Guest Lectures for “Introduction to Philosophy” (Phil 11) and “Brain, Mind, and Consciousness” (Cowell 39), co-taught by Rasmus Grønfeldt Winther, UCSC, Winter 2015.

Brian Cantwell Smith received his B.S. (1974), M.S. (1978) and Ph.D. (1982) from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. After receiving his doctorate, he held senior research and administrative positions at the Xerox Palo Alto Research Centre in California, and was an adjunct associate professor in the Philosophy and Computer Science departments at Stanford University. He was a founder and principal investigator of the Stanford-based Centre for the Study of Language and Information, and was a founder and first President of Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility.

In 1996 Brian moved to the Indiana University at Bloomington, where he was professor of cognitive science, computer science, philosophy, and informatics, and a fellow of the Center for Social Informatics in the School of Library and Information Sciences. He then moved to Duke University, as the Kimberly J. Jenkins University Professor of Philosophy and New Technologies, and professor of Philosophy and Computer Science.

Brian is the author of more than 35 articles and of On the Origin of Objects (MIT, 1996). His research focuses on the conceptual foundations of computation and information (to be reported in a 7-volume series, entitled The Age of Significance: An Essay on the Origins of Computation and Intentionality, accepted for publication by MIT Press) and on new forms of metaphysics, ontology, and epistemology. A two-volume series of edited papers, entitled Indiscrete Affairs, will be published by Harvard University Press in 2013.

As well as being Professor at the Faculty of Information Studies, Brian is cross-appointed as Professor in the departments of Philosophy and Computer Science and in the Program in Communication, Culture and Technology at University of Toronto at Mississauga. He is also a senior fellow at Massey College, and a fellow of University College.

Winter 2015 Lecture Series Schedule:

Robin Dunkin
Tuesday, January 27, Stevenson 175 @ 6:00
“Building Blocks of the Brain: Neuron and Glia Form & Function”

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Michael Anderson
Thursday, January 29, Stevenson 175 @ 6:00
“Neural Reuse and Hebbian Learning: Two Kinds of Neuroplasticity in the Brain”

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Nicolas Davidenko
Tuesday, February 3, Stevenson 175 @ 6:00
“The Suggestible Nature of Motion Perception”

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Janette Dinishak
Thursday, February 12, Humanities Lecture Hall @ 12:00
“Autism & Neurodiversity”

*****

Ray Gibbs
Thursday, February 12, Stevenson 175 @ 6:00
“Embodied Meaning, Thinking, and Communication”

*****

Craig Schindler
Tuesday, February 17, Stevenson 175 @ 6:00
“Enduring Wisdom, Mindfulness & Emerging Neuroscience”

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John Brown Childs
Thursday, February 19, Humanities Lecture Hall @ 12:00
“Transcommunality”

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Dada Nabhaniilananda
Thursday, February 19, Stevenson 175 @ 6:00
“Dragon Taming for Smart People”

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Natalia Carrillo
Tuesday, February 24, Stevenson 175 @ 6:00
“A History of the Action Potential”

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Doc Edge
Tuesday, February 24, Humanities Lecture Hall at 12:00
“Talking About Race: Geneticists, Philosophers, the Media, and the People”

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Brian Cantwell Smith
Thursday, February 26, Humanities Lecture Hall @ 12:00
“The Three R’s: Representation, Registration, and Reality”

Thursday, February 26, Stevenson 175 @ 6:00
“The Couch or the Bottle: Levels of Abstraction and the Anxious Mind”

*****

Octavio Valadez
Tuesday, March 3, Humanities Lecture Hall @ 12:00
“Co-Teaching and Revolutionary Teaching”

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Fabrizzio McManus Guerrero
Thursday, March 5, Humanities Lecture Hall @ 12:00
“From Queer Theory to Teoria Cuir: Latinamerican appropriations of Gay Identities”

Thursday, March 5, Stevenson 175 @ 6:00
“Neuro-Biological Explanations of Sexual Orientation and Their Counter-explanations”