Future Events
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2008
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The Complexity and Change Network in association with
The Great Debate and Newcastle Philosophy Society
present
Progress of the Human Mind: From Enlightenment to Postmodernism
9am – 4.30pm, Saturday, 27th September 2008
University of Northumbria at Newcastle
The thinkers of the Enlightenment celebrated a notion of progress
that embraced the methods of the Scientific Revolution and aspired
to improve the human condition through social advance combined with
scientific discovery. Yet by the beginning of the new millennium
the notion of progress had become associated primarily with technological
change and the worst excesses of its application in the course of the
twentieth century. What are the implications of this today and for the future?
This one day workshop will examine the changing nature of society’s
understanding of the meaning of ‘progress’ and how it relates to the
way that humanity is perceived today. Thinkers discussed will include
Condorcet, Kant, Saint-Simon, Auguste Comte and Michel Foucault.
Introduced by Caspar Hewett and
David Large. Open to all.
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BOOKING ESSENTIAL
£10 waged / FREE unwaged
(lunch and refreshments provided)
Bookings:
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Come along, hear the arguments and have your say
Information-processing in Robotics, Biology and Philosophy:
Unnoticed Connections
7 – 8.30pm, Tuesday, 7th October 2008
What can biologists, roboticists and philosophers learn from one another?
What can computer science tell us about what biological systems do and how they
do it? Is it possible to replicate or model those chemical information-processing
functions in digital electronic computing systems? What are the implications of
recent developments in computer science and software engineering in understanding
the nature of causality?
Aaron Sloman, author of Computer
Revolution in Philosophy: Philosophy, Science and Models of Mind delves
into the world of connections between ideas developed in computer science, biology
and philosophy, providing new insights into some fundamental questions about the
nature of consciousness and free will.
Come along, hear the arguments and have your say
Speaker:
Aaron Sloman,
University of Birmingham
Click here for full details
This event is FREE
but BOOKING IS ESSENTIAL
Contact:
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Selfish Genes, Sex, and Sanity
7 – 8.30pm, Tuesday, 14th October 2008
University of Northumbria at Newcastle
An audience with
Christopher Badcock
Full details to follow
This event is FREE
but BOOKING IS ESSENTIAL
Contact:
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Agents of Change? Darwinian Thought and Theories of Human Nature Revisited
9am – 4pm, Saturday, 25th October 2008
Darwinism or Darwinitis?
Key note speech by Raymond Tallis
author The Hand: A Philosophical Enquiry into Human Being
The Great Human Nature 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
John Dupré,
author Human Nature and the Limits of Science
Thomas Pink,
author The Psychology of Freedom, Free Will: A Very Short Introduction
Prof. Sue Scott, University of Keele
What can science tell us about human nature?
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 How to Build a Mind
Kenan Malik, author Man, Beast and Zombie
Daniel Nettle,
author Personality: What Makes You the Way You Are,
Happiness: The Science behind your Smile
Colin Talbot, author The Paradoxical Primate
Come along, hear the arguments and have your say
Click here for full details
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BOOKING ESSENTIAL
£10 waged / FREE unwaged
(lunch and refreshments provided)
Bookings:
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Dr Caspar Hewett is
Director and Chair of The Great Debate
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ESRC Festival of Social Science
The Great Land Use Debate
7 - 14 March 2008
The following on line debate may be of interest to vistors to The Great Debate
web site: RELU Great Land Use Debate
What is our rural land for and what do we expect from it?
Should farmers be diversifying into energy crops or concentrating on feeding
the nation? And is it reasonable to expect them to be competitive food businesses
as well as managers and guardians of wildlife and landscapes? When floods overwhelm
urban areas should that just be a problem for the individuals and businesses affected?
Or should country dwellers be prepared to sacrifice rural land for flood storage?
Everyone seems to want something different, but can rural land fulfil all of
these expectations? What is our long term vision for land use in the UK and do
we need an extension of the planning system from town into countryside in order
to realise it?
The UK research councils’ Rural Economy and Land Use Programme is inviting you
to contribute to a unique on-line debate during National Science and Engineering
Week/Festival of Social Science 2008. The Programme’s land use policy analysts
will be posing some key questions and drawing in opinion from a wide range of
contributors. Visit the RELU website
between 7th and 14th March 2008 to have your say.
