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Colloquium series to host renowned philosopher
27-Oct-09
FREDERICK, Md.--A world renowned and often controversial philosopher will be the featured speaker Nov. 4 at 7 p.m. in Hodson Auditorium in Rosenstock at Hood College.
The talk will be offered as part of Hood's Center for the Humanities colloquium series, which this year marks 10 years of support by a challenge grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities.
Peter Singer, the Ira W. DeCamp Professor of Bioethics at Princeton University and laureate professor at the Centre for Applied Philosophy and Public Ethics at the University of Melbourne, will discuss his latest book, "The Life You Can Save," in which he asserts that our current response to world poverty is not only insufficient but ethically indefensible. Arguing that giving makes a huge difference in the lives of others without diminishing the quality of our own, Singer will describe a seven-point plan that mixes personal philanthropy, local activism and political awareness to help individuals bring about change.
Singer, the author or editor of more than 25 books on ethics, is best known for "Animal Liberation," a work widely credited with starting the animal rights movement. His controversial views on this and others, including abortion, euthanasia and the rights of the disabled, have made Singer a widely recognized public intellectual. The Australian native has appeared on numerous television programs nationally and throughout Canada and Europe. In 2005 he was included in Time Magazine's list of 100 most influential people and in 2004 was recognized as the Australian Humanist of the Year by the Council of Australian Humanist Societies.
Singer earned a bachelor's and a master's degree from the University of Melbourne and a doctoral degree from the University of Oxford.
This yearýs colloquium, themed "Provocations, Passions and Disruptions," will explore the concepts of historical rupture and disturbance across the centuries. Speakers will discuss major historical figures who embody these themes through their lives and work and are themselves provocative thinkers whose ideas challenge conventional assumptions.
For further information about the colloquium and the scheduled events, contact Rebecca Prime, Libman Professor of Humanities, by e-mail at prime@hood.edu or visit www.hood.edu.