AAAS Dialogue on Science, Ethics, and Religion

News & Events: Public Lecture

What Neurology Can Tell Us about Human Nature and the Meaning of Art
18 March 2004

 

In the first part of the lecture Prof. Ramachandran will demonstrate that neurological syndromes that have been regarded as oddities in the past can provide key insights into the functions of the normal brain. In part two he will consider how insights from neuroscience can help bridge the “two cultures” - science on the one hand, and humanities arts and philosophy on the other. A new approach to art and to the problem of qualia - a property (such as redness) as it is experienced as distinct from any source it might have in a physical object - will be proposed.

Keynote speaker:

• Dr. V.S. Ramachandran, Center for Brain and Cognition, Department of Psychology, University of California, San Diego
  

Respondent:

• Rev. Pamela Cooper-White, Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia
  

Coverage:

Listen to Dr. Ramachandran
Listen to Rev. Cooper-White