Ethics Center Lecture Series
Spring 2009
February 2: David Chan, The Myth of Religious War
12-12:50 PM in the Alice Peters Auditorium (UBC)
Are religious wars more violent than imperialistic wars, civil wars and wars of liberation? Would the world be more peaceful if people did not fight for religious reasons? Is the conflict between Christianity and Islam unavoidable? David Chan suggests that it is a misconception to answer ‘yes’ to such questions. Not only are there myths about what takes place in so-called religious wars, but once we dispel these myths, the whole idea of religious war is placed in question.
David K. Chan is Associate Professor of Philosophy at the University of Wisconsin at Stevens Point. He holds a Ph.D. from Stanford University and has worked around the world including at the United Nations Association of Singapore. He is the editor of Moral Psychology Today.
March 4: Leonard Olson, God, Darwin, and the Culture Wars
12-12:50 PM in the Alice Peters Auditorium (UBC)
Most observers would agree that there is something like a cultural war taking place in America today, especially over the question of the origins of life on Earth. Is the choice as simple as one between evolution or creation? Extremists on both sides frame the issue poorly. As a result, a reasonable middle position is ignored. This talk will examine the middle and criticize the extremes.
Leonard Olson is a Lecturer in the Department of Philosophy at CSU-Fresno, where he has been teaching ethics courses since 1986. A native of the Central Valley, he was educated at San Francisco State and U. C. Davis.
March 18: Jose-Antonio Orosco, Cesar Chavez and Nonviolence
12-12:50 PM in IT 109
Professor Orosoco will present an overview of his new book, Cesar Chavez and the Common Sense of Nonviolence. This book outlines and examines the deep spirit of nonviolence that is found in Chavez’s political activism. Through comparison and contrast with Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr., Orosco establishes Chavez’ unique contribution to social activism.
Jose-Antonio Orosco is Associate Professor of Philosophy at Oregon State University. He is scholar of American philosophy and Latin American thought as well as a political activist. In addition to his new book on Cesar Chavez, Orosco produces a webcast program: “Engage: Philosophy Podcasts.”
April 29: Robert Metcalf, Ancient Philosophy and the ‘New Atheists’
12-12:50 PM in the Alice Peters Auditorium (UBC)
The philosophical critique of religion has garnered attention in recent years thanks to those writers known collectively as the 'New Atheists'—Dawkins, Dennett, Harris and Hitchens. This presentation will examine the New Atheists and contrast them with ancient Greek approaches to the critique of religion.
Robert Metcalf is Associate Professor of Philosophy at the University of Colorado at Denver. He writes on ancient philosophy and continental philosophy. He is currently working on a translation of Heidegger’s Basic Concepts of Aristotelian Philosophy.