The aim of this conference is to bring scholars from numerous disciplines into conversation across the historical timeline. Just as freedom and liberty are slippery concepts, so are ideas of debt, value, and payment. But rather than simply viewing these terms as rhetorical devices that make freedom seem worthwhile, we deploy debt, value,and payment as analytical tools for understanding how freedom works – while also keeping in mind that these are concepts that themselves demand investigation. These ideas unite the discourses of freedom and liberty, from ethical and economic discourses, which describe freedom as either physical labor or a mental activity, as well as the language of religion and science. Often our innumerable ways of assessing value bleed one into another, especially in conversations regarding individual and shared liberties.
By explicitly juxtaposing the different methodologies used in asking “what does freedom cost?” from Greco-Roman antiquity to the present, we hope to explore overlapping areas of research and help expand the existing conversations in each discipline. In addition to providing vocabularies, practices and theories of freedom that we still use today, Ancient Greece and Rome provide many examples of peoples who lacked freedom but strove to obtain it, including slaves, women and conquered peoples. By simultaneously examining the Greco-Roman antiquity and modernity, we bring to light recurrent historical patterns of the costs that people have and continue pay for freedom.
We will be offering a minimum of six bursaries of up to 500 dollars to be awarded on the basis of greatest need, taking into account access to institutional funding and the distance of the conference from the participant’s home institution.
31 October 2016 is the deadline for the submission of abstracts. Please include the following as separate files: (1) title, abstract of 300-500 words, a one page bibliography (no self identifying information please!); (2) your name, title of your proposed talk, institutional affiliation, short academic bio, and an indication of whether you’d like to be consider for a bursary, a budget for the amount requested, and any information we should take into consideration when making our bursary allocations.
Speakers:
Yann LeCun (Data Science, NYU; Facebook Artificial Intelligence Research)
Gary Marcus (Psychology, NYU; Founder, Geometric Intelligence)
Thursday, October 5, 5:00 – 7:00 pm
Tishman Auditorium
NYU School of Law
40 Washington Square South
No registration required. Seating is first-come first-served.
The Rutgers Philosophy Department, in partnership with Oxford University Press, is pleased to present the second annual Rutgers Lectures in Philosophy! This annual series brings some of the world’s greatest living philosophers to Rutgers University–New Brunswick where they present three original lectures to be published by Oxford University Press. The lectures are free and open to the public.
Last year, the inaugural series featured Kit Fine on a novel approach to the problem of vagueness. This year, Rutgers is hosting Sir Richard Sorabji[na01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com] for three lectures on the history of free speech. Here are the details:
Lecture I – Freedom of Speech for all: the gradual discovery, East and West.
Date/Time: Monday Oct. 30th, 2017, 3:00-5:00pm (reception to follow)
Location: Alexander Library, Teleconference Room (Room 403) (https://rumaps.rutgers.edu/location/alexander-library[na01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com])
Lecture II – Freedom of speech: voluntary boundaries when it stops discussion and the art of continuing discussion by other means
Date/Time: Thursday Nov. 2nd, 2017, 3:00-5:00pm (reception to follow)
Location: Alexander Library, Teleconference Room (Room 403) (https://rumaps.rutgers.edu/location/alexander-library[na01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com])
Lecture III – Freedom of Speech: Difficulties in framing and policing legal boundaries
Date/Time: Friday Nov. 3rd, 2017, 3:00-5:00pm (reception to follow)
Location: Rutgers Academic Building, Room 2125 (https://rumaps.rutgers.edu/location/rutgers-academic-building[na01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com])
All three lectures are free and open to the public. Please see the attached posters for more details. Abstracts for the talks are available here[na01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com].
About The Rutgers Lectures in Philosophy:
In the Fall of 2016, The Rutgers Philosophy Department in partnership with Oxford University Press were pleased to announce the launch of The Rutgers Lectures in Philosophy[na01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com]. This annual series brings some of the world’s greatest living philosophers [na01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com]to Rutgers University–New Brunswick where they present three original lectures to be published by Oxford University Press. The lecturers also hold workshops with faculty and graduate students, and meet with undergraduates. The lectures are free and open to the public.
The Rutgers Philosophy Department, in partnership with Oxford University Press, is pleased to present the second annual Rutgers Lectures in Philosophy! This annual series brings some of the world’s greatest living philosophers to Rutgers University–New Brunswick where they present three original lectures to be published by Oxford University Press. The lectures are free and open to the public.
Last year, the inaugural series featured Kit Fine on a novel approach to the problem of vagueness. This year, Rutgers is hosting Sir Richard Sorabji[na01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com] for three lectures on the history of free speech. Here are the details:
Lecture I – Freedom of Speech for all: the gradual discovery, East and West.
