Noted scholar and philosopher Martha Nussbaum will talk about religious intolerance at the UT Humanities Center lecture on Monday, September 16.
Nussbaum, the Ernest Freund Distinguished Service Professor of Law and Ethics at the University of Chicago, will present “The New Religious Intolerance: Overcoming the Politics of Fear.” Her talk will begin at 3:30 p.m. in the University Center ballroom, Room 329. Following her presentation there will be a brief reception.
Nussbaum is an American philosopher and political theorist with a particular interest in ancient Greek and Roman philosophy, political philosophy, feminism, and ethics, including animal rights. She holds appointments in the University of Chicago’s philosophy department and law school as well as associate appointments in classics, divinity, and political science.
Nussbaum previously taught at Harvard, Brown, and Oxford Universities. She has received honorary degrees from more than forty colleges and universities in the US, Canada, Asia, Africa, and Europe.
“There is hardly anyone today who would not rank Martha Nussbaum as one of America’s leading intellectuals. She is a model for all of us on what it means to participate in society in a measured and intelligent way,” said Tom Heffernan, Kenneth Curry Professor in the Humanities and director of the UT Humanities Center. “Her work on feminism and the situation of women in nonwestern countries is some of the most trenchant and influential commentary being written today.”
Heffernan said Nussbaum is invited to speak all over the world, so arranging her visit is a coup for UT.
“Her acceptance of our invitation—given the complexity of her schedule and the dozens of requests she receives—will extend the visibility of UT and the UT Humanities Center,” he said.
Nussbaum has served as a research advisor at the World Institute for Development Economics Research in Helsinki and as a part of the United Nations University. She has published nineteen books and almost 400 essays. She is currently working on her twentieth book, to be titled Political Emotions: Why Love Matters for Justice.
Here’s a look at the rest of the series:
- Monday, September 30—Edward Hirsch, poet, author, and president of the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation. He will talk about applying for a Guggenheim Fellowship and also give a poetry reading. A MacArthur Fellow, Hirsch has published eight books of poems. His most recent, The Living Fire: New and Selected Poems, compiles thirty-five years of work. His awards include the National Book Critics Circle Award, a Guggenheim Fellowship, an Ingram Merrill Foundation Award, a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship, and the American Academy of Arts and Letters Award for Literature.
Lecture, 3:30 to 5:30 p.m., John D. Tickle Engineering Building, Room 403; poetry reading, 7:00 p.m., Hodges Library Lindsay Young Auditorium.
- Tuesday, October 15—Amy Murrell Taylor, associate professor of history, University of Kentucky. Her talk is entitled “On the Frontlines of Freedom: Life Inside the US Civil War’s ‘Contraband’ Camps.” An historian of the US South with a special interest in the Civil War era, gender, and family, Taylor is the author of The Divided Family in Civil War America and co-editor of Major Problems in the Civil War and Reconstruction. Her essays have appeared in popular publications including The Civil War Monitor magazine and The Civil War: Official Park Service Handbook.
4:00 p.m., University Center Shiloh Room (Room 235).
- Monday, March 10—Patricia Buckley Ebrey, professor of history, University of Washington. Her talk is entitled “Emperor Huizong: Daoist, Poet, Painter, Captive.” She will offer a fresh look at the Chinese emperor who came to the Song Throne in the first month of 1100, a few months after his seventeenth birthday, and reigned almost twenty-six years. Rather than dwell on the turmoil caused by his reign, she will look at the ruler as a skilled poet, painter, calligrapher, musician, and art collector.
Time and location to be announced.
- Thursday, April 24—Carole Pateman, distinguished professor emeritus of political science, University of California, Los Angeles.
Details of her talk, as well as its time and location, to be announced.
For more information about the Humanities Lecture series, visit the Humanities Center website.
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C O N T A C T :
Amy Blakely (865-974-5034, ablakely@utk.edu)