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Wednesday, September 10, 2008
The Sciences and the Humanities, Together At Last?
During 2006, 2007, and 2008 the National Humanities Center has be running a program designed to bring hummanists and scientists together in dialogue around questions about the human: Autonomy, Singularity, Creativity. One aspect of this program is a series of conferences in the Fall of each of those years. Video tapes of most of the presentations from 2006 and 2007 are now on the web. I’ve seen one session of 2006 and all but one of the sessions from 2007. I recommend them to you.
In particular, I recommend the Nussbaum & de Wall (on compassion), and de Wall & Bateson (on empathy) sessions from 2007. De Wall presents fascinating information about animal behavior in both sessions. If you’re interested in interrogating the boundary between humans and animals, these sessions are worth watching.