University of New England

Georgia State scholar Robert Almeder to lecture on "Mind, Matter, and Cognitive Science" Jan. 30th

Robert A. Almeder, Ph.D., Georgia State University, will present a lecture on "Mind, Matter, and Cognitive Science," Monday, January 30, 2006 at 4:00 p.m. in Sutton Lounge, Decary Hall at the University of New England's Biddeford campus.

The lecture, hosted by the Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies, is free and open to the public.
 
Background
According to Prof. Almeder, there are four basic materialistic objections to belief in the existence of Cartesian immaterial substances (minds): (1) It is not empirically testable or confirmable; (2) Although it is an empirically testable thesis, it has been tested but has not been confirmed, and so we have no confirming evidence for it; (3) Science demonstrates that consciousness or any mental event does not exist after the death of the brain; and (4) We simply do not need to appeal to such "ghosts in the machine" to explain anything about human behavior.

Professor Almeder will argue that all four of these reasons are unacceptable and will urge that there are reasons for thinking that belief in the existence of Cartesian immaterial substances explains a number of things that are not explained by materialism.

Robert Almeder
Robert Almeder has been professor of philosophy at Georgia State University since 1980.  His books include Harmless Naturalism: The Limits of Science and the Nature of Philosophy, Death and Personal Survival, Human Happiness and Morality. He is editor of The American Philosophical Quarterly and co-editor of the annual book series Biomedical Ethics Reviews.  Almeder has also edited Human Cloning (with James Humber), Scrutinizing Feminist Epistemology: An Examination of Gender in Science (with Cassandra Pinnick and Noretta Koertge). 

Prof. Almeder received the Georgia State University Distinguished Professor Award for College of Arts and Sciences in l995. He is the recipient of National Fellowship Award from the Council for Philosophical Studies, two SUNY research grants, and two Georgia Endowment for the Humanities grants to conduct public conferences on bioethical issues. Almeder also received a NSF/CDC grant for research on the method of quantitative risk assessment.  He recently returned from France where he was a Senior Fulbright Researcher/Lecturer at the Université Paris IV, Sorbonne.

(Press release issued Jan. 23, 2006)