Topic
The topic for this Lecture Series is "On Wanting Not to Know: From Oedipus to Us".
Aristotle claimed that “all human beings want to know.” Our own experience proves that all human beings also want not to know. Today, centuries after the Enlightenment, mesmerized crowds still follow preposterous prophets, irrational rumors trigger fanatical acts, and magical thinking crowds out common sense and expertise. Why is this? Where does this will to ignorance come from, and how does it continue to shape our lives?
About the speaker
The second lecture of the Pascal Lecture Series will be held by Dr. Mark Lilla.
Mark Lilla was born in Detroit, Michigan in 1956, and was educated at the University of Michigan and Harvard University. After holding professorships at New York University and the Committee on Social Thought at the University of Chicago, he joined Columbia University in 2007 as Professor of the Humanities. He has been awarded fellowships by the Russell Sage Foundation, the Institut d’études avancées (Paris), the Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio Center, the Guggenheim Foundation, the Institute for Advanced Study (Princeton), and the American Academy in Rome. In 1995 he was inducted into the French Order of Academic Palms.
Lilla wrote many books and articles on politics, liberalism and conservatism. He is also known as an excellent teacher and a great supporter of liberal education.
Sign Up
The deadline to sign up for the Lecture Series is 28/05/2024. You can sign up for this event by clicking on the button at the bottom of this page.
Date: Friday May 31st
Arrival: 19:00 - 19:15
End: 22:00
Title: On Wanting Not to Know: From Oedipus to Us
Venue: Rapenburg 6, Leiden
Sign up deadline: May 28th, 2024
Entrance fee:
Student : EUR 25
Non-student: EUR 35