2023

Aliens in science fiction often look strange, want to eat humans, or take over our world. In that sense, they embody crude prejudices and fears about human migrants. But they can also offer more creative responses to difference. Take the concept of alienation, which Karl Marx diagnosed as estrangement of the worker from his labor and even from his species. How is that complicated by being a newcomer to a society? John Sayles’s film “The Brother from Another Planet,” with its mute black alien entering the informal economy of 1980s New York, can help us view alienation more realistically.

This presentation is canceled as of October 18. This session seeks to reflect on the dual rise of labor precarity and literary nonfiction in China over the last two decades. The presenter focuses on two authors: Hu Anyan, whose I Am a Delivery Man in Beijing (2023) has attracted widespread attention, and Quan Guirong, whose diaristic account of his work in textile factories in Southern China is still unpublished.

The relation between language and thought is central to linguistics. For the ancient Greek thinkers, logos refers to both thought—specifically, the ability of humans to think rationally—and language. As a result, symmetry is projected in the relation of the two, and language functions descriptively: it describes reality. A more modern view, on the other hand, proposes that language constrains thought and can be used to create reality.

This presentation is sold out. In person and live streamed: There is no doubt that Joan of Arc—15th-century heroine or heretic, depending on your point of view—led an extraordinary life. No less compelling are her seemingly countless, often contradictory, cultural afterlives. How can one person mean so much?

We are all familiar with cases of moral conflict. The abolitionist thinks that slavery is morally wrong, the defender of slavery thinks it isn’t, and, as a result, of this disagreement they fight each other. But in that case, the abolitionist is correct, and the defender of slavery incorrect. Are there—could there be—cases of moral conflict in which *both* sides are correct? On the face of it the answer is no.

This presentation has only a few seats left. In the autumn of 1929, Ludwig Wittgenstein gave a “Lecture on Ethics” to the Heretics Society at Cambridge University. He discusses what Ethics is really all about, the difference between absolute value and relative value, between meaningfulness and nonsense, and what it is for human beings to take the whole world into account. During this presentation, Professors Matthew Boyle (Philosophy) and Jonathan Lear (Social Thought and Philosophy) will discuss what this all means.

This presentation is sold out. In person and live streamed: What is an aesthetic category? In what sense is it a historical product enabling us to think more deeply about other historical phenomena, including our contemporary moment? How are its two components, spontaneous judgment and the perception of form, brought together into a distinctive experience?

The "classical utilitarianism" of Jeremy Bentham, James and John Stuart Mill, and Henry Sidgwick, which in the 18th and 19th centuries famously promoted "the greatest happiness of the greatest number," continues to have a profound impact on Anglo-American ethical and political philosophy, with such celebrated philosophers as Peter Singer and the late Derek Parfit calling attention to the significance of Sidgwick's work. In particular, it shaped their views on justice for future generations, the nature of objective normative reasons, and the possibilities for philosophical hedonism.

What was it like to go to school in Babylonia more than 3,500 years ago? Who went to school? How did they learn to read and write cuneiform? These and other questions concerning the topics and aims of ancient education will be addressed in this presentation and illustrated with examples currently on display at the ISAC Museum as part of the exhibition. The curator will also discuss the educational experience of curating an exhibition at UChicago with a team of students and allow glimpses behind the scenes.

This presentation has a few remaining seats. In person and live streamed: "From Robots to iBots: An Iconology of Artificial Intelligence" will explore the current wave of utopian and dystopian speculation about the impact of General Artificial Intelligence on human affairs. Focusing on ChatGPT and the Large Language Models that make it possible to have conversations with a machine in ordinary language, the presentation will explore the implications of this new technology for education, business, politics, and the whole relation of the human species to its inventions.