The Philosophy Department has been awarded £1000 per annum by the Royal Institute of Philosophy to fund public philosophical activities.
The Royal Institute of Philosophy is a national organisation dedicated to promoting the study and practice of philosophy in the UK. In this first year, the Philosophy Department have used the money for a series of public lectures on the theme of creativity. Next year they hope to run a similar series on the theme of "Philosophy in Britain and in Europe".
In this year's series, five specially invited speakers will give their own particular angles on different sorts of creative process.
The speakers will include the Dominican friar Father Fergus Kerr OP, of Blackfriars House in Oxford, whose publications include the classic Theology after Wittgenstein and Immortal Longings, a study of the persistence of theological themes in recent philosophy. His theme will be "Creativity in theology".
Another speaker is the world-famous poet Douglas Dunn, who, among his other achievements, has been Professor of English both in Dundee and St Andrews, and who will be drawing on his own experience of the practice of poetry to speak about "Creativity in Poetry".
Dr Berys Gaut of the University of St Andrews, a world authority on the aesthetics of creativity, will speak about "The Value of Creativity".
Finally Professor Margaret Boden, founding-Dean of Sussex University's School of Cognitive and Computing Sciences and author of 'Dimensions of Creativity', will address the scientific and psychological issues raised by creativity in her lecture "The Creative Mind".
All lectures will take place at 5:30 pm in the Baxter Conference Room, 1st Floor, Tower Building and all who are interested are most welcome.
Further enquiries to Dr Timothy Chappell 01382 345211.