Paul Bloom

(Cambridge, MA) The Harvard Secular Society and the Center for Naturalism are pleased to present "Bodies and Souls," a lecture by Yale psychologist Paul Bloom, author of the recently published Descartes Baby, on Monday, February 28, 7 pm. The lecture is free, open to all and followed by a question/answer period; wheelchair accessible. Held at the Harvard Science Center, Lecture Hall C, Harvard Yard, 1 Oxford St., Cambridge. For further information call Kerry Dingle, Harvard Secular Society, 857-928-0426, or Thomas Clark, Center for Naturalism, 617-480-8846.

How do we think about bodies and souls? Findings from developmental psychology suggest that both children and adults see physical entities such as objects (or bodies) as fundamentally distinct from psychological entities such as minds (or souls). We are natural-born dualists. However, this common-sense view of ourselves conflicts with science, which tells us that our mental lives are the product of our very physical brains. The great conflict between science and religion in the last century was over evolutionary biology. In this century, it will be over psychology, and the stakes are nothing less than our souls.

Background information:
Paul Bloom is Professor of Psychology at Yale University. He is co-editor of Behavioral and Brain Sciences, one of the major interdisciplinary journals in the field, and has published over seventy chapters and journal articles in psychology, linguistics, philosophy, and neuroscience. He is the author of How Children Learn the Meanings of Words, which won the Eleanor Maccoby Award from APA for Best New Book in Developmental Psychology, and, most recently, Descartes' Baby: How the Science of Child Development Explains What Makes Us Human. His weblog is at http://pantheon.yale.edu/~pb85/

The Harvard Secular Society provides a forum for reasoned, non-sectarian, and irreverent exploration of religious and philosophical subjects through discussion groups and speaker events. It seeks to provide a community for students who are concerned about the political, social, scientific, and cultural implications of religion in society.

The Center for Naturalism (CFN) is a Boston-based 501(c)3 non-profit educational organization devoted to increasing public awareness of scientific naturalism and its implications for social and personal well-being. By means of educational programs, lectures, publications and research, the CFN seeks to foster the understanding that human beings are entirely natural phenomena, and that human flourishing is best achieved in the light of such understanding. The Center's web site is www.naturalism.org/center_for_naturalism.htm.

What: "Bodies and Souls:" free public lecture presented by the Harvard Secular Society (HSS) and the Center for Naturalism (CFN)
Who: Paul Bloom, Yale psychologist and author of Descartes Baby
When: Monday, February 28, 7 pm
Where: Harvard Science Center, Lecture Hall C, Harvard Yard, 1 Oxford St., Cambridge; wheelchair accessible. For information call Kerry Dingle, HSS, 857-928-0426 or Thomas Clark, CFN, 617-480-8846
Admission: free and open to all; followed by a question/answer period