This year, PhilSoc would like to use the balloon debate to try to expand the canon. Here’s a message from PhilSoc’s Academic Officer, Matt Munnelly:

 “In hopes to switch up the philosophers in the balloon in the fresher's week Balloon Debate in 2022/23, this is an invitation to staff to suggest philosophers that they have some knowledge of, or would be happy to look into in the weeks leading up to the debate, and to then represent them in the debate. These philosophers would ideally be ones that are not typically mentioned in the 'great names' of philosophers in the western canon, but that do feature in modules available in the department if possible. That is, we would like the balloon to be occupied not by the likes of Bertrand Russell, Spinoza or Plato, but rather people's whose impact has typically been overlooked, e.g., Hèloïse, Avicenna or Lorde.”