Humanities lecture series returns in fall

Six prominent speakers will come to the university this fall as part of the Center for the Humanities 2001-02 “Humanities Without Boundaries” free public lecture series.

The six and the dates they will appear are: critic Stanley Fish, Thursday, Sept. 13; scholar of the American West Patricia Limerick, Thursday, Oct. 25; Chinese art scholar Wen Fong, Thursday, Nov. 15; linguist Steven Pinker Tuesday, March 5; African-American studies philosopher and scholar K. Anthony Appiah, Thursday, April 4; and art critic and philosopher Arthur Danto, Thursday, May 2.

Fish, dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at the University of Illinois at Chicago, is a critic known for his writings about the role of the reader in literature. Fish published “How Milton Works” in 2001, and is the author of many other books as well. “The Stanley Fish Reader,” edited by H. Aram Veeser, was published in 1999.

Patricia Limerick, professor of history at the University of Colorado at Boulder and chair of the board of the Center of the American West, is a nationally renowned author and historian of the American West. Limerick is best known for her landmark 1987 book, “The Legacy of Conquest,” which generated debate among historians and cultural commentators. She received praise and criticism for debunking some long-held myths about the West and for focusing attention on women, minorities and the environment. Today, Limerick’s views are widely accepted. She also is the author of “Something in the Soil” and “Desert Passages.”

Wen C. Fong is Douglas Dillon Curator Emeritus of Asian Art at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, former Edwards S. Sanford Professor of Art and Archaeology at Princeton University, and author of “Beyond Representation.” His talk, “Chinese Calligraphy: The Embodied Image,” will focus on the formation of Chinese calligraphic practice and theory; the relationship between Chinese calligraphy and painting; and Chinese art and its modern expression.

Linguist Steven Pinker is one of the world’s leading experts on language and the mind. He has won several major awards for his teaching and his scientific research. Pinker is director of the Center for Cognitive Neuroscience at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology where he focuses his research on empirical studies of language in children, adults and neurological populations, and on theoretical syntheses of diverse topics in language, cognition and psychology in general. Pinker has also synthesized research in language, cognitive science and evolutionary psychology in three books written for a wide audience.

Kwame Anthony Appiah is the Charles H. Carswell Professor of Afro-American Studies and Philosophy at Harvard University. His research covers African and African-American philosophy and literary theory; the history and theory of nationalism; Black nationalism, including pan-Africanism; the idea of “race” and its history; multi-culturalism and pluralism; ethical questions about racism; and postcolonial literary theory. Appiah is the author with Amy Gutmann of the award-winning “Color Conscious: The Political Morality of Race.” He has also three novels: “Another Death in Venice,” “Nobody Likes Letitia” and “Avenging Angel.” He is co-editor with Henry Louis Gates, Jr. of The Dictionary of Global Culture, and he and Gates are co-editing the Perseus Africana Encyclopedia.

Arthur C. Danto is Emeritus Johnsonian Professor of Philosophy at Columbia University. His areas of specialization include thought, feeling, philosophy of art, theory of representations, philosophical psychology, Hegel’s aesthetics, Merleau-Ponty and Schopenhauer. Danto is the author of numerous books, including “Nietzsche as Philosopher,” “Mysticism and Morality,” “The Transfiguration of the Commonplace,” “Narration and Knowledge,” “Connections to the World: The Basic Concepts of Philosophy,” and “Encounters and Reflections: Art in the Historical Present,” a collection of art criticism that won the National Book Critics Circle Prize for Criticism in 1990. His most recent book is “Embodied Meanings: Critical Essays and Aesthetic Meditations.” As art critic for The Nation, he has published numerous articles in other journals. In addition, he is an editor of the Journal of Philosophy and consulting editor for other publications.

The Center for the Humanities coordinates and sponsors interdisciplinary activities and events in the humanities. For more information, contact Joan Strasbaugh, (608) 263-3409, jtstrasb@facstaff.wisc.edu