45th Eunice Belgum Lectures "Humanity Matters"

Students, faculty, staff are all welcome to attend the 45th Eunice Belgum Lectures. This year’s lecturer is Lewis Gordon.

Lewis Gordon’s lecture “Humanity Matters” will summarize why anti-humanism and misanthropy are misguided features of an influential, yet disastrous, thread of modern and contemporary philosophy, which fails to address a pressing problem of the Euromodern Age: dehumanization. Lewis Gordon will offer a global existential response rooted in actual science and critical investigations of what it means to be human and the consequences of ignoring those elements.

Each year for three decades the department has sponsored the Belgum Lectures, which honor the memory of Eunice Belgum, who graduated from St. Olaf College in 1967. The lecture series was established in the hope that Eunice’s tragic death in 1977 would not end her impact on the profession, teaching, and scholarship she loved so much. While the lectures may be on any topic, the philosophy department makes a special effort to choose topics in areas of special interest to Eunice, namely ethics, philosophy of mind, and feminism. These lectures are supported by a fund established by Eunice’s family and friends.

Reception to follow.