2025

Agnes Cuming Visiting Speaker 2025

Prof. Tim Crane, 
Professor of Philosophy and Pro-Rector at the Central European University (CEU) in Vienna and Director of Research for the FWF Cluster of Excellence Knowledge in Crisis.

The UCD School Of Philosophy is delighted to announce that the Agnes Cuming speaker for 2025 will be Tim Crane, Professor of Philosophy and Pro-Rector at the Central European University (CEU) in Vienna and Director of Research for the FWF Cluster of Excellence Knowledge in Crisis. Professor Crane will give two public lectures on the 30th and 31st of January 2025. 

Venue: NTh 1 Lower Ground Floor, Newman Building, UCD Belfield

30th January 2025 6.00 pm Lecture 1: The Deconstruction of Dualism

31st January 2025 6.00 pm Lecture 2: The Deconstruction of Materialism

ABSTRACT

The mind-body problem today sometimes seems to present a forced choice between an idea no-one really believes (dualism) and an idea no-one really understands (physicalism). Despite the many complex variants of these two positions, fundamental unclarities in the underlying assumptions remain. Some recent attempts to break through the stalemate between dualism and physicalism, like panpsychism, only serve to reinforce these assumptions. These lectures argue that in order to move forward with our understanding of the mind and its place in nature, these underlying assumptions must be identified and evaluated (‘deconstructed’). The first lecture will examine the current debate over dualism, as posed by the persistence of David Chalmers’s ‘zombie’ hypothesis, and will argue that even if coherent, this hypothesis should play no role in the metaphysics of the mind. The second lecture will examine the current debate about physicalism, in particular recent attempts to construe physicalism in terms of notions like grounding. The conclusion will be that a naturalist understanding of the mind is independent of the issue of physicalism; physicalism is a wheel that turns which is no part of the mechanism.

Tim Crane specialises in the philosophy of mind, philosophy of perception, philosophy of psychology and metaphysics. More information can be found on his (opens in a new window)website.