Philip Kitcher, a professor at Columbia University, is known for his studies on the role of scientific inquiry in democratic societies. The Baker-Nord Center for the Humanities will host a lecture with Kitcher Thursday, March 3, at 5 p.m. in the Wolstein Research Building auditorium.
His lecture, “The Centrality of Education,” is a follow-up to his 2017 Walter Strauss Lecture Series and will be presented in coordination with the publication of his book, The Main Enterprise of the World: Rethinking Education. Emerson’s vision of education as “the main enterprise of the world” should be taken seriously. Rather than thinking of education as consisting in the production of productive workers, Kitcher proposed that we should see it as growing people who can live together as fellow citizens and enjoy fulfilling lives. He believes our central task as human beings is to leave the world better than we found it, and to enable our successors to continue the process of improvement.
Register to attend in-person. This lecture also will be livestreamed.