October 28, 2010
AMHERST, Mass. — On Thursday, Nov. 11, at 4:30 p.m. in Pruyne Lecture Hall of Amherst College’s Fayerweather Hall, University of Rochester philosophy professor William FitzPatrick will give a talk titled “What Do Evolutionary Biology, Neuroscience, and Social Psychology Have to Teach Us About Morality?” The lecture is free and open to the public and is part of a series of talks titled Ethics and Evolution, which is organized by the Amherst College Department of Philosophy and funded by the Forry and Micken Fund in Philosophy and Science.
FitzPatrick is associate professor in the Department of Philosophy at the University of Rochester. His work in ethics focuses on defending a robust form of moral objectivity (for example, torturing small children for fun is wrong no matter what anyone thinks) against various forms of moral subjectivism and relativism. He has also worked on critiques of appeals to natural teleology and/or evolution in ethical arguments, and on such topics as embryonic stem cell research, the value of nature and obligations to future generations in connection with climate change.
The Forry and Micken Fund in Philosophy and Science was established in 1983 by John I. Forry ’66 and Carol Micken to promote the study of philosophical issues arising out of new developments in the sciences, including mathematics, and issues in the philosophy and history of science. For more information, call (413) 542-5805.
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