Center For Inquiry Transnational - Annual Conference is being held October 27-30 in Amherst, N.Y.
There is a very distinguished list of speakers and promises to be a fascinating weekend. The link (below) has more details.
www.centerforinquiry.net/events/csh-2005.htmlIf anyone is planning on attending this, please e-mail AuntieSocial. I am registered and will be attending with my mother.
The following is the scheduled speakers:
Thursday, October 27, 2005
— Slee Hall, Amherst Campus
2:00pm-3:30pm Opening Ceremony and Welcoming Remarks
Paul Kurtz (SUNY Buffalo)
“In Praise of Free Thought” multi-media retrospective
William Greiner, former President, SUNY at Buffalo
Special Performance: Mozart’s “Sonata in D-major for Two Pianos”
Frieda and Steve Mannes
3:30-5:00pm Opening Panel
Secularism, Humanism, and Democracy
Paul Kurtz, Moderator (SUNY Buffalo)
Andrzej Dominiczak (University of Warsaw)
Herbert Hauptman (Nobel Laureate)
Susan Jacoby (Author)
Jean-Claude Pecker (Collège de France)
Sam Harris (author)
5:00-7:30pm Dinner (On your own)
8:00–10:00pm Keynote Address
Richard Dawkins (Oxford University)
Moderator, David Triggle (SUNY Buffalo, President of Center for Inquiry Institute)
Friday, October 28, 2005
— Buffalo Niagara Marriott Hotel, Millersport Highway, Amherst
9:00am–12:00pm Secularism and the Threat of Fundamentalism,
Moderator, David Koepsell (Executive Director, Council for Secular Humanism)
Intuition, Reason, and Dogmas in Science
Jean-Claude Pecker (French Academy of Sciences)
Secularism and Philosophy
Ioanna Kuçuradi (Hacettepe University, Turkey)
Science vs. Religion: From the Classroom to String Theory
Lawrence M. Krauss (Case Western Reserve University)
Is Religion the Default Mode?
Lionel Tiger (Rutgers University)
12:00–1:30pm Luncheon Panel
The God Delusion Moderator
Edward Buckner (former Executive Director, Council for Secular Humanism)
Richard Dawkins (Oxford University)
Margaret Downey (Freethought Society, Philadelphia)
R. Elisabeth Cornwell (University of St. Andrews, Scotland)
2:00pm-5:00pm Education, Media, and Public Policy
Moderator, Austin Dacey (Chairman, Center for Inquiry-MetroNY)
The Threat of Fundamentalism to Secular Democracy
James Herrick (former editor, New Humanist, Rationalist Press Assn.)
The Republican War on Science
Chris Mooney (Author)
Playing God: Ethical Issues in Euthanasia and Physician-Assisted Suicide
Gerald Larue (University of Southern California)
Human Aging: Physical, Psychological, and Social Questions for the 21st Century
Etienne-Emile Baulieu, MD (Former President, French Academy of Science)
Idiots, Infants, and the Insane
Thomas Szasz (professor emeritus, SUNY Health Science Center, Syracuse)
6:00pm Reception • 7:00pm Banquet
— Buffalo Niagara Marriott Hotel, Millersport Highway, Amherst
Host: Paul Kurtz
Keynote Address: Sir Harold W. Kroto
Awards: Sir Harold Kroto, Sir Hermann Bondi, Ioanna Kuçuradi, Ibn Warraq, Mourad Wahba, Mona Abousenna
Special Performance: Max Maven, world renowned mind-reader:
“Thinking in Person: An Evening of Knowing and Not Knowing”
Saturday, October 29, 2005
— Slee Hall, SUNY Buffalo, Amherst Campus
9:00am-12:00pm Reason and Values
Moderator, Richard Hull (professor emeritus, SUNY at Buffalo)
Educational Living and the Quest for Reasonable Values
John Novak (Brock University, Canada)
Back to Basics: Is Cohabitation of Religion and Ethics Possible?
Michael Ardon (professor emeritus, Institute of Chemistry, Hebrew University, Israel)
A Syllabus for Moral Education
Antony Flew (Reading University, United Kingdom)
Evolution, Biology, and Ethics
Dennis V. Razis, MD (Delphi Academy, Greece)
12:00-2:00pm Luncheon Panel
The Future of Humanism
Moderator, Tom Flynn (Editor, FREE INQUIRY magazine)
Edward Tabash (Chair, CFI–West)
D.J. Grothe (Director, CFI –On Campus and Community programs)
David Koepsell (SUNY at Buffalo)
2:00pm-5:00pm The Committee for the Scientific Examination of Religion
Science and History confront Religion: Twenty-first Century Issues
Moderator, R. Joseph Hoffmann (Wells College, Aurora, NY)
Laura Purdy (Wells College, Aurora, NY)
Sir Peter Atkins (Oxford University)
Stewart Elliott Guthrie (Fordham University)
Richard Hull (Professor Emeritus, SUNY)
Sam Harris (author)
Stewart Elliot Guthrie (Fordham University)
Van Harvey (Stanford University)
6:00pm-8:00pm Grand Opening, Center for Inquiry,
1310 Sweet Home Rd., Amherst, New York
[**$100.00 donation, partially tax-deductible]
Hosts: Richard Dawkins, Ann Druyan
Sunday, October 30, 2005 — Concurrent Sessions
— Slee Hall, SUNY at Buffalo, Amherst Campus
9:00am-12:00pm Session 1
The New Enlightenment in the Islamic World
Moderator, Ibn Warraq
Mourad Wahba (Afro-Asian Philosophy Association, Cairo)
Mona Abousenna (Ain Shams University, Egypt)
Tasbih Sayyed (Pakistan)
Fatemolla (Bangladesh)
Zand-Bonazzi (Iran)
Shahriar Kabir (Bangladesh)
12:00-2:00pm Luncheon (On your own)
9:00am-12:00pm Session 2
What Is Necessary to Achieve a New Enlightenment?
Moderator, Vern Bullough (University of Southern California)
Alberto Hidalgo Tuñón (Universidad de Oviedo, Spain)
Ruben Ardila (National University of Columbia)
Valerií Kuvakin (Moscow State University)
Innaih Narasetti (Hydrabad University)
Svetozar Stojanovíc (University of Belgrade)