12/07/2023
By John Kaag

The Department of Philosophy and the College of Fine Arts, Humanities & Social Sciences is thrilled to announce three upcoming events in the Donahue Professor of the Arts Speaker Series.

The Quest for Character: What the Greco-Romans Can Teach Us About Leadership and Everyday Life with Massimo Pigliucci
Tuesday, Dec. 12
11 a.m.-12:30 p.m.
Weed Hall, Lecture Hall 2, South Campus

How do we become better persons? Both the ancient Greco-Romans and modern cognitive science converge on a similar set of answers. Massimo Pigliucci will examine the idea of a philosophy of life and explore five conclusions about improving our character, derived from history, philosophy and science.

Massimo Pigliucci is the K.D. Irani Professor of Philosophy at the City College of New York. His academic work is in evolutionary biology, the philosophy of science, the nature of pseudoscience and practical philosophy. His books include “How to Be a Stoic: Using Ancient Philosophy to Live a Modern Life” and “Nonsense on Stilts: How to Tell Science from Bunk.”

Uncertainty, Impossibility and Pluralism in Mathematics with Cristopher Moore
Tuesday, Dec. 12
12:30-2 p.m.
Weed Hall, Lecture Hall 2, South Campus

What happens when a mathematical question has more than one answer, or cannot be solved at all? Is there just one true geometry and arithmetic, or are there many? This talk will explore how mathematicians have wrestled with these issues from Euclid to Gödel and Turing, and what mathematics might offer to a society divided between doubt and authority.

Cristopher Moore is a mathematician, physicist and computer scientist. He has held positions at the Niels Bohr Institute, the École Normale Supérieure, the University of New Mexico, Northeastern University, the University of Michigan and Microsoft Research. Moore’s research ranges from quantum computing and social networks to risk assessment in criminal justice. He is a Fellow of the American Physical Society, the American Mathematical Society and the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

A Good Life for the Dark Ages: Boethius’ “Consolation of Philosophy” with Tad Brennan
Thursday, Dec. 14
11 a.m.-12:30 p.m.
Weed Hall, Room 318, South Campus

While imprisoned before his execution in 524 A.D., the Roman philosopher Boethius composed a treatise on the meaning of human life. Presented as a dialogue in prose and poetry between himself and Lady Philosophy, the “Consolation” had an impact on European culture in the Dark Ages second only to the Bible. Join us for an illuminating talk on this influential work.

Tad Brennan is a professor of philosophy and classics at Cornell University. He has previously held faculty positions at Northwestern, Yale and King’s College, London. Brennan has published dozens of articles on Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Pre-Socratics, Epicureans and Stoics, as well as two monographs on Ancient Skepticism and Stoicism, a translation of the sixth-century Platonist philosopher Simplicius and a collection of essays on Plato’s psychology.

The Donahue Professor of the Arts Speaker Series is made possible by the generous support of philanthropist and Lowell native Nancy L. Donahue. Together with her late husband, Richard, she established the Nancy L. Donahue Endowed Professorship in the Arts in 2009. Founded to help connect the music, fine arts, theatre and creative writing programs at UMass Lowell with local music, arts and theater organizations in the Lowell community, the series seeks to nurture artistic passion and talent in students, while taking advantage of the vast artistic resources within the city of Lowell.

All events are free and open to the public. Learn more about the series at uml.edu/donahue-speaker-series.