Gifford Lectures focus on equality
A leading Professor of Law and Philosophy will seek to enhance our understanding of human equality in this year’s Gifford Lecture series.
Professor Jeremy Waldron, of New York University Law School, will deliver six lectures in the University’s Playfair Library from 26 January until 5 February.
Professor Waldron will attempt to answer numerous questions on the issue. These include:
- What does it mean to say we are all one another’s equals?
- Does a sense of equality distinguish humans from other animals?
- On what is this human equality based? And is it a religious idea?
Gifford Lectures unwrapped
For the first time, a University Gifford Lectures blog has been developed to enable further debate on issues covered by Professor Waldron.
After each lecture, Dr Alexander Forsyth, from the University’s School of Divinity, will share his reflections on themes raised in the series.
He also welcomes comments and contributions from others.
Professor Waldron’s lectures will provide us with the opportunity to consider and debate our understanding of ‘human equality’. As someone with a background in both law and theology, I can immediately see their relevance and importance for teachers, students and practitioners in both of those fields - and others such as education and sociology.
Book tickets online
Tickets are free, but booking is essential. You can book online for each lecture.
Lecture 1. “More than merely equal consideration” - the Rev. Hastings Rashdall
Lecture 2. “Everyone to count for one” - the logic of basic equality
Lecture 3. Looking for a range property: Hobbes, Kant, and Rawls
Lecture 4: A Load-bearing Idea: The Work of Human Equality
Lecture 5. Human dignity and our relation to God
Lecture 6. Hard and heart-breaking cases: the profoundly disabled as our human equals
Gifford seminar
Professor Waldron will also take part in an afternoon panel disucssion with academics from the University to discuss his lecture series on 4 February.
This seminar is also open to the public and questions will be taken from the audience.
Booking online
Doors open at 12.45pm.For any further information contact the organiser at the College of Humanities and Social Sciences: hss.enquiries@ed.ac.uk
Wednesday 4 February 2015, 1.00pm
Wednesday 4 February 2015, 1.00pm
Lecture Theatre 1, New College, Mound PLace, EH1 2LX
Esteemed lectureship
The Gifford Lectures have been delivered since 1888 by a succession of distinguished international scholars. They explore the links between nature and religion.
The lecture series was established under the will of Adam Lord Gifford (1820-1887), a Senator of the College of Justice at the University.
Previous speakers include former Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, the Chairperson of the United Nations Internal Justice Council, Catherine O’Regan and world-renowned psychologist Steven Pinker.