December 5, 2.30 pm, Sala Cripta Complesso Universitario S. Francesco (Piazza San Francesco, 7 Siena)
Abstract:
Can we know what “reality” is? Are there fundamental limits to knowledge? In this interdisciplinary lecture Prof. Gleiser will present some of the central ideas of his book The Island of Knowledge: The Limits of Science and the Search for Meaning, explaining why science provides a limited description of Nature and why this limitation matters to our quest for an ever-deeper understanding of reality and for theories of “everything.” Starting with Plato’s Allegory of the Cave, Prof. Gleiser will trace our ever-changing worldview to arrive at cutting-edge examples from cosmology and the origin of the Universe, from quantum physics and its interpretation of the world, and cognitive neuroscience and the “hard problem of consciousness,” that jointly illustrate how science and philosophy need each other to address some of the most fundamental questions of our time.
Biosketch of the lecturer:
Marcelo Gleiser is the Appleton Professor of Natural Philosophy and a professor of physics and astronomy at Dartmouth College. He obtained his Ph.D. from King’s College London and received the 1994 Presidential Faculty Fellows Award from the White House. He is a Fellow of the American Physical Society. He is the 2019 Templeton Prize Laureate, an honor he shares with Mother Tereza, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, the Dalai Lama, and scientists Freeman Dyson and Martin Rees. His books have been published in 18 languages and include The Island of Knowledge: The Limits of Science and The Search for Meaning, A Tear at the Edge of Creation, The Simple Beauty of the Unexpected, and The Dawn of a Mindful Universe: A Manifesto for Humanity’s Future. A world-renowned theoretical physicist interested in cosmology, statistical physics, and astrobiology, he has published hundreds of peer-reviewed articles, and more than a thousand essays and op-eds, and frequently participates in TV documentaries and radio shows in the U.S. and abroad. He writes weekly for BigThink’s 13.8.
