Being Conscious: A Presentation on Minds and Machines

Philosophy Day 2006 at Indiana University South Bend will address conscious minds and machines during a public lecture at 7 p.m., Tuesday, Feb. 14, in Room 1001, Wiekamp Hall.

The guest speaker is Charles Taliaferro, professor of philosophy at St. Olaf College, Northfield, Minn. Taliaferro has published numerous professional and popular works on the nature of human mentality, the relationship between human consciousness and divine consciousness, the justification of religious belief and the history of Western philosophy.

His topic will be “The Importance of Being Conscious: A Presentation on Minds and Machines." Computers are described as having memory and solving problems. Will it ever be possible for advanced computers to feel emotions and actually be conscious? He will defend the thesis that though there is something haunting and revealing about contemplating the possibility of creating a mechanical artifact that can simulate our deepest desires. Consciousness in the end involves more than just the running of a computer program.

Taliaferro received his doctorate from Brown University and specializes in ethics and metaphysics with focuses on philosophy of mind and philosophy of religion.

He has taught at the University of Massachusetts, Brown and the University of Notre Dame.

The events are presented by the IU South Bend Philosophy Department with the support of the Addison Locke Roache Memorial Scholarship Fund, the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, the Psychology Department and Cognitive Science Program.

For more information call (574) 520-4491.