“The title of my lecture is going to be ‘Prisoners like us’, the phrase Socrates uses in Republic Book VII when he describes the allegory of the cave”, David McNeill, guest lecturer at ECLA on November 18 began. McNeill received his BA from St. John’s College, in Annapolis MD, and has a PhD from the
TagGuest Lecture
ISU 2009 Guest Lecture: Ira Katznelson on Toleration
“However flawed toleration may be, a decent human life would not be possible without it. And it is most needed in situations when it’s difficult to achieve,” Dr. Ira Katznelson said during his lecture at ECLA on July 27. Author of many books and publications, former president of the American Political Science Association and of
ECLA Guest Lecture: Lynn Catterson on Renaissance
On the afternoon of January 13, in a dark lecture hall with the only rays of light coming from the projector and the slides, the AY students began their journey through the Italian Renaissance, led by Lynn Catterson, a guest lecturer from Columbia University. How is it decided that a certain period of time is
ECLA Guest Lecture: Rivka Galchen on Authorship and Authority
How can science relate to literature? Is a novel with a scientific backbone necessarily concerned with problems of objectivity? Can science be emotional in any sense? It was both exciting and daring to mingle these questions and many more in the presence of Rivka Galchen, the last guest lecturer for the Autumn term at ECLA. She
Roger Scruton on ‘Hegel’s conception of private property and its critics’
On Thursday 29 May, ECLA was visited by academic heavyweight, Professor Roger Scruton, who delivered a guest lecture on Hegel’s idea of property and its role in the larger framework of Hegelian philosophy. Scruton introduced Hegel’s theory of property in the context of the work of Locke, one of the so-called ‘social contract’ theorists. Locke
Aileen Douglas ‘A home of her own: female independence in Jane Austen’s Emma’
On 19 May ECLA welcomed Dr. Aileen Douglas of Trinity College Dublin, for a lecture on Jane Austen’s Emma. As in other Austen novels, Emma explores the relationship between marriage and property, connecting the development of the characters and the unfolding plot with wealth and proprietary status. However, Emma represents an exception, in that the
David L.Vierling on “Woody Allen’s Hannah and Her Sisters: The Search for ‘a Very Deep Feeling of Being Part of Something’”
On February 19, 2008, David L. Vierling, a Berlin-based expert in comparative literature, media studies and film, working at the John F. Kennedy School, Berlin (Department of English), visited ECLA to present a lecture on “Woody Allen’s Hannah and Her Sisters: The Search for ‘a Very Deep Feeling of Being Part of Something’”. This guest
Dr. Jobst Welge on the Decameron
On 28 January Dr. Jobst Welge of Freie Universität zu Berlin presented a guest lecture on Boccaccio’s Decameron. Written in 1348, the Decameron tells of the brigata, a band of three young men and seven young women who flee from plague-ridden Florence to a pastoral idyll, where they feast and tell stories – ten stories