Scholars’ Circle-Empathy-in-powerful-is-missing-/-Nuroscience-review-July 26th, 2015

A new study suggests that the powerful feel less empathy. Does it have implications for society? [ dur: 18 mins. ]

Then, on the Scholars’ Circle panel, while advances in neuroscience are making great leaps in understanding humanity, scholars and doctors disagree on what neuroscience does and does not tell us about what it means to be human. Are we our brains? Do we have free will? How far can neuroscience take us? [ dur: 40 mins. ]

  • Dr. Sally Satel is lecturer at Yale University, a resident scholar at AEI and the staff psychiatrist at a methadone clinic. She is co-author of One Nation Under Therapy: How the Helping Culture Is Eroding Self-Reliance and Brainwashed: The Seductive Appeal of Mindless Neuroscience.
  • Patricia S. Churchland is Professor Emerita of Philosophy at the University of California, San Diego. In 1991, she was awarded a MacArthur Fellowship. Her books include Brain-Wise: Studies in Neurophilosophy, Braintrust: What Neuroscience Tells Us about Morality, and Touching a Nerve: The Self as Brain.

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Scholars’ Circle-Antibiotics-Side-Effects-/-South-China-Seas-Tension-July 19th, 2015

First, sanitation and antibiotics have saved the lives of many, but are they also the culprits behind some of modern diseases? We might have gone overboard in killing our microbes. And that may be causing some of today’s epidemics. [ dur: 21 mins. ]

  • Martin I. Blaser is Professor of Translational Medicine and Director of Human Microbiome Program at New York University. He is the author of Missing Microbes : How the Overuse of Antibiotics Is Fueling Our Modern Plagues.

Then, What’s troubling the water in the South China sea? China is militarizing the South China Sea. That’s one of few concerns by many in the region about China’s territorial claim and development of a region that also has claims by the Philippines, Vietnam, and Malaysia. [ dur: 37 mins. ]

  • Pradeep Taneja Is a lecturer at the University of Melbourne. He is the author of The European Union and China: Interests and Dilemmas.
  • Stephen Noakes is a lecturer of Chinese Politics, jointly appointed to Politics and International Relations and Asian Studies at the University of Auckland. ​He is coauthor of Support for Civil Society in China in Creating Democratic Value: Evaluating Efforts to Promote Democracy Abroad.
  • Daniel Lynch is a Professor of International Relations at the University of Southern California. He is the author of After the Propaganda State: Media, Politics, and Thought in Reformed China and Rising China andAsian Democratization: Socialization to “Global Culture” in the Political Transformations of Thailand, China, and Taiwan.​
  • Professor Leszek Buszynski is a lecturer at Australia National University. He is the author of Asia Pacific Security – Values and Identity​.​ He co-edited The South China Sea Maritime Dispute: Political, Legal and Regional Perspectives and his latest publication Negotiating with North Korea: The Six Party Talks and the Nuclear Issue.

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Scholars’ Circle- Middle East Politics-July 12th, 2015

We spend the hour trying to untangle the politics of the Middle East. What does the rise of extreme violence with shifting and sometimes conflicting loyalties mean to the region and the world? What has happened to all the gains through democratization and human rights?

  • Fred H. Lawson is a Professor and Department Head of Government at Mills College; Author of Global Security Watch – Syria, Demystifying Syria, Why Syria Goes to War: Thirty Years of Confrontation and Constructing International Relations in the Arab World
  • Laurie A. Brand, Professor of International Relations and Director of Middle East Studies, USC; Author of Official Stories: Politics and National Narratives in Egypt and Algeria and Palestinians in the Arab World: Institution Building and the Search for State
  • Hamoud Salhi, Professor of Political Science and Associate Dean, CSU Dominguez Hills. Host of SWANA Region Radio on KPFK – Los Angeles.

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Scholars’ Circle-Secret-Heroes-/-Loyalist-of-American-Revolution-/-Amending-US-Constitution-July 5th, 2015

First, Secret heroes. We look at lesser known people who have shaped the world. [ dur: 14 mins. ]

  • Paul Martin, author and jouranlist; Author of Secret Heroes: Everyday Americans Who Shaped Our World

Then, we revisit the American Revolution through the stories of the loyalist, those who fought on the side of Great Britain. We’re joined by Maya Jasanoff author of Liberty’s Exiles: American Loyalists in the Revolutionary World. [ dur: 28 mins. ]

  • Maya Jasanoff, is Professor of History  at Harvard University. She is author of Liberty’s Exiles: American Loyalists and the Revolutionary War.

Finally, on the Scholars’ Circle panel, we explore the historic and current efforts to amend the constitution. [ dur: 30 mins. ]

  • John R. Vile is Dean and Professor of Political Science at Middle Tennessee State University. He is the author of, The Writing and Ratification of the U.S. Constitution: Practical Virtue in ActionEncyclopedia of Constitutional Amendments, Proposed Amendments, and Amending Issues, 1789-2005, and ReFramers: 170 Eccentric, Visionary, and Patriotic Proposals to Rewrite the U.S. Constitution.
  • Stephen M. Griffin is Professor in Constitutional Law at Tulane Law School. He is the author of, Long Wars and the Constitution and American Constitutionalism: From Theory to Politics.
  • Sanford Levinson is Professor in the Department of Government and Chair in Law at the University of Texas Law School. His numerous publications include, Constitutional FaithOur Undemocratic Constitution: Where the Constitution Goes Wrong (and How We the People Can Correct It) and, most recently,Framed: America’s 51 Constitutions and the Crisis of Governance.

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