The Wednesday Lectures hosted by Raimond Gaita - Whatever Happened to Argument?

Wed 27/06/2012

Time: 6:30 PM - 8:00 PM

Speaker:

Robert Manne

Description:

The Wednesday Lectures hosted by Raimond Gaita

'Whatever Happened to Argument’ by Robert Manne
 
Ever since the Enlightenment, one of the core assumptions of Western societies has been that in the long run reason would triumph over ignorance. This assumption rested on a simple belief--that stronger, more plausible and evidence-based arguments would be preferred to arguments based on prejudice or the special pleading of vested interests. As the largely successful war against climate science has shown, this core assumption is now under threat. In this lecture the puzzling rise of climate change denialism and irrationalism will be analysed to answer a broader question: whatever has happened to argument?
 
Robert Manne holds a Personal Chair in Politics at La Trobe University, is Convenor of The Ideas & Society Program at La Trobe University and is a Fellow of the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia. He has written or edited twenty books including The Petrov Affair: Politics and Espionage; Left, Right, Left; Political Essays-1977-2005; W.E.H Stanner: The Dreaming and Other Essays (ed.); and most recently, Making Trouble: Essays against the New Australian Complacency and the Quarterly Essay, “Bad News: Murdoch’s Australian and the Shaping of the Nation”. His books and essays have won various awards. Between 1987 and 2004 he was a columnist on public affairs for both the Murdoch Press and Fairfax, and also a regular commentator on ABC Radio. He is a frequent contributor to The Monthly. In 2005 he was voted Australia’s leading public intellectual in a survey conducted by The Sydney Morning Herald.

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Parking Information

Venue:

Lecture Theatre GM15 (1st Floor)

Address:

Melbourne Law School 185 Pelham Street, Carlton, Victoria 3053 Australia

Contact Person:

Joanna Trethowan

Contact Details:

joanna.trethowan@unimelb.edu.au or 9035 8737



     

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