Philosophy Professor Kitcher to Deliver 2009 Frumkes Lecture Understanding Darwin Nov. 16 at NYU

Philip Kitcher, the John Dewey Professor of Philosophy at Columbia University, will deliver New York University’s Annual Lewis Burke Frumkes Lecture on Monday, November 16, 7:30 p.m. at NYU’s Hemmerdinger Hall, Silver Center (100 Washington Square East [at Washington Place]). Kitcher’s lecture is titled “Understanding Darwin.” Kitcher replaces the lecture’s original speaker, Nancy Cartwright, a professor of philosophy at the London School of Economics and the University of California, San Diego.

The lecture is hosted by New York University’s Graduate School of Arts and Science and the Department of Philosophy. The event is free and open to the public, which may call 212.998.8320 for more information.

Kitcher is the author of 10 books on topics ranging from the philosophy of mathematics, the philosophy of biology, and the growth of science to the role of science in society, Wagner’s Ring, and Joyce’s Finnegans Wake. These works include: In Mendel’s Mirror: Philosophical Reflections on Biology, Science, Truth and Democracy; The Lives to Come: The Genetic Revolution and Human Possibilities; and, The Nature of Mathematical Knowledge. A fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Kitcher was the inaugural recipient of the Prometheus Prize, awarded by the American Philosophical Association for work to expand the frontiers of science and philosophy. He has been named a “Friend of Darwin” by the National Committee on Science Education and received a Lannan Foundation Notable Book Award for his 2007 work, Living with Darwin.

The Frumkes Lecture was established to showcase the work of the world’s most prominent philosophers and is supported by NYU alumnus Lewis Burke Frumkes. Past lecturers have been: Jonathan Lear, Susan Wolf, Harry Frankfurt, Noam Chomsky, Simon Blackburn, Peter Singer, Dame Onora O’Neill, Bernard Williams, and Jonathan Bennett.