Home Events Sheldon Solomon at UW April 27, 2011
Sheldon Solomon at UW April 27, 2011

“John Locke’s Errors: Why Left and Right Are Both Beside the Point!”

At A Glance

..Who: Sheldon Solomon
What: “John Locke’s Errors” ..
When: Wednesday, April 27, 7:00pm ..Where: Room 110, Kane ..Hall,.University of Washington ..
UW Host and Co-sponsor:
 ..Dept. of Communication
nCost: Donation (no one will be
denied admission for lack of funds)

.

He who understands baboon will do more toward metaphysics than Locke.*
--Charles Darwin

Sheldon Solomon, our public intellectual sans pareil, in this new lecture at the University of Washington shows us his scope is not confined to Terror Management Theory. He will argue that contemporary liberal and conservative thought is directly and indirectly influenced by ideas of John Locke, based on erroneous assumptions about human nature, resulting in political philosophies that are both (i.e., ideological left and right) intellectually deficient and morally bankrupt. He will then propose the rudiments of a political philosophy based on an evolutionary existential view of human nature and consider the implications of this perspective for domestic and foreign policy.


In line with this excursion into political science, philosophy and psychology, the lecture is co-sponsored and hosted, thank you very much, by the Department of Communication and being promoted in the three other Arts and Sciences departments noted above.

Note also Sheldon’s updated bio. It seems that finally we EBF people are not the only ones aware of the gift we have in this tousled wit in the tie-dyed shirt and patrol boots:

Sheldon Solomon is Professor of Psychology at Skidmore College. He is an experimental social psychologist, with interests focusing on the nature of self, consciousness, and social behavior. His work exploring the effects of the uniquely human awareness of death on individual and social behavior has been supported by the National Science Foundation and Ernest Becker Foundation and was featured in the award winning documentary film Flight from Death: The Quest for Immortality. He is co-author of In the Wake of 9/11: The Psychology of Terror (2003, American Psychological Association Books) and co-founder of The World Leaders Project. Dr. Solomon is a Fellow in the American Psychological Society and the Society for Experimental Social Psychology, a 2007 recipient of an American Psychological Association Presidential Citation, and 2009 recipient of a Lifetime Career Award by The International Society for Self and Identity.

Henry Richards, our Executive Director, like Sheldon, is also a psychologist but from the abnormal side (of psychology that is). As the designated discussant for Sheldon’s talk, his job will be to catch some of the high arching balls that Sheldon will be batting into the stands and fire them back to home plate before our heroic speaker slides to score with new profound utterances. HR will be wearing two intellectual catcher’s mitts: on the Right hand he’ll be wielding tragic, low-down Depth Psychology and on the Left hand he’ll sport Emergence and Transcendence in highfalutin comic play. With two mitts will he manage to catch Sheldon’s curveballs?

*Baboon in the singular is the correct quote.
 

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Laughing at Death

Becker “too dark?” He said laughter reflects a very advanced stage of faith and grace. See Neil’s "Laughing at Death: The evolution of humor to disarm fundamentalism.”

Download a .pdf version of Neil's essay here.
The Ernest Becker Foundation - 316 Broadway #312, Seattle WA 98122 - (206) 232-2994