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Category: Philosophy

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The Study of Mystical Traditions is Opening a Path Toward New Forms of Religious Thought and Practice

Posted by: Andrew Breiner

This is a guest post by Carrie Rosefsky Wickham. Wickham is the Kluge Chair in Countries and Cultures of the South at the Library of Congress and Professor of Middle Eastern Studies at Emory University. Can one be both a religious person and a humanist? If so, what kind of worldview might this entail? Together …

Sweeping view from the floor of a great room, looking upwards past marble columns and arches to a grand golden-colored dome

A History of African American Political Thought

Posted by: Andrew Breiner

On February 22, 2021, the Kluge Center released a Conversation on the Future of Democracy titled “A History of African American Political Thought,” with political theorists Melvin Rogers and Jack Turner. Outreach and Partnerships Program Specialist Janna Deitz interviewed Rogers and Turner on their recent book, African American Political Thought: A Collected History. The book …

Sweeping view from the floor of a great room, looking upwards past marble columns and arches to a grand golden-colored dome

Will AI Become Conscious? A Conversation with Susan Schneider

Posted by: Dan Turello

Susan Schneider is associate professor of philosophy and the director of the A.I., Mind and Society Group at the University of Connecticut. She was a Distinguished Visiting Scholar at the Kluge Center in the spring and will be back in residence as the Blumberg NASA/Library of Congress Chair in Astrobiology beginning in October 2019. She …

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Can Big Data Save Us from Ourselves? A Conversation About Information, Democracy, and Dystopia

Posted by: Dan Turello

On a rainy day in late spring, a pan-Asian noodle restaurant on Pennsylvania Avenue offered the perfect nook for a spirited conversation about big data, algorithms, and the construction of our legal and social realities. Among those at the table with me were Martin Hilbert, who was a Kluge Distinguished Visiting Scholar and is Associate …

Sweeping view from the floor of a great room, looking upwards past marble columns and arches to a grand golden-colored dome

Photos From This Year’s Kluge Prize Ceremony

Posted by: Jason Steinhauer

The sixth Kluge Prize for Achievement in the Study of Humanity was conferred upon Jürgen Habermas and Charles Taylor on September 29, 2015. The Kluge Center was privileged to welcome these two distinguished philosopher to the Library of Congress for the ceremony and related events. Here are some photographs from a wonderful three days… Tour …

Sweeping view from the floor of a great room, looking upwards past marble columns and arches to a grand golden-colored dome

“The Awakener of Human Hopes”: Leszek Kolakowski

Posted by: Jason Steinhauer

The following is a guest post by Lauren Sinclair, Program Assistant at The John W. Kluge Center. It is the eighth post in a series on past recipients of the Library of Congress Kluge Prize. The first-ever Kluge Prize was awarded to Polish philosopher Leszek Kolakowski in 2003. In conferring the Prize, Librarian of Congress …

Sweeping view from the floor of a great room, looking upwards past marble columns and arches to a grand golden-colored dome

Philosophers Habermas and Taylor to Share $1.5 Million Kluge Prize

Posted by: Jason Steinhauer

Jürgen Habermas and Charles Taylor, two of the world’s most important philosophers, will share the prestigious $1.5 million John W. Kluge Prize for Achievement in the Study of Humanity awarded by the Library of Congress. The announcement was made today by Librarian of Congress James H. Billington. They are the ninth and tenth recipients of …

Sweeping view from the floor of a great room, looking upwards past marble columns and arches to a grand golden-colored dome

How We Experience Time: Paul Ricoeur on Past, Present, and Future

Posted by: Dan Turello

That Paul Ricoeur was one of the most important philosophers of the 20th century needs little emphasis. Ricoeur wrote on many of the major themes relating to human experience, and did so extensively and methodically. A fruitful way to get a sense of his work would be to pick one of his areas of study …