From Animal to Person:
How Cultural Evolution Builds Human Minds
Daniel C. Dennett, a major American public intellectual and leading philosopher of mind, religion, and evolution, is Austin B. Fletcher Professor of Philosophy and co-director of the Center for Cognitive Studies at Tufts University.
Dennett will deliver the 47th annual Potter Memorial Lecture and the 2008 Philip C. Holland Lecture as a joint event on September 11, 2008, at 7:30 p.m. in Todd Auditorium.
In his talk entitled "From Animal to Person: How Cultural Evolution Builds Human Minds," Dennett will speak about the evolution of human culture, which he describes as a "second information highway," swifter and more reliable than genetic transmission.
The annual Frank Fraser Potter Memorial Lecture is sponsored by the WSU Department of Philosophy.
The annual Philip C. Holland Lecture is sponsored by the WSU Office of the Provost and funded through an endowment established in the will of Ernest O. Holland, president of Washington State College from 1916 to 1944.
Generous financial support of this lecture has also been provided by the College of Liberal Arts and the College of Veterinary Medicine’s Neuroscience Program and Center for the Study of Animal Well-being.
"Daniel Dennett is a rarity. At once intellectually rigorous and provocative, he pushes both philosophers and scientists to ask more careful questions about the most profound issues pondered by the human mind."
Dr. Paul Whitney, WSU professor of psychology and interim dean of the College of Liberal Arts