Presented by Prof Harvey Siegle
Professor, Department of Philosophy
Univ. of Miami

Prof Harvey Siegel

In his groundbreaking The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, Kuhn challenged the common conception of science as a rational, objective, evidence-based activity, and of scientific development as gradual, linear, and progressive. His alternative conception, deeply informed by the history of science, portrays scientific practice as governed by ‘paradigms’ that control scientific practice and perception, but that are periodically overthrown during periods of ‘revolutionary science.’ In this talk I will introduce the main features of Kuhn’s views, illustrate them with examples of several scientific revolutions, and briefly discuss some of the radical philosophical implications of his view.

Date: Thursday, April 16, 2009

Time: 6:30pm – Wine and cheese
7:00pm – Lecture (45min – 1hour)

Where: Atlantic Room (Bayside Pavilion) - Mercy Hospital

Please RSVP– Call Jessica at 305 285 2702

Prof Dan Pals

Senior Associate Dean College of Arts and Science,
Professor, Department of Religious Studies 
and Department of History
Univ. of Miami

James George Frazer (1854-1941) was a pioneering figure whose wide-ranging researches helped create the modern discipline of anthropology. His fame rests chiefly on The Golden Bough, an extensive study of magic and religion that applied what he called “the comparative method” to beliefs, rites, and everyday practices that he felt were common to classical civilization, European folklore, and surviving primitive cultures around the world. He was also greatly taken with Darwin’s theory of evolution, and introduced into his study a scheme of cultural, or social, evolution that in his view was the natural extension and application of Darwin’s views on animal development to human affairs. Frazer’s wide research and provocative ideas continue to exercise a subtle influence on popular opinion, on academic discussion of such matters as cultural diversity, and on the modern debates over the relationship between science and religion.

Thursday Oct 16
6:30pm - hors d’oeuvre and wine
7:00pm – Lecture (45min – 1hour)
Atlantic Room – Bayside Pavilion
RSVP to Jessica at 305 285 2702

All seminars take place in the Atlantic Room of the Bayside Pavillion at Mercy Hospital Campus, starting at 6:30 p.m. with wine and sandwiches. Speakers present at 7:00 p.m. sharp. The duration of the presentation is 45 minutes to an hour and is followed by a 15 minutes questions and answers exchange.

Some may regard as unpleasant the basic discovery of a cultural crossroads - the fact that others are quite capable of creating ways of living that are entirely different from our own. Such cultural collisions are, however, integral to many of history’s most creative moments.North America’s immigrant history has created some of the specific habits and dreams that shape the Globalized world where we now live. In her illustrated talk, Prof. Gottlieb-Roberts presents selected art works to mirror and evoke some defining moments inNorth America’s socially collaborative history.