SATURDAY,
MAY 12
To view Bob Howard's talk, please
click HERE.
To
view panelist Lachlan Umber's paper, click on this LINK.
|
"Human Rights
in International Politics"
BOB HOWARD teaches International
Relations at Sydney University
The idea of universal
human rights has a long history, but gained great momentum in the
past sixty five years as a result of the Holocaust and other abominations
of World War II. It was codified in a number of key instruments after
the war, especially the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948).
Some see a profound change in this – a shift in focus from the
rights of the state to the rights of the individual – with major
implications for national sovereignty. How much has this changed the
behaviour of states? Are rights universal? Is there an understanding
of them that transcends cultural boundaries?
PANELISTS: Paul
Formosa; Lachlan Umbers
|
|
|
SATURDAY,
MAY 26
|
"Against Genetic
Information"
PROFESSOR PAUL GRIFFITHS, Department of Philosophy, University of
Sydney
An organism's physiology and behaviour are dictated largely by its
genes. And those genes are merely repositories of information written
in a surprisingly similar manner to the one that computer scientists
have devised for the storage and transmission of other information...
"This quote, from The Economist magazine in 1999, represents
the received wisdom of our times. But in the light of the realities
of genetics and molecular biology, it is best compared to the received
wisdom of the 17th and 18th century, which was that the universe is
an elaborate piece of divine clockwork. In my talk I will argue that
this is a superficial and in many ways misleading gloss which primarily
reflects the obsessions of the surrounding culture."
PANELISTS: Tim
Dean; Adam Hochman
|
|
|
SATURDAY,
JUNE 9
|
"Delusions and
Folk Epistemology"
DR DOMINIC MURPHY, senior lecturer, Department of Philosophy, University
of Sydney
"I explore the idea that when we call somebody deluded we reveal
something about folk psychology in a much wider sense than philosophers
discuss. Specifically, I conjecture that our attributions of delusion
rest on, and show something about, a folk epistemology. A folk epistemology
is a set of expectations about the normal causes of human belief acquisition.
These expectations guide our epistemic assessments of others. I argue
that this approach deals with some puzzles about the concept of delusion
within psychiatry, but also suggests that delusions are not a natural
kind."
PANELISTS: Sam
Baron; Toby Solomon
|
|
|
SATURDAY,
JUNE 23
|
"Beyond the Brain"
PROFESSOR JOHN SUTTON, deputy-director Cognitive Science, Macquarie
University
"My talk is about embodied and distributed memory. I will argue
that materialists should reject the location of the mind as being
in the brain - for a number of reasons - drawing examples from embodied
skills, our uses of material culture, and intelligent social interaction."
PANELISTS: Kellie
Williamson; Chris McCarroll
|
|
|
SATURDAY,
JULY 7
|
"Enhancing Responsibility"
DR NICOLE VINCENT, senior lecturer, Department of Philosophy, Macquarie
University
"Normally we think that people's responsibility diminishes when
mental capacities are lost, and that responsibility is restored when
those capacities are regained. But how is responsibility affected
when mental capacities are extended beyond their normal range - by
taking so-called cognitive-enhancement medications like Ritalin and
Modafinil? For instance, might some people - eg, surgeons working
long shifts in hospital - have a responsibility to take cognitive
enhancement drugs to boost their performance? Would they be negligent
or even reckless if they failed to do this? Alternatively, once enhanced,
would people acquire new and possibly greater responsibilities in
virtue of now being more capable? We already expect doctors to use
the latest techniques and technologies to diagnose and treat their
patients. So why shouldn't we also expect them to improve their mental
abilities by taking cognitive enhancement drugs? More broadly, mightn't
we all have a responsibility to cognitively enhance ourselves and
improve our performance?"
PANELISTS: Anson
Fehross; Denise Abou Hamad; Caitrin
Donovan
|
|
|
SATURDAY,
JULY 21
|
"Art and Brain
Science: A Plea for Caution"
DR DAVID MACARTHUR, senior lecturer, Department of Philosophy, University
of Sydney
"Can we study art by studying patterns of chemical or electro-chemical
activity in the brain while one observes art? Will such an approach
deepen our appreciation of art, finally solving its endemic disagreements
and unlocking its mysteries? In this talk I will cast a skeptical
eye over these and other questions that arise from the new field of
"neuro-aesthetics". A focus for discussion will be the article,
Lehrer, J., "Unlocking the Mysteries of the Artistic Mind."
Psychology Today, July 1, 2009:http://www.psychologytoday.com/print/30776
."
PANELISTS: William
Haines; Ryan Wittingslow
|
SATURDAY,
JULY 28
|
"Morals Today
From Tomorrow's Philosophers"
A panel of young and emerging
philosophers discuss value and morality - focusing on the interpretation
and relevance of moral theories, including Hobbesian contractualism
and the state of nature, for the modern world. This session will be
3 short presentations followed by a discussion lead by the panel.
|
|
|
|
|
