Lecture to feature debate: 'Are we just animals?'
October 14, 2015
The Department of Philosophy and Humanities at the University of Alaska Fairbanks
will host the second annual Dr. Joseph Thompson Memorial Lecture on Wednesday, Oct.
21, in the Murie Building auditorium at 7 p.m.
The event features a prerecorded video of Joseph Thompson and his colleague, Eduardo
Wilner, debating the question “Are we just animals?” The video will be followed by
a discussion led by Wilner, an associate professor of philosophy and humanities, and
two faculty members with the Department of Political Science — Alex Hirsch and Arash
Pessian.
Thompson, who died in fall 2014, brought his engaging and memorable teaching style
to UAF in 1999. He became chair of the Department of Philosophy and Humanities, was
awarded full tenure and received the 2014 Emil Usibelli Distinguished Teaching Award.
This year’s lecture is sponsored by the Department of Philosophy and Humanities, the
Socratic Society, the College of Liberal Arts and the Dr. Joseph Thompson Memorial
Endowment. The event is free and open to the public.
CONTACT: Naomi Horne, nehorne@alaska.edu, 907-474-6464,
ON THE WEB: www.uaf.edu/cla, http://groupspaces.com/socraticsociety