2012–13 Being Human
What does it mean to be human? Philosophers, theologians, writers, scientists, artists, and others have long pondered the human condition, and wondered what makes us different from the other animals with whom we share our world.
Why do we hold the beliefs we do, and why are they so resistant to rational argument? Are we simply brains and neurobiology, or is there more to us than the marvelous and mysterious grey matter in our skulls? Are other species self-aware? What privileges and responsibilities does self-awareness impose upon us? What do we stand to lose if we let rare indigenous cultures and languages from around the world disappear? Do we care? How do we deal with death, a universal and inescapable part of being human? How do we define aberrant and/or criminal behavior? Is our “justice” system truly fair and impartial, or are there biases at work that have an impact the humanity of our fellow citizens?
Join us as we take a look at the human condition from a contemporary point of view. Psychology, neuroscience, anthropology, medicine, sociology, the law, and cultural studies – all these fields are bringing new perspectives and questions to challenge long-held assumptions about what it means to be human.
Wade Davis, National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence and anthropologist; author of Light at the Edge of the World: A Journey Through the Realm of Vanishing Cultures (2009) and Into the Silence: The Great War, Mallory and the Conquest of Everest (2011). “The Wayfinders: Why Ancient Wisdom Matters in a Modern World.”
Michelle Alexander, Moritz College of Law and the Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnicity at The Ohio State University; author of The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceraton in the Age of Colorblindness (2010). “The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness.” Sponsored by the Oregon Humanities Center.
Ira Byock, M.D., director of Palliative Medicine, Dartmouth–Hitchcock Medical Center; author of The Four Things That Matter Most (2004), and The Best Care Possible: A Physician’s Quest to Transform Care Through the End of Life (2012). “Mortality, Morality, and the Meaning of Life” in Eugene; “The Best Care Possible Through the End of Life: What it Is and How to Get It” in Portland.
David Eagleman, neuroscientist and director of the Laboratory for Perception and Action, Baylor College of Medicine; author of Sum: Forty Tales from the Afterlives and Incognito: The Secret Lives of the Brain. “The Secret Lives of the Human Brain.”
Jonathan Haidt, Thomas Cooley Professor of Ethical Leadership, New York University; author of The Righteous Mind: Why Good People are Divided by Politics and Religion (2012). “How Human Beings Got Morality, Religion, Civilization, and Humanity” in Eugene and “What on Earth is Happening to Us? Polarization, Demonization and Paralysis in American Politics” in Portland.