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Avner de-Shalit to discuss ‘The Spirit of Cities’ at three events in the UK

February 17, 2012 by

 

Princeton University Press author Avner de-Shalit will be speaking at three events in the UK next week. On Monday 20th February he will be discussing what makes cities tick at Jewish Book Week with Barbara Mann, chaired by Ziona Strelitz. On Tuesday 21st, Professor de-Shalit will be giving a lunchtime talk at The RSA (Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce) and discussing why cultivating the distinctive ‘spirit of cities’ is the best antidote to global homogenisation. Finally, on the evening of 21st February, he will be in Bristol, discussing cities with Sunder Katwala at a Bristol Festival of Ideas event. These talks all tie into Avner de-Shalit’s book, The Spirit of Cities, which is co-authored by Daniel A. Bell and was recently published by Princeton University Press.

The talks at Jewish Book Week and the RSA will be recorded and made available online. Please follow the links for more information.

 

Filed Under: Debates, Events, Jewish Studies, PUP Europe, Sociology, Uncategorized, United Kingdom, World History

“The Expanding Circle” on Bloggingheads

October 21, 2011 by

Check out a great conversation between Peter Singer and Robert Wright on an episode of Bloggingheads! Starting with the  reissue of Singer’s book The Expanding Circle: Ethics, Evolution, and Moral Progress, they go on to discuss how moral arguments have evolved, how human reasoning is linked to moral progress, wondering if aliens would share our morality, and the highs and lows of being a philosopher.

Be sure to re-read your copy of The Expanding Circle for more food for thought on morality as universal or relative, tied up with questions about whether morality is biologically or culturally based:

The shift from a point of view that is disinterested between individuals within a group, but not between groups, to a point of view that is fully universal, is a tremendous change — so tremendous, in fact, that it is only just beginning to be accepted on the level of ethical reasoning and is still a long way from acceptance on the level of practice. Nevertheless, it is the direction in which moral thought has been going since ancient times. Is it an accident of history that this should be so, or is it the direction in which our capacity to reason leads us?

 

Filed Under: Books To Add To Your Reading List, Debates, History, Philosophy, Twitter

Looking for something to do during the scheduled May 21 Rapture?

May 19, 2011 by

Religion Dispatches Magazine Online’s Lauri Lebo has a good suggestion for what to do this coming Saturday when, according to Harold Camping, true believers will ascend to heaven while the rest of the Earth heads towards destruction: throw a party!

Apparently many atheists (and believers who don’t think the Rapture is coming in two days) have decided to ring in the purported end of the world with a celebration.  Lebo has a few tips for a successful judgement day bash, including appropriate drinks to serve (such as the “Death in the Afternoon,” a Hemingway favorite) and what time to start your festivities (6 p.m. is allegedly when the Rapture will begin).

Interestingly enough, the reported information about the rapture includes not just a specific start time, but a prophesy that there will be “a great earthquake, such as has never been in the history of the Earth.” If this sounds familiar, it may be because historically earthquakes have figured into the apocalyptic predictions of many civilizations. Read Apocalypse: Earthquakes, Archaeology, and the Wrath of God by Amos Nur with Dawn Burgess to find out more!

(And please, be careful with that absinthe!)

Filed Under: Anthropology, Archaeology and Ancient History, Books To Add To Your Reading List, Debates, Events, History, In the News, Princeton University Press, Religion, World History

Dan Drezner and Mother Jones’s Adam Weinstein talk zombies at Bloggingheads

February 23, 2011 by

In what is a truly creative diavlog, author Daniel Drezner chatted about his new book THEORIES OF INTERNATIONAL POLITICS AND ZOMBIES with Mother Jones editor Adam Weinstein on a recent edition of Bloggingheads.tv.

Filed Under: Debates, International Relations