Arts Lecture Series - How to Think Differently

[James Skidmore]

People of Arts!

Scholarship for an Uncertain World - A Series of Public Lectures by Professors in the Faculty of Arts at the University of Waterloo

The Monday 12 March 2012 lecture in the Winter 2012 Arts Lecture Series features University of Waterloo newcomer and Diefenbaker Memorial Chair in German Literary Studies John Smith.  John comes to us from the University of California at Irvine and will be speaking on How to Think Differently: On Dialogue, Dialectics, and Open Questions.  This lecture series is open to one and all.  Bring a friend!  Lecture details are below.

[Can't attend the lecture, but still want to learn more about the research being discussed?  Then listen to our podcast!  The first two podcasts featuring Chris Eliasmith and Mathieu Doucet are now available.  You can access the podcast in iTunes (http://deimos.apple.com/WebObjects/Core.woa/Browse/uwaterloo.ca - click on ARTS 301) or by going to the Arts Lecture Series homepage and clicking on the description of Chris's presentation (www.arts.uwaterloo.ca/arts301<http://www.arts.uwaterloo.ca/arts301>).  Thanks to Alan Kirker of ITMS for producing the podcasts.]

UPCOMING LECTURES
Monday 12 MARCH 2012, 3:30pm, HH 1101
John H. Smith / Diefenbaker Memorial Chair in German Literary Studies
How to Think Differently: On Dialogue, Dialectics, and Open Questions
We often hear about the importance of "thinking outside the box." But how do we break through the walls of the box that surrounds us? How can we overcome the comfort of our box and enter into the uncertainty of a world without recognizable walls? I will argue that we only engage in novel thinking when we are open to dialogue, questions, and the experience of contradiction.

Monday 19 MARCH 2012, 3:30pm, HH 1101
Andrew McMurry / English
The Role of Humanities in the Time of Climate Change; Or, What to do as the World Burns
Why aren't more humanists alarmed about environmental catastrophe, as if their own lives hung in the balance, which maybe they do? Could the answer be that ecocide looks to be the business of the other disciplines (e.g., "Sure, I know the oceans are dying but my gig's Shakespeare!")?  This lecture considers obstacles to the development of an "environmental humanities."

Monday 26 MARCH 2012, 3:30pm, HH 1101
Marcel O'Gorman / English
Don't Just React - Transform!  Critical Media for a Digital Culture
The Critical Media Lab (CML) is a UW research/creation unit that investigates the impact of technology on the human condition. I will demonstrate how the CML moves beyond philosophy to develop digital media projects designed to transform the role of technology in our lives. The talk will include a sneak preview of the CML mobile unit. http://criticalmedia.uwaterloo.ca

RECENT LECTURES
Monday 5 MARCH 2012, 3:30pm, HH 1101
Martin Cooke / Sociology and Legal Studies/School of Public Health and Health Systems
Social Policy for 21st-Century Risks
Welfare, employment insurance, health care, pensions, education and other systems of social provision are facing major challenges. High unemployment and an ageing population are increasing demands on state finances while economic pressures are reducing resources. Thinking about social policy from the perspective of the life course may help countries meet the challenges of increasing income inequality, changes to families and caregiving, and other demographic and social changes.

Monday 27 FEBRUARY 2012, 3:30pm, HH 1101
Mathieu Doucet / Philosophy
Should the Numbers Count?
What should we do when faced with a hard choice between helping (or harming) two groups of people, one smaller and one larger? Should we prefer the larger group? This question, it turns out, goes to the heart of some very difficult issues in moral philosophy.

Monday 13 FEBRUARY 2012, 3:30pm, HH 1101
Chris Eliasmith / Philosophy and Systems Design Engineering
How Brains Reason: The Mechanisms of Inference
I demonstrate large-scale biologically realistic networks reasoning about complex cognitive tasks. I will discuss the importance of understanding biological cognition, and the central role that uncertainty plays in human reasoning.
Listen to a podcast interview with Chris Eliasmith:  in iTunesU (http://deimos.apple.com/WebObjects/Core.woa/Browse/uwaterloo.ca - click on ARTS 301) or on the Arts Lecture Series homepage (www.arts.uwaterloo.ca/arts301<http://www.arts.uwaterloo.ca/arts301> - click on the description of Prof. Eliasmith's lecture).



This year the series is borrowing the theme from the upcoming Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences (www.congress2012.ca<http://www.congress2012.ca>): Scholarship for an Uncertain World.  Podcasts of interviews with the lecturers will be available during the series.  Details to be released as the podcasts come available.

Carry on,
Skid


James M. Skidmore
Chair, Germanic and Slavic Studies
Faculty of Arts / University of Waterloo
Waterloo, ON  N2L 3G1  CANADA

T | 519.888.4567, x33687
W | www.germanicandslavic.uwaterloo.ca<http://www.germanicandslavic.uwaterloo.ca/>
W | www.arts.uwaterloo.ca/~skidmore<http://www.arts.uwaterloo.ca/~skidmore>
E | skidmore at uwaterloo.ca<mailto:skidmore at uwaterloo.ca>

Academic Co-Convenor, Congress 2012
www.congress2012.ca<http://www.congress2012.ca/> / www.arts.uwaterloo.ca/congress2012<http://www.arts.uwaterloo.ca/congress2012>

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