Erik Brownrigg is a PhD candidate in Social and Political Thought at York University
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He currently works on metaphysics, social theory, and utopianism in literature and philosophy
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Publications
Peer-Reviewed
Brownrigg, E. (2025). 'Imagination and Action: Bachelard and Ricoeur on the Poetic Image'. Bachelard Studies, No. 2. (forthcoming 2025).
2025
Brownrigg, E. (2024). 'Dawn'. New Sociology: Journal for Critical Praxis, 5. 1-2.
https://doi.org/10.25071/2563-3694.144
2024
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Awards & Fellowships
April 2025
Stephen K. Levine Award in Social and Political Thought
April 2025
Society for European Philosophy (SEP) Conference Bursary
May 2019
Vernon Oliver Stong Graduate Scholarship in German & European Studies
May 2018
LAPS Dean’s Awards for Excellence in Teaching (Nominated)
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April 2017
SSHRC
Joseph-Armand Bombardier Canada Graduate Scholarships Program Master’s Scholarship
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Education
September 2017-
Doctor of Philosophy, Social and Political Thought (York U)
Dissertation: Self, Worldview, Utopia: A History of the Concept of Synthesis
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Supervisor: Dr. Nergis Canefe
September 2016-2017
Master of Arts, Social and Political Thought (York U)
Thesis: Tracing Ethics: Derrida
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Supervisor: Dr. Jim Vernon
September 2009-2014
Bachelor of Arts in Sociology (Queen's U)
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Teaching
September 2023-April 2024
SOSC1000D - Introduction to Social Science (York U)
The course considers the distinctive characteristics of modern society including the impact of modernization on the family, religion, economic behaviour, politics and belief systems. It introduces many of the major concepts social scientists use in analyzing how society works.
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September 2021-April 2022
SOSC2000 - Interdisciplinary Research Methods to Social Inquiry (York U)
This course surveys a range of blended approaches to critical social inquiry.
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September 2023-April 2024
SOSC1009D - Introduction to Social Science (ESL) (York U)
ESL version of SOSC1000D
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September 2022-April 2023
September 2017-April 2021
SOSC1140 - Self, Culture, and Society: Critical Perspectives (York U)
In this course, we take an interdisciplinary approach to understanding “self”, “culture” and “society”.
We look at contributions from anthropology, economics, political science, psychology and sociology which examine the experience of self, social order, work, gender, race, popular culture, and nature.
Students are encouraged to bring the course material to bear on how we understand our world and ourselves in the present and to consider the implications of this worldview for the future.
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Presentations
(all conferences are refereed unless indicated)
2025
October 16th-18th, 2025
Toronto Metropolitan University
(Toronto, Canada)
Presentation: Re-enchantment through the Literary Image: The Case of Bachelard and Saint-Exupéry
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Conference: Reenchanting the World: Philosophy, Spirituality, Ecology, Arts
August 20th-22nd, 2025
Goethe-Universität Frankfurt am Main
(Frankfurt, Germany)
Presentation: Utopia as No-Man’s Land: Memory, Hospitality, and Border-Crossing Practices in Adorno and Derrida
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Conference: The Association for Literature and Philosophy Conference - Borders/DIALECTICS/Civility
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July 7-8th, 2025
King's College London
(London, England)
Presentation: The Ethics of Flight: Nietzsche, Bachelard, and the Poetics of Care
​Conference: Society for European Philosophy 2025​
May 6th, 2025
Concordia University
(Montréal, Canada)
Presentation: Temps rêvé : Verticalité, résonance et mémoire de l’avenir chez Bachelard
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Conference: Acfas 92ème Congrès - Nostalgie, utopie : les potentialités politiques des tabous temporels de la démocratie libérale
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April 24th, 2025
Universidad de Málaga
(Málaga, Spain)
Presentation: The Role of Productive Imagination in Kant and its Influence on the Early Hegel
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Conference: 8th International Conference of the Spanish Society for Hegel Studies: Kant and German Idealism
April 4th, 2025
Duquesne University
(Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania)
Presentation: Philosophy in Play: The Little Prince as Hybrid Work of Narrative, Art, and Thought
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Conference: Philosophy and its Form - Duquesne Philosophy Graduate Student Conference 2025
March 14th, 2025
Radboud Universiteit
(Nijmegen, Netherlands)
Presentation: Reinterpreting Inheritance: Bachelard, Adorno, and Derrida’s Challenge to the Canon of Continental Philosophy
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Conference: Radboud Annual Continental Philosophy Conference 2025: Canon and Critique
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2024
October 7th-8th, 2024
City University of New York
(Brooklyn, New York City)
Presentation: Dialectics and Negativity: Plurality, Alterity, and Art’s Refusal
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Conference: Resisting the Divides: Contemporary Philosophy of Art
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September 30th-October 4th, 2024
Georgian Technical University
(Tbilisi, Georgia)
*Accepted to present but lacking the funding to attend in-person
Presentation: Recognition as Social Freedom: Hegel's primacy of the object and ethical life
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Conference: International Hegel Congress 2024​*
July 2nd-4th, 2024
Cardiff University
(Cardiff, Wales, UK)
Presentation: Adorno's Utopian Critique
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Conference: Society for European Philosophy 2024 Conference
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June 10th – 13th/14th, 2024
National and Kapodistrian University of Athens
(Athens, Greece)
Presentation: The Resistance of Writing: Imagination and Semiology in Derrida's Reading of Hegel
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Conference: The 8th Derrida Today Conference
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April 5th – 7th, 2024
The University of Tenessee
(Knoxville, Tennessee)
Presentation: Bachelard’s primacy of the object: Utopias of reading - Inhabiting through poetry
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Conference: 2024 NEXUS Interdisciplinary Conference: Home/Bodies
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2019-2023
November 18, 2023
York University
(Toronto, Canada)
July 18, 2019
L'École des hautes études en sciences sociales (Paris, France)
Presentation: Derrida and Contemporary Big Data Ethics
Conference: Atelier de Théorie Critique
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Presentation: Aesthetics and Imagination in the Works of Adorno and Bachelard
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Conference: ICMS37 - Recent Studies and Ideas
(unrefereed)
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Academic Service
October 18th, 2025
Toronto Metropolitan University (Toronto, ON)
Conference Panel Moderator
Reenchanting the World: Philosophy, Spirituality, Ecology, Arts Conference
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Panel: Reenchantment through Literature
February 1st, 2024
York University (Toronto, ON)
Guest Lecturer
SOSC1000D: Introduction to Social Sciences​
October 26-28, 2017