Barbara Herrnstein Smith
Braxton Craven Professor Emerita of Comparative Literature & English, Duke University

Monday, October 15th, 5:00 pm
"Science" and "Religion," De-Simplified

Much of intellectual significance is obscured in the current picture of an epic battle between two monolithic adversaries, Science and Religion. This includes not only the immense scope and variability of what each of these terms encompasses but also the closeness and complexity of their historical, institutional, intellectual and--a focus of my talk here--cognitive relations.


Tuesday, October 16th, 4:00 pm
Angles on Relativism: Historical, Anthropological, Political and Affective

Important relativistic views articulated in early 20th-century historiography and anthropology continue to be crucially misunderstood and pointlessly "refuted." I examine current claims to the effect that cultural relativism is undermined by the existence of cognitive universals and also the perennial fear or charge that relativistic convictions lead to political quietism or ethically undesirable neutrality.