Date/Time: Monday Oct. 30th, 2017, 3:00-5:00pm (reception to follow)
Location: Alexander Library, Teleconference Room (Room 403) (https://rumaps.rutgers.edu/location/alexander-library[na01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com])
Lecture II – Freedom of speech: voluntary boundaries when it stops discussion and the art of continuing discussion by other means
Date/Time: Thursday Nov. 2nd, 2017, 3:00-5:00pm (reception to follow)
Location: Alexander Library, Teleconference Room (Room 403) (https://rumaps.rutgers.edu/location/alexander-library[na01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com])
Lecture III – Freedom of Speech: Difficulties in framing and policing legal boundaries
Date/Time: Friday Nov. 3rd, 2017, 3:00-5:00pm (reception to follow)
Location: Rutgers Academic Building, Room 2125 (https://rumaps.rutgers.edu/location/rutgers-academic-building[na01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com])
All three lectures are free and open to the public. Please see the attached posters for more details. Abstracts for the talks are available here[na01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com].
About The Rutgers Lectures in Philosophy:
In the Fall of 2016, The Rutgers Philosophy Department in partnership with Oxford University Press were pleased to announce the launch of The Rutgers Lectures in Philosophy[na01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com]. This annual series brings some of the world’s greatest living philosophers [na01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com]to Rutgers University–New Brunswick where they present three original lectures to be published by Oxford University Press. The lecturers also hold workshops with faculty and graduate students, and meet with undergraduates. The lectures are free and open to the public.
The Rutgers Philosophy Department, in partnership with Oxford University Press, is pleased to present the second annual Rutgers Lectures in Philosophy! This annual series brings some of the world’s greatest living philosophers to Rutgers University–New Brunswick where they present three original lectures to be published by Oxford University Press. The lectures are free and open to the public.
Last year, the inaugural series featured Kit Fine on a novel approach to the problem of vagueness. This year, Rutgers is hosting Sir Richard Sorabji[na01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com] for three lectures on the history of free speech. Here are the details:
Lecture I – Freedom of Speech for all: the gradual discovery, East and West.
Date/Time: Monday Oct. 30th, 2017, 3:00-5:00pm (reception to follow)
Location: Alexander Library, Teleconference Room (Room 403) (https://rumaps.rutgers.edu/location/alexander-library[na01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com])
Lecture II – Freedom of speech: voluntary boundaries when it stops discussion and the art of continuing discussion by other means
Date/Time: Thursday Nov. 2nd, 2017, 3:00-5:00pm (reception to follow)
Location: Alexander Library, Teleconference Room (Room 403) (https://rumaps.rutgers.edu/location/alexander-library[na01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com])
Lecture III – Freedom of Speech: Difficulties in framing and policing legal boundaries
Date/Time: Friday Nov. 3rd, 2017, 3:00-5:00pm (reception to follow)
Location: Rutgers Academic Building, Room 2125 (https://rumaps.rutgers.edu/location/rutgers-academic-building[na01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com])
All three lectures are free and open to the public. Please see the attached posters for more details. Abstracts for the talks are available here[na01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com].
About The Rutgers Lectures in Philosophy:
In the Fall of 2016, The Rutgers Philosophy Department in partnership with Oxford University Press were pleased to announce the launch of The Rutgers Lectures in Philosophy[na01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com]. This annual series brings some of the world’s greatest living philosophers [na01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com]to Rutgers University–New Brunswick where they present three original lectures to be published by Oxford University Press. The lecturers also hold workshops with faculty and graduate students, and meet with undergraduates. The lectures are free and open to the public.
Kant tried to explain how free moral action was possible. Unfortunately, he is often interpreted as explaining free choice of action in terms of the unexplained free choice of a Gesinnung by a faculty of choice. By avoiding this mistake, we can see him as offering an informative decomposition of the task of free or moral action. Further, one of Kant’s reasons for thinking that morality could not be explained by science depended on his assumptions about then current science. Since we can now reject that view of science, it is now possible to give a plausible scientific account, and so metaphysics, for Kant’s plausible account of the necessary conditions for free or moral action.
Patricia Kitcher is Roberta and William Campbell Professor of the Humanities and Professor of Philosophy at Columbia University. She is the author of two books on Kant’s conceptions of cognition and the self, Kant’s Transcendental Psychology (Oxford University Press, 1990) and Kant’s Thinker (Oxford University Press, 2011).
Presented by The New School for Social Research (NSSR) Philosophy Department.
It makes the world go round. It is the root of all evil. It offers security. It enslaves. It will protect you. It will corrupt you. To have some is necessary, but no amount seems sufficient. It is reputedly unable to buy love, yet the lack of it can destroy relationships. What price would you pay to accumulate as much as you can? And can anyone actually afford to forsake it?
