Political Theory Colloquium

Exterior photo of Case Hall with trees in the foreground.

Please join us on Thursday, Dec. 4, for the JMC Political Theory Colloquium (3 to 5 p.m., JMC Library), to discuss Todd Hedrick's paper Look on the Bright Side: Hegel and Durkheim versus the Hermeneutics of Suspicion (view on OneDrive | MSU login required).

Todd Hedrick (MSU, Philosophy) works on contemporary social/political philosophy, the philosophy of law, and Frankfurt School critical theory. He also has interests the history of political philosophy, and 19th and 20th century European philosophy (especially Hegel and Nietzsche). He is the author of two books: Reconciliation and Reification: Freedom’s Semblance and Actuality from Hegel to Contemporary Critical Theory (Oxford, 2019), and Rawls and Habermas: Reason, Pluralism, and the Claims of Political Philosophy (Stanford, 2010). He received his Ph.D. in Philosophy from Northwestern University in 2006

Professor Guido Parietti and Matthew Peters (PTCD, Senior) will serve as discussants.

The Political Theory Colloquium brings academics from outside JMC to present their recent or in-progress research to a mixed audience of faculty and students. The main goal of the colloquium is to allow undergraduate students direct exposure to the process of researching and writing academic work, in the context of the give and take of a structured discussion with faculty participation.

Invited guests submit a written work in advance (which the participants to the colloquium are expected to have read) and give a brief presentation, one faculty and one student discussant provide a first round of comments, followed by discussion open to both students and faculty.

Date

December 4, 2025

Time

3:00 PM - 5:00 PM

Location

JMC Library, 332 Case Hall