Beyond Rationality II

July 7-9, 2010 at the University of Mississippi
Presenter Biographies || Powerpoint PDF Downloads

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Overview

The University of Mississippi’s Center for Intelligence and Security Studies (CISS) and the London School of Economics’ Centre for Philosophy of Natural and Social Science (CNSS) were pleased to host the second Beyond Rationality Workshop.

The Beyond Rationality Workshop series is a project of the CNSS at the London School of Economics in collaboration with the CISS at the University of Mississippi. The first workshop was held in London on November 21, 2009.

The recent banking crisis and the rise of religious fundamentalism as a political cause have prompted people to reflect on the seeming irrationality of thinking relevant to these events. These examples join a host of other occasions when the thoughts and actions of people seem to be irrational.  Drawing on the notion that “one person’s irrationality is another’s rationality,” this event explores the boundaries of ‘rationality’ from different points of view as illuminated by philosophical or psychological studies such as akrasia, weakness of will, and formal fallacies.

Beyond Rationality II aims to continue the exploration of the meaning of ideas related to rationality in discussions of contemporary  problems such as economic decisions, the recruitment of jihadists, terrorism,  the banking crisis, risk assessment, conflict resolution, and the climate change debate.  This workshop’s topics include:

• Rom Harré, London School of Economics & Georgetown University: “A Catalogue of Follies”
• Dan Rothbart, George Mason University: “The `Logic’ of Genocide”
• Ariel Glucklich, Georgetown University: “Hastening to Heaven”
• Ali Moghaddam, Georgetown University: “The Globalization of Insecurity”
• FBI Futures Working Group & The University of Mississippi: “Discourses of Conversion”
• Robert Schmidle, United States Marine Corps and Georgetown University: “Ungrounded Grounds of Life”
• David Apgar, ApgarPartners: “Risky Behavior”
• Lee Basham, South Texas College: “Conspiracy Theories”
• Max Steuer, London School of Economics: “Evolved Irrationality”
• Wendy Parker, Ohio University: “Climate Change”

Read the presenter biographies »