Jonathan Glover

12.30-2pm | Thursday 13 March 2008
Room J116 (Cañada Blanch Room), Cowdray House, European Institute, LSE

Speaker
Jonathan Glover, Professor of Ethics and Director of the Centre of Medical Law and Ethics at King’s College London

Chair
Alan Ryan, Professor of Politics, University of Oxford

Jonathan Glover is currently working on ethical and philosophical issues in psychiatry. As part of a project of developing an interpretative psychiatry, he interviewed patients in Broadmoor with a diagnosis of antisocial personality disorder, trying to work out how they think about morality. Another current project is to bring philosophy, especially epistemology, to bear on the ideological conflicts of our divided world. He believes that two thousand years of philosophical discussion about what there is or is not good reason to believe should have something to contribute to discussion between adherents of different belief systems. A sceptic about the world’s need for philosopher-kings, he thinks philosopher-mediators might play a useful role in avoiding the ‘clash of civilizations’.

Jonathan Glover teaches at King’s College on the MA in Medical Ethics and Law, and on the MA in Human Values and Contemporary Global Issues. His books include Causing Death and Saving Lives (Pelican, 1977), What Sort of People Should There Be? (Pelican, 1984) Humanity, A Moral History of the Twentieth Century (Jonathan Cape, 1999 and Yale University Press, 2000), and Choosing Children: Genes, Disability and Design (OUP, 2006).

Dialogues
An hour and a half of lively discussion at the LSE during lunchtime, this series offers a unique mix of insights into both the biographical and intellectual development of our most distinguished thinkers.