Dr. William FitzPatrick, a professor of philosophy at the University of Rochester, explores the relations between scientific and philosophical questions about morality.

Dr. Sahotra Sarkar of the Department of Philosophy and Department of Integrative Biology at the University of Texas at Austin discusses what the human genome project achieved and whether it had any medical importance at all. He says that the most important outcome was biological, the G-value paradox that there is no correlation between organismic “complexity” and the number of genes. He concludes that the results of the human genome project were not those predicted. He asks why genome...

Dr. Alyssa Ney (University of California, Davis) discusses physicalism, the view the world is the way physics says it is. “Physicalism is something that’s guided all my work,” Ney said. “You can state it really simply at first as the view that the world is the way physics says it is, but what I’m going to be trying to argue here is that that really simple characterization is not really going to work out.”

Why do professional performing artists sometimes “choke” during a performance? Perhaps thirteen-time PGA winner Dave Hill has the answer, “Golf is like sex. You can’t be thinking about the mechanics of the act while you are performing.” But why not? To answer this question, Barbara Gail Montero will rely both on her philosophical expertise and her experience as a professional ballet dancer. The talk is related to her forthcoming book: The Myth of ‘Just do it’: Thought and Effort in Expert...

Prinz argues, based partly on empirical findings, that values are central to personal identity. He discusses how values are social in nature, often deriving from the groups to which we belong.

In her lecture, Bar-On will discuss what separates human linguistic communication from all forms of nonhuman animal communication. She will argue that the focus on the role of communicative intentions renders the evolutionary emergence of language more ambiguous than it needs to be. Instead, she proposes that meaningful linguistic communication should be seen as lying on a continuum with animals’ expressive communication.

In her lecture, Bar-On will discuss what separates human linguistic communication from all forms of nonhuman animal communication. She will argue that the focus on the role of communicative intentions renders the evolutionary emergence of language more ambiguous than it needs to be. Instead, she proposes that meaningful linguistic communication should be seen as lying on a continuum with animals’ expressive communication.

Prinz argues, based partly on empirical findings, that values are central to personal identity. He discusses how values are social in nature, often deriving from the groups to which we belong.

Why do professional performing artists sometimes “choke” during a performance? Perhaps thirteen-time PGA winner Dave Hill has the answer, “Golf is like sex. You can’t be thinking about the mechanics of the act while you are performing.” But why not? To answer this question, Barbara Gail Montero will rely both on her philosophical expertise and her experience as a professional ballet dancer. The talk is related to her forthcoming book: The Myth of ‘Just do it’: Thought and Effort in Expert...

Pamela Hieronymi addresses traditional questions involving free will and moral responsibility: Is it reasonable to believe that humans are "in control" of their behavior in such a way that they can be morally responsible? Do the findings of physics and neuroscience imply that humans cannot be responsible for what they do? Professor Hieronymi carefully explains why she resists efforts to preserve free will and moral responsibility in terms of "other-wordly souls," undetermined brain events,...

Philosopher John Searle opens his lecture by explicating what he believes to be seven philosophical mistakes about the nature of consciousness. He then sketches his own view that consciousness is what the brain does in the same way that digestion is what the stomach does. Professor Searle notes his optimism that the problem of consciousness will some day cease to be a philosophical problem and will fall squarely under the purview of neuroscience (in the same way that, with the development of...

In his lecture at The University of Alabama, Dr. Block discusses inattentional blindness or selective attention, which is the failure to notice something in one's visual field while performing attention-demanding tasks. Block discusses the meaning and significance of the phenomenon from a philosophical perspective.

The possibility of time travel to the past is discussed using the two leading theories about the nature of time: the Static Theory of Time and the Dynamic Theory of Time. Markosian argues that on the Dynamic Theory, time travel to the past is not possible. He will also consider the question of what people are thinking about when thinking about time travel to the past, given that such travel is not possible.

Gimbel discusses how the Nazis tried to denigrate Einstein’s theory of relativity by labeling it “Jewish physics.” Now, with Einstein’s theories as the cornerstone of much of modern science, Gimbel explores the Nazi assertion in a new light.

Lycan’s talk will address some reasons why abortion is such a sensitive topic in society today.

Dr. Frank Jackson's evolving research on the answer to the question: can science explain consciousness?

This lecture will discuss disagreements about climate change and ways to move forward from polarizing viewpoints about the issue.

Professor McMahan argues that the values of state sovereignty and territorial integrity are not always, or even generally, sufficiently important on their own to justify the mass killing that war normally involves. Referring to several historical examples, he makes a case for a more limited right of national self-defense.

Metaphysical Debates and Problems.

Philosophy of the Mind.

Philosophies of religion & atheism.

Darwin and His Critics

Non life threatening aggression that threatens lesser values or rights.

Topics, Arguments, Rights, & Restrictions of Immigration