Unknowability: How Do We Know What Cannot Be Known? – 38th in the Social Re…

When:
April 4, 2019 @ 3:00 pm – April 5, 2019 @ 3:30 pm
2019-04-04T15:00:00-04:00
2019-04-05T15:30:00-04:00
Where:
The New School New York, NY 10011 United States
The New School New York
NY 10011 United States
Cost:
Free
Contact:
Unknowability: How Do We Know What Cannot Be Known? - 38th in the Social Re... @ The New School  New York, NY 10011  United States |  |  |

The Center for Public Scholarship at The New School invites you to Unknowability: How Do We Know What Cannot Be Known?, the 38th Social Research Conference.

From the earliest moments of humanity’s search for answers and explanations, we have grappled with the unknowable, that which we are unable or not permitted to know. What does the history of the unknowable look like? What are the questions once thought to be unanswerable that have been answered? Are there enduring unknowables and if so, what are they?

This conference affords a rare opportunity for scholars from different fields to engage with each other and with the general public on this issue, particularly while we are living in what some might call a post-truth world. At a time when the distinction between what is true and what is not has become increasingly problematic, focusing attention on how we know what we cannot know has become essential.

*This event is free. Guests are encouraged to register.

This conference is partially supported by the National Science Foundation under Award Number SES 1837895

For a full conference description and speaker bios, please visit the Center for Public Scholarship’s Conference website

CONFERENCE PROGRAM
Day 1: Thursday, April 4, 2019
(All sessions held at: Tishman Auditorium, University Center, 63 Fifth Avenue, NY, NY)

Session 1, 3:00PM – 5:30PM: Humanities

Rebecca Goldstein, Visiting Professor of Philosophy, New College of the Humanities, London; MacArthur Fellow, philosopher, author and novelist
Marina Warner, British novelist, short story writer, historian, mythographer, and Professor of English and Creative Writing at Birkbeck College, University of London
Michael Scott, Professor of Classics and Ancient History, University of Warwick
Zoë Crossland, Associate Professor of Anthropology, Columbia University
Moderator: Jim Miller, Professor of Liberal Studies and Politics; Faculty Director of Creative Publishing and Critical Journalism, The New School
KEYNOTE EVENT, “Unknowable Unknowns” 6:00PM -7:30 PM

John D. Barrow FRS, Professor of Mathematical Sciences at the University of Cambridge; Director of the Millennium Mathematics Project
Keynote Interlocutor: Rebecca Goldstein, MacArthur Fellow, philosopher, author and novelist


Day 2: Friday, April 5, 2019
(All sessions held at: Room I-202, Theresa Lang Center, 55 W. 13th Street, NY, NY)

Session 2, 11:00 AM – 1:00 PM: Science and Mathematics

Gregory Chaitin, Professor, University of Buenos Aires; and Visiting Professor, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro
Stuart Firestein, Chair, Department of Biological Sciences, Columbia University
Gavin Schmidt, Director, NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies
Moderator: Natalie Wolchover, Senior writer and editor, Quanta Magazine
Session 3, 1:30 PM – 3:30 PM: Psychology and Social Science

Nicholas Humphrey, Senior Member, Darwin College, Cambridge University
Alan Fiske, Professor, Department of Anthropology, University of California, Los Angeles
Linsey McGoey, Associate Professor, Department of Sociology, University of Essex
Moderator: William Hirst, Malcolm B. Smith Professor and Co-Chair of Psychology, New School for Social Research

This conference is partially supported by the National Science Foundation under Award Number SES 1837895

For a full conference description and speaker bios, please visit the Center for Public Scholarship’s Conference website

The Center for Public Scholarship seeks to promote free inquiry and public discussion, bringing the best scholarship in and outside of the academy to bear on the critical and contested issues of our times. For more information, visit: www.centerforpublicscholarship.org

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