Philip Kitcher in the UK. 2nd June BSPS London. 3rd June RIP Lancaster

2008年05月25日 22:00

2 June
4.00pm Annual General Meeting - (Members only  in room T206, in the
Centre for the Philosophy of Natural and Social Science, Lakatos
Building, Portugal Street, London WC2. )
From 4:30pm Tea and biscuits in T16

5.15pm Philip Kitcher (Columbia)  - all welcome at talk
NOTE ROOM CHANGE - NOW IN S75 ST CLEMENTS BUILDING
Ethics after Darwin
I suggest that the ethical practices we have emerged from a long
history, extending back into our evolutionary past.   They are built
upon altruistic dispositions we share with other primates, but involve a
specifically human ability to shape those dispositions.   Cultural
evolution over tens of thousands of years has been crucial to the actual
ethical systems we have.   I’ll propose that this picture should
redirect philosophical thinking about ethics, and I’ll try to defend it
against charges that it commits some terrible fallacy.

ROYAL INSTITUTE OF PHILOSOPHY

3 June
5.30pm Furness Lecture Theatre 2, Lancaster University - all welcome

Knowledge and Democracy

Although epistemologists usually focus on the knowledge possessed by a
single person, we often talk casually of “what is known” or “what we
know”.   I explore this social conception of knowledge, attempting to
understand the senses in which a commitment to democracy should shape
“what we know”.   The exploration shows how there are serious
socio-political issues to which philosophers should respond.