The present landscape of biological science raises many issues touching the meaning and challenges of ‘being human’, from AI to biological sex, consciousness, and free will. The Being Human lectures provide a focused exploration of these issues from leading experts in the philosophy of science, humanities, and other fields, offering a forum for broadening scientific thinking.
This series is co-organised by James DiFrisco from the Crick, Güneş Taylor from the University of Edinburgh, and Professor Barry Smith from the University of London's Institute of Philosophy.
The lecture will be given by Professor Hasok Chang in the Crick Auditorium, followed by a facilitated panel discussion. These lectures are non-technical and accessible to a multidisciplinary audience.
Our speaker: Hasok Chang is the Hans Rausing Professor of History and Philosophy of Science at the University of Cambridge and Fellow of the British Academy. He received his degrees from Caltech and Stanford, and has taught at University College London. He is the author of Is Water H2O? Evidence, Realism and Pluralism (2012), Inventing Temperature: Measurement and Scientific Progress (2004), and Realism for Realistic People: A New Pragmatist Philosophy of Science (2022). He is a co-founder of the Society for Philosophy of Science in Practice (SPSP), and the Committee for Integrated History and Philosophy of Science.
*This lecture series is a collaboration between the Francis Crick Institute and the School of Advanced Study, University of London.