University College Presents 2009 F.E.L. Priestley Memorial Lectures in the History of Ideas Emotions in Turmoil: Genealogy and Critique Ruth Leys Henry Wiesenfeld Professor of Humanities Director, Humanities Center Johns Hopkins University Tuesday, March 10
What If Anything Do Faces Reveal? Wednesday, March 11
Empathy Thursday, March 12
The Turn to Affect The recent surge of interest in the emotions in the humanities and social sciences has been accompanied by a tendency to rely on scientific approaches that have a long history but that raise numerous questions about their validity. Indeed, I think it is fair to say that the emotion field has reached a moment of potential crisis. In this series of lectures I will analyze the ways in which a certain paradigm of the affects has come hold to sway in the psychological and neurosciences, the theoretical assumptions on which that paradigm depends, and the methodologies that support it. Topics to be addressed include the use of posed facial expressions in research on the emotions; interpretations of emotional empathy; and the logic behind cultural theorists' fascination with neuroscientific theories of affect. March 10, 11 & 12 2009 4:30 p.m., Room 140, University College 15 King’s College Circle, University of Toronto. View a map. Reception in Room 240 following lecture on March 10 Members of the faculty, staff, students and the public are cordially invited. No registration necessary. Call (416) 978-3160 for more information. About the speaker: 
Ruth Leys is the Director of the Humanities Center at Johns Hopkins University. She is the author of several books including Trauma: A Genealogy and From Sympathy to Reflex: Marshall Hall and his Critics. She co-edited Defining American Psychology: The Correspondence Between Adolf Meyer and Edward Bradford Titchener and is currently working on a book entitled From Guilt to Shame: Auschwitz and After. About the Priestley Lectures:
The F.E.L. Priestley Memorial Lectures in the History of Ideas are funded by several of Professor F.E.L. Priestley’s former students. The lectures are interdisciplinary and may focus on literature, economics, history, geography, philosophy, theology, science, political science, as well as business, law, and medicine. Three in number and given on successive days, the lectures reflect their namesake’s broad interest in the history of ideas, as well as his dedication to teaching and scholarship. |
Events Calendar 
