'Life of the Mind' Lecture Focuses on Issues of Perspective

Life of the Mind

, interdisciplinary conversations with University of Cincinnati faculty, returns March 29 with a lecture by Philosophy Professor Heidi L. Maibom on “Know Others to Know Thyself: Uses and Misuses of Taking Another’s Perspective.”

The event, which is free to attend and open to the public, takes place from 3:30-5 p.m. in the Russell C. Myers Alumni Center.

Life of the Mind

is a semi-annual lecture series that features a distinguished UC faculty member presenting his or her work and expertise. A panel of three responds to and discusses the lecture from diverse perspectives. The series includes intriguing insights from diverse perspectives and encourages faculty and students from across UC to engage in further discourse. The presentation is not simply a recitation of the faculty member’s work but promotes an informed point of view.

Maibom studied at the University of Copenhagen, the University of Bologna and University College London, and has held fellowships at Cambridge and Princeton Universities. She works on folk psychology, empathy, responsibility and psychopathy, questioning issues such as : What is empathy and what is its moral relevance? How should we understand shame? How do we understand other minds? Are psychopaths responsible agents? Do you need to know what you are doing in order to be responsible for it? Do judgments of right or wrong essentially spring from practical reason or emotion? Are women better empathizers than men?

Her publications include

Empathy and Morality

(editor),

Neurofeminism: Issues at the Intersection of Feminist Theory and Cognitive Science

with Robyn Bluhm and Anne Jaap Jacobson, as well as numerous peer-reviewed publications and book chapters.

The three panelists for the March

Life of the Mind

are Cal Adler, professor of psychiatry and behavioral neuroscience in the College of Medicine; Valerie Gray Hardcastle, professor of philosophy, psychology, and psychiatry & behavioral neuroscience in the McMicken College of Arts and Sciences; and Ethan Katz, assistant professor of history in the McMicken College of Arts and Sciences.

Sponsored by the Office of the President and organized by the University of Cincinnati Libraries and Faculty Senate, the mission of

Life of the Mind

is to celebrate UC faculty research, scholarship and creative output and to foster the free and open exchange of ideas and discourse.

Life of the Mind

is free and open to the public and attracts a broad audience including UC students, faculty, staff and alumni, as well as people from the community. More information about

Life of the Mind

is available online at

www.libraries.uc.edu/lifeofthemind/

. For those who cannot attend in person, the March 29 lecture will be streamed live via the website.