Conceptions of Freedom II: Neuroscience
20 January 2017, 12:00 am
![Freedom Freedom](https://www.ucl.ac.uk/european-institute/sites/european_institute/files/styles/large_image/public/Freedom_0.jpg?itok=7itxeh3h)
Event Information
Open to
- All
Internationally-renowned neuroscientist and musician Daniel Levitin in conversation with Lucy O'Brien, Professor of Philosophy at UCL, on the construction of 'internal freedom'.
When: |
Friday 20 January 5-7pm |
Where: |
IAS Common Ground South Wing Wilkins Building Gower Street London WC1E 6BT |
In this second discussion in a series on Conceptions of Freedom, Daniel Levitin,
internationally renowned neuroscientist, writer and musician, will
reflect on what the pioneering field of neuroscience has to tell us
about the construction of internal freedom, or its limits. Given what we
know about the workings of the brain, how can we think about the
relationship between thought and emotion, the processes of making
decisions, or those involved in creativity? At the microscopic level of
synapses and neurological networks, how do we understand our capacity
for reflection and self-reflection, or our sense that we are free
agents? Professor Levitin will be in conversation with Lucy O'Brien,
Professor of Philosophy at UCL, with a special interest in the study of
mind and action, as well as self-consciousness and self-knowledge.
The
premise of the series is that 'freedom' is hardly a unitary category,
and that the theories we have to talk about it often don't capture
either the lived experience of 'being free', or the complex relationship
between external liberty and internal autonomy. We would therefore like
to think about the various meanings and templates of freedom, as these
are conceived in various bodies of thought and practice: psychoanalytic,
religious, scientific or artistic, as well as the more familiar
traditions of political philosophy.
Conceptions of Freedom is conceived and chaired by Eva Hoffman, Visiting Professor at the UCL European Institute, in collaboration with the Institute of Advanced Studies.
Image (C) 'The unnamed' (Creative Commons Licence)