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Symposium V - The Humanities
Stephen Grimm (Fordham) and Lilian O’Brien (Helsinki)

2024 Joint Session of the Aristotelian Society and the Mind Association

University of Birmingham

12 - 14 July 2024

Symposium V. The HUmanities

Grimm

Stephen Grimm

Fordham University

'brein

Lilian O’Brien

University of Helsinki

Abstract

The Epistemic Goals of the Humanities

 The sciences aim to get at the truth about the nature of the world.  Do the humanities have a similar goal–namely, to get at the truth about things like novels, paintings, and historical events?  I consider a few different ways in which the humanities aim at the truth about their objects, in the process giving rise to epistemic goods such as knowledge and understanding.  A work of history (Tyler Stovall’s 1996 book Paris Noir) is used as a test case, to consider the ways in which narrative often plays an essential role in leading us to understanding.

Coming Soon. 

About

Stephen R. Grimm is Professor of Philosophy and Chair of the Philosophy Department at Fordham University in New York.  He received his undergraduate degree from Williams College and his doctorate from the University of Notre Dame, and his areas of specialization include epistemology, the philosophy of artificial intelligence, and the idea of philosophy as a way of life.  He is Series Editor for the Oxford University Press line “Philosophy as a Way of Life,” and Lifetime Member of Clare Hall, Cambridge University.  Along with Rik Peels and René van Woudenberg he is co-author of the forthcoming OUP book, A Philosophy of the Humanities.

Lilian O’Brien is a Core Fellow at the Helsinki Collegium for Advanced Studies, University of Helsinki. She received her PhD from Brown University and has taught at Vassar College, The College of William and Mary, and University College Cork.  Her current research focuses on agency, action, commitment, and interpersonal understanding.

 

 

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