SFU Philosophy Stuff

For those interested:


Daniel Dennett
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Philosopher and cognitive scientist from Tufts University,
Massachusetts
Recent books include "Freedom Evolves" and "Darwin's Dangerous Idea"

Dennett will give two different talks at SFU:

"Explaining the 'magic' of consciousness"
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Friday Jan 16, 7:30pm, SFU Harbour Centre (Koerner Lecture series in
Graduate Liberal Studies)

Just as many people don't want stage magic explained to them--it spoils
the mystery--many people resist explanations of consciousness that show
it to be less miraculous than it first appears. A good theory of
consciousness must confront this distorting attitude head on. Dennett
will present some examples of how aspects of consciousness can be
explained without any magic.
(NOTE: talk is free but call 604-291-5100 or email
mary-jane_clapton@sfu.ca to reserve seat)

"Freedom Evolves"
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Monday Jan 19, 4:30pm, SFU Burnaby C9001

Traditionally, people have thought that human free will--being able to
act or not act as we choose, "of our own free will"--was threatened by
the prospect of determinism in physics. Dennett claims that biology,
not physics (or metaphysics!), holds the key to both free will and
political freedom. Freedom can best be understood as a biological
phenomena that has evolved and is still evolving, according to
Darwinian natural selection. (No reservations necessary)


Dennett's pretty cool and he kind of looks like Santa.