Live & Learn Lecture - Tuesday, March 24, 2009

[Andrew O'Neill]

Saying Uncle: Speaking under Torture or Coercion 


We use language not only to exchange information, but to perform a wide
range of other acts: promising, commanding, apologizing, and inquiring.  

 

Dr. Tim Kenyon, Assistant Professor, Department of Philosophy will discuss:

 

-          The point of much torture, perhaps most of it, is to extract
utterances that look like assertions; but when we think about the
characteristics of assertion, we find grounds to think that coerced
utterances are something else altogether: they are mere capitulations.

-          These reflections shed light on the nature of assertion and the
nature of torture or coercion.

-          We can illustrate the point by considering a range of historical
examples, including the circumstances surrounding the internment and release
of the American naval ship the Puebloin 1968.

 

 

Dr. Kenyon's ongoing research examines the relations between language,
warrant and truth. He has work in progress concerning the nature of
assertion, and the Paradox of Knowability. 

 

Join us Tuesday, April 7th, 2009 at 7:00 p.m. in the James J. Brown
Auditorium at the Waterloo Public Library for this free public talk. 

 
 
 

 

Andrew W. O'Neill

Arts Advancement Coordinator

University of Waterloo

awoneill at uwaterloo.ca

519-888-4567 x32440

PAS 1054A

 

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