Join us as we try to measure the true cost of money.
Thursday, April 12, 2018 at 8p.m. At Las Tapas Bar and Restaurant, 808 W 187th Street, New York, NY 10033. (Take the A Train) Admission is $15, which includes one complimentary tapa and drink. Reservations are recommended. (646.590.0142)
Leo Glickman is a partner in Stoll, Glickman & Bellina, LLP. He has devoted his professional life of over two decades to holding the powerful accountable and obtaining justice for the underserved. As a civil rights litigator, he has successfully represented hundreds of people whose rights have been abused by police and correction officers. He has also upheld the rights of protestors, successfully litigating settlements for high-profile Occupy Wall Street participants.
Jane LeCroy is a poet, performance artist and educator who fronts the band The Icebergs and was a part of Sister Spit, the famed west coast women’s poetry troupe. Since 1997 Jane has been publishing student work and teaching writing, literature and performance to all ages through artist-in-the-schools organizations such as Teachers & Writers Collaborative and DreamYard, and as adjunct faculty at the university level. Her poetry book, Names was published by Booklyn as part of the award winning ABC chapbook series, purchased by the Library of Congress along with her braid! Signature Play, her multimedia book from Three Rooms Press, features a poem that was nominated for a Pushcart Prize.
Joseph S. Biehl, earned earned a B.A. in philosophy from St. John’s University and a Ph.D. from the Graduate School and University Center, CUNY. He has written on ethics, meta-ethics, and politics. He has taught philosophy in New York and in Cork, Ireland, and is a member of the Governing Board and former co-director of the Felician Institute for Ethics and Public Affairs. He is the founder and executive director of the Gotham Philosophical Society and Young Philosophers of New York.
Brooklyn Public Philosophers is excited to announce a new program that we’ve put together for the fall! In addition to the Philosophy in the Library speaker series (stay tuned), we’re also starting a philosophy screening and discussion series that I’m calling Onscreen until I come up with a better name.
On Saturday, September 15th at 1:00 PM at the Flatbush Library (22 Linden Blvd.), we’ll be screening Ex Machina, a very good, very creepy movie about hubris, relationships, and what it takes to have a mind. Ian Olasov (CUNY), a.k.a. the person writing this post, will lead a brief discussion of it afterwards.
The screening is free. There will be free popcorn. It will be fun.
Einstein once remarked, “Any fool can know. The point is to understand.” Indeed, discovering the true nature of reality may ultimately hinge on grasping the nature and essence of human understanding. What are the fundamental elements or building blocks of human understanding? And how will superintelligent machines challenge our ideas about cognition, reality, and the limits of human understanding?
The 21st century has seen rapid advancements in the realm of artificial intelligence, or AI, which aims to generate a synthetic capacity to mimic and even surpass human knowledge. But beyond the creation of programs that detect statistical patterns in vast data sets, it remains to be seen whether AI can formalize the basic elements of human understanding into a system of rules that could then be applied in computer programs. Such “knowledge engineering” would constitute a significant breakthrough, enabling machines to share some of our cognitive abilities rather than merely imitating the results of our thinking. These advancements in AI may ultimately force us to confront more profound questions about what it means to be human.
Logician/mathematician Roger Antonsen and computer science pioneer Barbara J. Grosz join Steve Paulson to break down the fundamental elements of human understanding and analyze what lies ahead on the horizon of AI.
*Reception to follow
This event is part of the Conversations on the Nature of Reality series.
Moderated by journalist Steve Paulson, Executive Producer of Wisconsin Public Radio’s To the Best of Our Knowledge, this three-part series at the New York Academy of Sciences brings together leading scientists and thinkers to explore the fundamental nature of reality through the lens of personal experience and scientific inquiry.
To learn more about each lecture and to purchase tickets, click on the links below.
- The Mystery of Our Mathematical Universe, Wednesday, October 10, 2018
- Human Cognition and the AI Revolution, Thursday, December 6, 2018
- Reality is Not As it Seems, Thursday, February 7, 2019
The workshop, which is now in its 9th year, aims to foster exchange and collaboration among scholars, students, and anyone with an interest in Early Modern Philosophy. This year’s workshop will focus on the topic of “Freedom and Evil” in Early Modern Philosophy (roughly the period from 1600-1800).
We welcome submissions on the conference topic, which may be broadly construed to include the problem of free will, theodicy, political and social liberty, and evil practices and institutions. For consideration, please submit abstracts of 250-300 words to newyorkcityearlymodern@gmail.com no later than December 31, 2018.