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Stanford
Department of Philosophy
School of Humanities and Sciences

Richard Kraut / Tanner Lecture One - The Richness of Human Experience

Richard Kraut / Tanner Lecture One - The Richness of Human Experience
Date
Wed April 19th 2017, 5:30 - 7:00pm
Event Sponsor
McCoy Family Center for Ethics in Society, Office of the President, Department of Philosophy
Location
Encina Hall, Bechtel Conference Center

 

 

The Tanner Lectures consist of two lectures, each followed by a distinct discussion seminar.
This year's Tanner Lectures are given by Richard Kraut, Charles and Emma Morrison Professor in the Humanities at Northwestern University. 
Series Abstract: To show that virtue is a component of well-being, Plato and Aristotle looked to the inner life of a good human being. Kraut argues that this is only correct path to this conclusion, committing him to what might be called “experientialism,” and so he offers a defense of that doctrine, as well as a series of observations regarding the inner life of a good person. This leads to a discussion of Nozick’s experience machine, often regarded as a refutation of experientialism. Another thought experiment plays a role in his argument: McTaggart’s claim that the life of an oyster (containing nothing but the mildest and simplest kind of pleasure) would be better than any human life, however rich – provided the oyster’s life was sufficiently longer than the human life.
Read participant bios here.
Lecture One: The Richness of Human Experience Wednesday, April 19  5:30-7pm
This lecture introduces the historical problem of the connection, if any, between well-being and virtue. It then turns to an extended discussion of McTaggart’s puzzle and various solutions to it.  A major topic is the contribution made by pleasure to the value of an experience. Nozick’s puzzle is introduced but postponed.  Other topics will include:

  • Plato: the effect of justice on the soul.
  • Aristotle: virtue, sleep, activity.
  • Nagel: “what is it like”: phenomenology.
  • A weakness in Aristotle’s function argument.
  • Aristotle’s rational egoism (eudaimonism) rejected.
  • Diminishing marginal value as a response to McTaggart
  • Incommensurable superiority and the richness of human life
  • Mill’s distinction between the quality and quantity of pleasure
  • Aristotle on the pleasures of childhood
  • Do plants lack moral standing because they lack consciousness?

Discussion One Thursday, April 20 10am-12pmCommentators are:Rachel Barney, University of Toronto, Classics and Philosophy Tom Hurka, University of Toronto, Philosophy
Lecture Two: Virtue and Experience Thursday, April 20  5:30-7pm
Discussion Two Friday, April 21 10am-12pmCommentators are:Stephen Darwall, Yale Philosophy Rebecca Newberger Goldstein, Author

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