UNE Center for Global Humanities presents “Thinking in Dark Times”

As we grapple with a range of environmental, economic, and other challenges, we have witnessed a rising tendency in our public officials to dismiss as “fake news” whichever facts complicate their positions. The truth, it seems, has become a subjective thing; you have yours, I have mine, and the gulf between our versions of the truth leaves little chance for us to ever agree on much of anything. Indeed, some have said we live in dark times.

A lecture at the University of New England’s Center for Global Humanities will discuss the consequences of this devaluing of truth when scholar Roger Berkowitz presents “Thinking in Dark Times.” The lecture will take place on Monday, October 29 at 6:00 p.m. at the WCHP Lecture Hall in Parker Pavilion on the UNE Portland Campus.

Berkowitz will draw from the ideas of political theorist Hannah Arendt in hopes of bringing light to the darkness created by today’s double-talking politicians and pundits. Ultimately, he will argue that the practice of thinking, which is so central to the humanities, can help remedy this fading distinction between fact and fiction.

While serving as the founding director of the Hannah Arendt Center, Berkowitz is also an associate professor of politics, philosophy, and human rights at Bard College. He has authored and edited many books, including Thinking in Dark Times: Hannah Arendt on Ethics and Politics, and is the editor of Artifacts of Thinking, and HA: The Journal of the Hannah Arendt Center. His articles have appeared in The New York Times, Bookforum, The Paris Review, The American Interest, and Democracy: A Journal of Ideas.

This second lecture of the 2018-2019 season at the Center for Global Humanities will be followed by seven more between now and April 2019. Lectures are always free, open to the public, and streamed live online. For more information, please visit: https://www.une.edu/calendar/2018/thinking-dark-times.

The Center for Global Humanities offers lectures by leading scholars to help us better understand the challenges besetting our civilization and outline new solutions for nations and peoples to live together without prejudice. Global in perspective, the Center’s lectures are streamed live on the Internet, allowing our speakers to answer questions from any country. Because the Center believes in the vital necessity of a humanities culture to civic and democratic life, it works closely with the local community to encourage reading, discussion, and debate. The Center was founded in 2009 by UNE scholar Anouar Majid, Ph.D., who serves as its director.