The Institute for the Advancement of the Social Sciences

Socratic Conversation: “The Special Reality of Time: Exploring the nature of temporal phenomena in physics, biology and history”

“The Special Reality of Time: exploring the nature of temporal phenomena in physics, biology and history”

by Mark Simes
Wednesday, April 4 from 6-8pm
Room 625, 745 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston, MA
Open to the Public
Light refreshments provided

Mark Simes, PhD candidate in social neuroscience, will lead a Socratic conversation examining the broad scientific understanding and disciplinary treatment of Time.  Drawing on examples of physics, biology and history, the talk will consider to what extent Time might be conceptualized monolithically across scientific disciplines and how the phenomenon of Time might be represented neurologically by the human brain.

Socratic Conversations are workshops intended as gymnastics for the brain of its members and guests. Speakers include faculty, graduate students, and free-floating intellectuals who come to air new ideas, which the audience discusses.

Socratic Conversation: “Dignity for All: The Emergence of Nationalism in Africa”

Socratic Conversation: “Dignity for All: The Emergence of Nationalism in Africa”

by Katrina Demulling
This Wednesday March 28th from 6-8pm
Room 625, 745 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston, MA
Open to the Public
Light refreshments provided

Katrina Demulling is an interdisciplinary scholar and an Associate Director of the Institute for the Advancement of the Social Sciences. An PhD candidate in the University Professors Program at Boston University, her research bridges between fields of knowledge in the social sciences. Her dissertation, on the development of national consciousness and identity in Tanzania, tests the mentalist theory of global politics and culture as it applies to political culture, foreign policy, and economic development.

Socratic Conversations are workshops intended as gymnastics for the brain of its members and guests. Speakers include faculty, graduate students, and free-floating intellectuals who come to air new ideas, which the audience discusses.

Socratic Conversation: “The Special Strength of Weak Arguments: The Case of Japanese Political Debates”

RESCHEDULED for February 29th from 6-8pm

Socratic Conversation: ”The Special Strength of Weak Arguments: The Case of Japanese Political Debates,” by Yano Yoshiro
This Wednesday February 15th from 6-8pm
Room 625, 745 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston, MA
Open to the Public
Light refreshments provided

Yoshiro Yano is a Japanese sociologist and Associate Professor of Sociology at Chuo University, Japan. This talk will focus on Japanese debates on the Iraq War in 2003 and will conclude with a review of sociological theories on argumentation (Pareto, Simmel, Weber, Luhmann, and Bourdieu).

Dr. Yano is most interested in how ideas and values interact in society, especially with religion and intellectual debates. His areas of expertise include theoretical sociology, history of social thought (with a special focus on Max Weber), and argumentation theory. He has published several books on Weber such as Max Weber no houhouron-teki gourishugi [Max Weber’s Methodological Rationalism (Tokyo: Sobunsha, 2003.)], and Nihon Max Weber ronso [The “Max Weber Debate” in Japan (Hashimoto T. & Yano Y. Eds. Kyoto: Nakanishiya Shuppan, 2008)].

Socratic Conversations are workshops intended as gymnastics for the brain of its members and guests. Speakers include faculty, graduate students, and free-floating intellectuals who come to air new ideas, which the audience discusses.