Throughout the year, the Department of Philosophy invites philosophers from around the country to deliver lectures in which philosophical reflection is brought to bear on topics of interest to the general public.
All lectures are free and open to the VCU community and general public. Please view below for recent lecture topics.
Helen Nissenbaum is the Andrew H. and Ann R. Tisch Professor of Information Science and the founding director of the Digital Life Initiative at Cornell Tech. Her research spans issues of bias, trust, security, autonomy, and accountability in digital systems, most notably, privacy as contextual integrity
As AI systems continue to improve, we may give them so much power that humanity "loses control of its future". Should we be worried? Some philosophers have argued that this sort of domination is always bad because of the characteristic harms it causes. Professor D'Alessandro will argue that, in fact, powerful AI might dominate humans without causing these harms.
What can engaged moral agents and policy-makers learn from
academic moral philosophy? What can moral philosophers
learn from those who are actively trying to make the world
a better place? Professor Chappell's lecture will take up these
questions, exploring—from both directions—the prospects for
unifying ethical theory and practice.
Kim Soland's research is in the philosophy and science of perception, especially auditory perception and pain. Right now she is interested in the impact of attention on perceptual experience.
