Main Pages
Home
Future Events
Previous Events
Previous Contributors
People
Articles
Reviews
 
About The Great Debate
AboutUs
Sponsors
Contact
Links
 
10th Anniversary Page
The Great Debate 10th Anniversary
The Great Debate Videos
Darwin without Darwinitis
Discussion following key note talk by Raymond Tallis
Human Nature Debate
The Great Human Nature Debate:
Rita Carter, Caspar Hewett, Thomas Pink and Kevin Yuill
Science & Human Nature
What can science tell us about human nature?
Bruce Charlton, Pauline Hadaway and Igor Aleksander
Progress day school
Progress of the Human Mind: From
Enlightenment to Postmodernism 
with Caspar Hewett & David Large
Aaron Sloman talk
Information-processing in Robotics, Biology and Philosophy: 
Unnoticed Connections with Aaron Sloman
Christopher Badcock talk
Selfish Genes, Sex and Sanity with Christopher Badcock
This event
Agents of Change? Darwinian Thought and Theories of Human Nature
Buy books from Amazon
Amazon.co.uk

The Great Debate: Agents of Change?


Darwinian Thought and Theories of Human Nature
Sponsored by
School of Arts and Social Sciences, University of Northumbria
and
Edinburgh University Press

Northumbria University Edinburgh University Press

9am – 4pm, Saturday, 25th October 2008

Lecture Theatre CCE1-003

(Break-out Rooms: CCE1-018, CCE1-022, CCE1-021)
Newcastle Business School
University of Northumbria

Darwinism or Darwinitis?
Discussion following key note talk by Raymond Tallis
Key note speech by Raymond Tallis, author The Hand, I am, The Knowing Animal, The Enemies of Hope, In Defence of Realism
Chair: David O'Toole, The Great Debate
Darwinism without Darwinitis: text of talk with slides
Video of discussion


The Great Human Nature Debate
Thomas Pink, Rita Carter, Kevin Yuill and Caspar Hewett:
Click on photo to view video of debate
For centuries philosophers and scientists have been trying to define what constitutes human nature, yet this area of knowledge remains highly contested. Some think that agency, the capacity to make choices and moral judgements, and to act on them, lies at the heart of being human. For others it is our consciousness of our selves that is the defining factor. Others still claim that free will, agency and consciousness are illusions that are accidents of brain function. So, is there a universal human nature? If so, what do we all have in common? What makes us different from animals? Do the defining factors even exist?
Speakers:
Rita Carter, author Mapping the Mind, Conciousness
Dr Caspar Hewett, Director, The Great Debate
Thomas Pink, author The Psychology of Freedom, Free Will: A Very Short Introduction
Chair: Kevin Yuill, Sunderland University

Click here to view video of debate


What can science tell us about human nature?
Bruce Charlton, Pauline Hadaway and Igor Aleksander:
Click on photo to view video of debate
Modern developments in areas such as neuroscience, artificial intelligence and evolutionary psychology have resulted in new ways of thinking about human nature. Can we explain the mind and consciousness in terms of brain function? Can we understand modern human behaviour in terms of our evolutionary heritage? Is science even the right place to start if we want to understand human nature?
Speakers:
Igor Aleksander, author The World in My Mind, How to Build a Mind
Bruce Charlton, author Psychiatry and the Human Condition
Chair:
Pauline Hadaway, Director, Belfast Exposed

Click here to view video of debate

BOOKING ESSENTIAL
Enquiries email:

Part of The Great Debate schools programme
Top of page



Timetable

09.00 – 09.30   Registration and coffee
09.30 – 09.45   Welcome
09.45 – 11.15   The Great Human Nature Debate
11.15 – 11.45   Break
11.45 – 13.15   What can science tell us about human nature?
13.15 – 14.15   Lunch
14.15 – 15.45   Darwinism or Darwinitis? Keynote talk and discussion
15.45 – 16.00   Closing remarks

Top of page



Links

Raymond Tallis
Rita Carter
Dr Caspar Hewett
Thomas Pink
Kevin Yuill

Books by Rita Carter

Multiplicity: The New Science of Personality
Beat Memory Loss: The Complete Guide to Making the Most of Your Memory
Consciousness
Mapping The Mind

Books by Thomas Pink

The Psychology of Freedom
Free Will: A Very Short Introduction

Articles on this site

Darwinism without Darwinitis by Raymond Tallis
Darwinism, Theories of Human Nature and the Mind
The Great Blank Slate Debate
Humanism and the Enlightenment

Top of page


| Home | Future Events | Previous Events | People | Articles | Reviews | AboutUs |

© C J M Hewett, 2008