The theme of this year’s conference is “Being Human” with our experts considering the issues of “Who Is Human and Why Does it Matter?”,  “The Animist’s Guide to Being Human” and “Who are the Humans in ‘Humanitarianism’?”

Full Conference Programme:

What’s the difference between humans and things that aren’t humans? Philosophers sometimes address questions like this by looking at borderline cases. Could a robot or a cyborg or a Neanderthal be human? And if they aren’t human, what difference does that make? Is it morally significant whether a creature belongs to Homo sapiens or to some other species?

Animists believe that non-human parts of the world (animals, plants, mountains etc.) have souls or spirits and that an integral part of human existence is maintaining relationships of give-and-take with these spirit-persons. We shall examine how the animist’s version of ‘being human’ works.

11:15     Comfort Break

What does ‘humanitarian’ mean? By exploring just who the ‘humans’ are behind humanitarian projects, we will look at the social, economic and moral implications of humanitarian aid, along with the relationship between aid ‘givers’ and aid ‘receivers’.

11:55     Q&A

12:15     Close