Imagining Place
Cutting-Edge Thinking on Philosophy
Geared toward the general public, as well as academic philosophers
St. Thomas' Episcopal Church Hall • Friday, July 18, 2008
Featured speakers and their topics: Impoverishment of Modern Imagination:
Hegel, Eliade, and GandhiProf. Douglas Allen
University of Maine, OronoLess Than Human:
Self-Deception in the Imagining of OthersProf. David Livingstone Smith
University of New EnglandThe Problem of Locating
Consciousness in NatureProf. Joseph Levine
University of Massachusetts, Amherst.Also featuring a panel discussion by the three speakers with questions from the audience on
the role of philosophy in social change
This free conference is sponsored by:
The Camden Philosophical Society and the Camden Public Library
| Registration at 9 am Conference begins at 9:15 am Conference concludes at 4 pm Buffet Lunch available for $10 | Please register in advance by sending your name, address and an indication of whether you want lunch to Info@PhilosophyEdge.com |
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S P E A K E R S
Dr. Douglas Allen
Professor of Philosophy, University of Maine. Chair of Philosophy, 1998-2003, president of the International Society for Asian and Comparative Philosophy, 2001-04. Awarded Fulbright and Smithsonian Institution grants to India. He has authored and edited 13 books and numerous articles. Areas of specialization are phenomenology of religion (Mircea Eliade), Indian philosophy (Hinduism and Buddhism), comparative East-West philosophy and religion, and political philosophy (especially Marx). Received Maine's Presidential Research and Creative Achievement Award and the Distinguished Maine Professor Award. He is a peace and justice scholar activist, who received Maine's Hands of Peace Award. His most recent books are Comparative Philosophy and Religion in Times of Terror (2006), and The Philosophy of Mahatma Gandhi for the Twenty-First Century (2008).
Dr. Joseph Levine
Professor of Philosophy, University of Massachusetts, Amherst. Ph.D. in philosophy from Harvard in 1981. Came to the University of Massachusetts in 2006. His main areas of interest are philosophy of mind, philosophy of language, and metaphysics. His current research focuses on intentionality, consciousness, and materialism. His numerous publications include most recently Purple Haze: The Puzzle of Consciousness (Oxford 2001); "Phenomenal Concepts and the Materialist Constraint," forthcoming in Phenomenal Concepts and Phenomenal Knowledge, eds. Torin Alter and Sven Walter (Oxford); and "Conscious Awareness and (Self)Representation," forthcoming in Consciousness and Self-Reference, ed. Uriah Kriegel (MIT/Bradford).
Dr. David Livingstone Smith
Professor of Philosophy, University of New England, Biddeford, Maine. Ph.D. in philosophy from the University of London, Kings College. He is broadly interested in naturalistic approaches to traditional philosophical problems and the biological wellsprings of human behavior. Current and recent research interests include deception, self-deception, war and dehumanization. Recent publications include Why We Lie: Evolutionary Roots of Deception and the Unconscious Mind (St. Martin's, 2004), and The Most Dangerous Animal: Human Nature and the Origins of War (St. Martin's, 2007). He is now working on a new book dealing with human beings' propensity to treat one another as less than human. He conceives of philosophy not as an end in itself, but as a tool to help us understand the world around us and to help us use that understanding to improve the human condition.
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The Camden Philosophical Society, of Camden Maine, meets as a reading and discussion group on the fourth Thursday of every month at the Camden Public Library and sponsors lectures on the second Thursday of most months. For details on these meetings, as well as on our upcoming Philosophy at the Edge 2008 conference, contact us at Info@PhilosophyEdge.com.