Dr Caspar Hewett is
Director and Chair of The Great Debate
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The Great Debate continues to support acclaimed debating competition for sixth formers
The Great Debate hopes to involve more students in the region in public debate
through its support of the Institute of
Ideas' and Pfizer's Debating Matters
Competition.
Now in its third year as a national competition, the North East regional final
will take place at Newcastle University on Monday 28 April 2008. Schools participating
in the reginonal final are
Durham Johnstone Comprehensive School (Durham), Ryton Comprehensive School (Ryton),
St. Mary's Sixth Form College (Newcastle) and Whickham School (Whickham).
Debating Matters demands more than rhetoric or rant from the sixth form students
who take part. Young people are encouraged to research issues thoroughly and become
more confident and sophisticated in articulating their views by standing up to a
probing intellectual examination. This is all part of the competition's philosophy
of privileging reasoned participation over rhetorical posturing.
Debate topics engage with contentious contemporary issues and uniquely involve a
critical examination of debater's arguments by celebrity judges drawn from the fields
of academia, the media and business.
The debate motions for the North East regional final this year are:
“Premiership footballers deserve all the rewards they get,”
“Happiness should be a key goal of government policy,”
“Nuclear power is the best alternative to fossil fuels” and
“Complimentary and alternative medicines should not be provided on the NHS”
Click here
for further details about the competition
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PEALS events
Institute of Human Genetics Lecture Theatre,
Centre for Life, Newcastle upon Tyne
RESEARCH SEMINARS
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Cafe Scientifique
World Headquarters, Curtis Mayfield House, Carliol Square,
Newcastle
Click Here
for complete listings
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Mon 16 June, 6pm
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David Archard:
Should we try to save premature babies?
Should you try to give intensive care to the earliest babies when their chances of survival are so slim? At what point might an older baby's life become so intolerable that you should consider letting them die? Should doctors ever actively end a baby's life? David Archard is Professor of Philosophy and Public Policy at Lancaster University and served on the recent Nuffield Council on Bioethics working party on premature babies. He will be joined by a neonatologist. The event will be chaired by Professor Erica Haimes, also on the Nuffield working party.
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Cafe Philosophique
World Headquarters, Curtis Mayfield House, Carliol Square,
Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 6UF
Click Here for complete listings
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Mon 7 July, 7pm
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Jan Deckers:
Vegetarianism: Sentimental or Ethical
Several writers have advocated vegetarianism as an integral part of animal ethics, often believing that humans have stronger obligations towards animals than towards other living organisms. This belief is associated with compassion and empathy towards animals. Are these feelings just sentimental, or ethical? Jan Deckers is lecturer in healthcare ethics at Newcastle University Medical School.
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Cafe Politique
World Headquarters, Curtis Mayfield House, Carliol Square,
Newcastle
Click Here
for complete listings
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Mon 21 April, 6pm
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Stephen Coleman:
E-democracy: A tool to encourage participation in politics?
Stephen Coleman, from Leeds University, suggests the internet could provide an antidote to banal mainstream political reporting, characterised by staged interviews and professional commentaries. Could digital technologies harness new political communication engaging many more voices and leading to stronger political debate between as well as before general elections?
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Insights
Lectures for the public at
University of Newcastle upon Tyne
Click Here
for complete listings
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Lectures at Life
Life Science Centre, Times Square, Newcastle upon Tyne
For further details call the information line on 0191 243 8292
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Thurs 6 Sept, 6pm
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Prof. Paul Davies: Aliens Under Our Noses
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Sun 21 October, 6pm
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In Conversation with Dr. James Watson Tickets £5
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2009
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PEALS events
Institute of Human Genetics Lecture Theatre, Centre for Life,
Newcastle upon Tyne
RESEARCH SEMINARS
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Day, date, time
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Speaker, affiliation
Event Title
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Cafe Scientifique
World Headquarters, Curtis Matfield House, Carliol Square,
Newcastle
Click Here
for complete listings
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Cafe Philosophique
Quaker Meeting House, Jesmond, Newcastle upon Tyne
Click Here for complete listings
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Cafe Politique
World Headquarters, Curtis Mayfield House, Carliol Square,
Newcastle
Click Here
for complete listings
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Top of page
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Insights
Lectures for the public at
University of Newcastle upon Tyne
Click Here
for complete listings
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Top of page
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Lectures at Life
Life Science Centre, Times Square, Newcastle upon Tyne
For further details call the information line on 0191 243 8292
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