First, why do people seem to know so little about politics? And what does that mean for democracy? We speak with Arthur Lupia author of Uninformed: Why People Know So Little About Politics and What We Can Do About It.[ dur: 27 mins. ]

Arthur Lupia is the Hal R. Varian Collegiate Professor of Political Science at the University of Michigan and Chair of National Research Council’s Roundtable on the Application of Behavioral and Social Science. He is the co-author of The Democratic Dilemma: Can Citizens Learn What They Need to Know?, Elements of Reason: Cognition, Choice, and the Bounds of Rationality, and the author of his latest book Uninformed: Why People Know So Little About Politics and What We Can Do About It.

Finally, what is love? Is it emotional? Is it biological? Can it be summoned by rational decision and how does it play out in society? [ dur: 28 mins. ]

Simon May is a Visiting Professor of Philosophy at Kings College London. He is the author of Love: A History and Nietzsche’s Ethics and his War on ‘Morality’.
Bennett W. Helm is a Professor of Philosophy at Franklin & Marshall College. He is the author of Love, Friendship, and the Self: Intimacy, Identification, and the Social Nature of Persons and Emotional Reason: Deliberation, Motivation, and the Nature of Value.
Dr. Robert Epstein is a Senior Research Psychologist at the American Institute for Behavioral Research and Technology. He is currently working on a book called Making Love: How People Learn To Love, and How You Can Too, which is based on his research on how love emerges over time in arranged marriages. He is also the author of, Cognition, Creativity, and Behavior: Selected Essays.

This program is produced with generous contribution from Ankine Aghassian, Melissa Chiprin, Tim Page, Mike Hurst and Sudd Dongre.

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Scholars' Circle Interviews

Scholars’ Circle – People in power and their sense of empathy -/- Understanding Humanity from Knowledge of Neuroscience – December 23 , 2019

December 22, 2019 host

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

Michael Inzlicht is Professor of Psychology at the University of Toronto. He is co-author of Stereotype Threat: Theory, Process, and Application and co-author of the article Power Changes How the Brain Responds to Others

Then, 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.

This program is produced with generous contribution from Ankine Aghassian, Melissa Chiprin, Tim Page, Mike Hurst and Sudd Dongre.

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Scholars’ Circle – Deeper insight into Russia – Ukraine – Western Europe – USA conflict and path towards peace – December 15 , 2019

December 14, 2019 host

Since the Russian annexation of Crimea in 2014, Eastern Ukraine has been a site of conflict. Russophones in Ukraine, armed by Russia and joined by Russian nationals, launched a revolt to break from Kyiv. Following months of fighting, the area became a frozen conflict. Each week brings new casualties but little territory has changed hands. We spend the hour discussing the causes of the conflict in Eastern Ukraine, the impact of the internationalization of the war, and potential pathways to peace. Doug Becker hosts. [ dur: 58 mins. ]

Robert English is Associate Professor of International Relations at the University of Southern California. He is the author of Russia and the Idea of the West: Gorbachev, Intellectuals and the End of the Cold War and The Other Side: How Soviets and Americans Perceive Each Other.
Oxana Shevel, Associate Professor of Political Science, Department of Political Science at Tufts University. She is the author of Migration, Refugee Policy, and State Building in Postcommunist Europe and the book chapter Memory of the Past and Visions of the Future: Remembering the Soviet Era and its End in Ukraine.
Dr. Tor Bukkvoll is a Senior Research Fellow at the Norwegian Defense Research Establishment. His publications include, Tools of Future Wars – Russia is Entering the Precision-Strike Regime and Fighting on behalf of the state – the issue of pro-government militia autonomy in the Donbas war.

This program is produced with generous contribution from Ankine Aghassian, Melissa Chiprin, Tim Page, Mike Hurst and Sudd Dongre.

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Scholars’ Circle – Insight into Economic Systems in the age of Climate Change induced collapse – December 8 , 2019

December 7, 2019 host

Why do sustainable business initiatives so often fail? What fundamental changes we need from societies and the economic system to stem a climate change induced collapsed? What economic systems might work on a planet with a finite capacity to sustain life? [ dur: 58 mins.]

Christopher Wright is Professor of Organisational Studies, Discipline of Strategy, Innovation & Entrepreneurship at the University of Sydney Business School.
Daniel Nyberg is Professor of Management at Newcastle Business School and an Honorary Professor at the University of Sydney. Together they have co-authored Climate Change, Capitalism and Corporations: Processes of Creative Self-destruction.

This program is produced with generous contribution from Ankine Aghassian, Melissa Chiprin, Tim Page, Mike Hurst and Sudd Dongre.

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The Scholars' Circle Interviews

Monthly Archives: December 2019

Scholars’ Circle – People in power and their sense of empathy -/- Understanding Humanity from Knowledge of Neuroscience – December 23 , 2019

Scholars’ Circle – Deeper insight into Russia – Ukraine – Western Europe – USA conflict and path towards peace – December 15 , 2019

Scholars’ Circle – Insight into Economic Systems in the age of Climate Change induced collapse – December 8 , 2019

By Maria Armoudian