHY on the third Wednesday of each month. The series is designed to provide a public venue for […]
FINALLY: Feminist Philosophy of Disability in The Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Disability Studies
The final version of my article “Feminist Philosophy of Disability” has now been published online in The Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Disability Studies. I have copied the abstract for the article below. You can read/listen to the article here: Feminist Philosophy of Disability | Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Disability Studies | Oxford Academic This article […]
MAiD in Canada and Its Discontents
If you read Canadian media, you might have come across news items that indicate how the new leader of the federal New Democratic Party, Avi Lewis, has ‘voiced concerns about the trajectory of Canada’s “medical assistance in dying” (in a word, MAiD) regime’. As I wrote in an earlier post at BIOPOLITICAL PHILOSOPHY, when I […]
Aestheticizing Ableism and Curating Injustice: Lopes, Eaton, Irvin, and Others on Aesthetics and Disability
Recently, Luvell Anderson and I agreed that sometime in the near future we would attempt to coauthor an article on disability and humour. While disability is my jam, Luvell is an expert on aesthetics and in particular philosophical approaches to humour. Humour (unlike the apparatus of disability) has long been regarded as an important topic […]
Dialogues on Disability on Wednesday, May 20, 2026, at 8 a.m. ET
“I have read almost all of your interviews and they are always wonderful. … I am really looking forward to the next installment of Dialogues on Disability.” — Adrian Piper “… a major contribution to our understanding of the field and the people in it.” — Vanessa Wills “I’ve learned so much about ableism in philosophy […]
Disability Justice Is Animal Liberation: Cripping the Ridglan Farms Open Rescue
On April 18th, hundreds of activists attempted to rescue beagles from Ridglan Farms, an animal research and breeding facility in Wisconsin. David Killoren wrote about his experience as one of those activists, and defended the use of open rescue to liberate animals[i] from carceral settings. This includes Ridglan Farms, where beagles are confined in 2×4 cages for their […]
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