Fall

Ana S. Iltis (Wake Forest University)
A Philosophical Examination of Health Policy: Conceptual Confusions and Moral Puzzles in the Regulation of Human Subjects Research
Tuesday, Sept. 25
5:00pm
Chambers 3155 

Louise Antony (UMass Amherst)
Philosophy Department Annual Retreat 
Friday - Sunday, Nov. 2-4
This event is by invitation only; all other events listed on this page are free and open to the public. 

Spring

Mark Siderits (Emeritus, Seoul National University)
Is Buddhism Religion or Philosophy?
Thursday, February 14
7:30pm
Hance Auditorium, Chambers Building

Abstract: Buddhism is often thought of as a religion. But Buddhism is atheistic, and Buddhists deny that we have immortal souls, so Buddhism does not seem to fit very well with our usual conception of religion. Indeed Buddhism's partisans sometimes describe it as a spiritual path that makes sense in a scientific age. This makes Buddhism sound more like philosophy, a practice based on reason and not faith. But then there are those Buddhists who claim that all conceptualization distorts the nature of reality. This seems to suggest that for Buddhism, logic and rationality are the problem and not the solution. Clearly Buddhism is a complex phenomenon, and it might be that no one description can capture the totality of so multifaceted a tradition. Still, thinking about Buddhism through the lens of the reason/faith dichotomy may prove instructive: it may teach us something about Buddhism, and about the concepts we use when we try to understand it.

Susan Schneider (University of Connecticut) 
Science Fiction and Philosophy: from Time Travel to Superintelligence
Thursday, March 28
7:30pm
Hance Auditorium, Chambers Building

Brie Gertler (University of Virginia)
Does the mind extend into the world?
Thursday, April 4
7:30pm
Philanthropic Hall ("Phi Hall"), second floor

Abstract: Abstract: Andy Clark and David Chalmers have argued that external devices (such as notebooks or smartphones) can literally store the contents of our beliefs: in this sense, they say, the mind extends beyond the body. I will illuminate some surprising consequences of this view, and suggest that an alternative moral we might draw from the "extended mind" arguments: that the mind may in fact be less extended than we ordinarily think.

Please direct questions to David Robb.