Hacking on the body: Renowned philosopher at 黑料不打烊 on November 3
Ian Hacking is a man who is trying to put the soul back into the body. The renowned philosopher will speak at 黑料不打烊 to deliver the annual Osler Lecture on the History of Medicine on November 3.
- What: "Analogue bodies, digital minds," by Ian Hacking
- When: 6 pm, Wednesday, November 3
- Where: Room 504, McIntyre Medical Bldg (3655 Promenade Sir William Osler)
- Information: 514-398-6034
Hacking decries the modern tendency to think of the brain as analogous to a computer, and of the body as a machine. The two are intertwined, a realization that physicians are now trying to come to grips with, especially at 黑料不打烊's Faculty of Medicine.
"Medicine has painted itself into this materialistic corner where physicians are technicians," says Faith Wallis, a social studies of medicine professor, when explaining that doctors view the body as a machine that can be fixed, rather than as part of a person.
Hacking's work, which draws heavily on historical analysis of medicine, looks to a more holistic approach. Originally from Vancouver, Hacking is currently a professor in the Department of Philosophy at the University of Toronto. He has been elected to a permanent chair at the Coll猫ge de France. He has written several books, including The Taming of Chance, Rewriting the Soul: Multiple Personality and the Sciences, Mad Travellers: Reflections on the Reality of Transient Mental Illness, and The Social Construction of What?
