This event will be held online. Details will be emailed to all registered attendees prior to the event.

The Renaming of David Hume Tower

David Hume, eighteenth-century philosopher and historian, published racist views towards non-white peoples in one of his essays. Hume's racism has led the University of Edinburgh to remove his name from the campus's tallest building, previously called David Hume Tower.

This panel event brings together staff and a student of the University to discuss the renaming of the tower and Hume's legacy on our campus.

Please direct any questions about this event to the organisers:

• Jonny Cottrell: j.cottrell@ed.ac.uk
• Jennifer Marusic: jennifer.marusic@ed.ac.uk

Speakers

Thomas Ahnert (History)

Thomas Ahnert is Professor of Intellectual History in Edinburgh’s School of History, Classics and Archaeology. His work focuses on British and German thought in the period from c. 1650 to c. 1820.

Mazviita Chirimuuta (Philosophy)

Chirimuuta is a Senior Lecturer in Philosophy at the University of Edinburgh. Previously she was Associate Professor in History & Philosophy of Science at the University of Pittsburgh. Her research examines the philosophical underpinnings of neuroscience and perceptual psychology, past and present.

Tommy J. Curry (Philosophy)

Tommy J. Curry is an American scholar, author and professor of Philosophy. He currently holds a Personal Chair in Africana Philosophy and Black Male Studies at the University of Edinburgh. In 2018, he won an American Book Award for The Man-Not: Race, Class, Genre, and the Dilemmas of Black Manhood.

Sir Tom Devine (History)

Sir Tom Devine FRSE HonMRIA FBA is Sir William Fraser Professor Emeritus of Scottish History and Palaeography in the University of Edinburgh. The author and editor of over forty books, he is the only scholar to be knighted ‘for services to the study of Scottish history’ and the only historian to have been awarded the Royal Medal of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Scotland’s supreme academic accolade, since its foundation in 2000 by HM The Queen.

Elizabeth Lund (Norwegian and History)

Elizabeth Lund is a third-year student of Norwegian and History at the University of Edinburgh. She is the author of the original petition and was part of the group leading the name change.