Paul Hammond Memorial Lecture: “Philosophy's Division within Itself: Analytic and Interpretative Traditions”

Description

Join Dr. Joshua Schwartz for the third Annual Paul Hammond Memorial Lecture on Friday, Oct. 4 at 7 p.m. at the Jesup Memorial Library. The Hammond Memorial Lecture, in honor of the late Paul Hammond, brings a noted speaker for a talk that explores philosophy for a lay audience. Hammond, who grew up on MDI and was professor of philosophy, was passionate about discussing ideas and current events, as well as promoting well-reasoned and logical arguments and debate.
 
Schwartz’s lecture “Philosophy's Division within Itself: Analytic and Interpretative Traditions” will focus on the rift between two philosophical traditions—the analytic and interpretative—that developed during the 20th century. Analytic philosophers conduct conceptual investigations, which involve studying the language in which the concepts in question are, or can be, expressed. Interpretative philosophers assume that knowledge and meaning are acts of interpretation, hence there is no objective knowledge, which is independent of thinking, reasoning humans. Hammond studied in the interpretative tradition and Schwartz studied in the analytic tradition. Schwartz will explore the historical background of the divide between the two traditions and explore the ramifications of the split for thinking about the role of philosophy in the 21st century.
 
Schwartz, who grew up on MDI, has a Ph.D. in Philosophy from the University of Chicago. He was recently an Assistant Professor at the University of Virgina.
 
The Paul Hammond Memorial Lecture was established in 2016. Hammond, the son of Debby and Scott Hammond of Bar Harbor and a graduate of the Mount Desert Island High School, passed away in 2015.
 
For more information on the Paul Hammond Memorial Fund, contact Ruth A. Eveland, Library Director at 207-288-4245 or reveland@jesuplibrary.org. For more information on the talk, contact the Jesup at 207-288-4245.