Institute for Research in the Humanities

Crossroads of Ideas: What is Life?

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Wisconsin Institute for Discovery, DeLuca Forum
@ 7:00 pm - 8:30 pm

image of an atomized human form morphing into a double-helix DNA form. Text says "Crossroads of Ideas"

The Crossroads of Ideas program is teaming up with the Institute for Research in the Humanities for a five-part lecture series that examines philosophical and scientific approaches to big topics, from free will to happiness to morality and more.

The first installment of the “Big Questions” series asks a philosopher and a scientist to tackle the question: What is life and how did it originate? Join us on Tuesday, October 12th, at 7:00 pm for an interdisciplinary conversation.

“Philosophers have always been interested in Big Questions — What is life? Do we have free will? What is consciousness? — but recently scientific interest in these topics has surged as well,” says organizer of the series Larry Shapiro, former IRH Senior Fellow and Berent Enç Professor of Philosophy at UW–Madison. “What can we learn from these very different approaches to the Big Questions? Are philosophy and science more likely to be allies or adversaries? What might each discipline contribute to our understanding of issues central to the human experience?”

This event is co-sponsored by the Institute for Research in the Humanities, the Morgridge Institute for Research, and the Wisconsin Alumni Foundation.

The October 12th “what is life?” discussion will feature:

  • Carol Cleland, philosopher and the director of the Center for the Study of Origins at the University of Colorado-Boulder
  • John Yin, UW–Madison chemical engineer, systems biology and virology researcher
  • Moderator Eric Wilcots, Dean of the College of Letters & Science at UW–Madison

Crossroads of Ideas events are free and open to the public. Register here.

Crossroads of Ideas is a public lecture series held monthly on Tuesday evenings during the academic year that addresses challenging and engaging social science topics such as politics, policy issues, ethics, public perceptions, law and science and society. The series is supported by the Morgridge Institute for Research, UW–Madison and the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF). The media partner for Crossroads of Ideas is The Cap Times. Funding for the “Big Questions” series comes from the Burdick-Vary Fund at the Institute for Research in the Humanities and the College of Letters & Science.

Save these dates for more “Big Questions”: