Richard Kraut /Tanner Discussion Two

The Tanner Lectures consist of two lectures, each followed by a distinct discussion seminar.

This year's Tanner Lectures are given by Richard Kraut, Charles and Emma Morrison Professor in the Humanities at Northwestern University. 

Discussion Two focuses on the second lecture
Lecture Two: Virtue and Experience
Thursday, April 20  5:30-7pm

Abstract: In this lecture I propose an answer to the question, “What is the good in being a good human being?”  My answer adverts to the inner life of such a person. I do not claim (as Plato and Aristotle did) that evil people suffer for their evil. I consider Kant’s view that arguments from self-interest are irrelevant or worse. The rest of the lecture turns to a detailed examination of Nozick’s thought experiment. There is a problem of interpretation, because he under-specifies what is available to someone inside the machine.  But the main point is that there are good and bad uses of the machine; if it is used well, the thesis that it diminishes well-being is significantly weakened. I then examine some other familiar objections to experientialism (as a thesis about well-being): the disvalue of false friends and the possibility of posthumous goods and harms. Finally, I address the problem of social isolation raised by the experience machine: I do not want to be the only mind there is.

Discussion Two commentators are:
Stephen Darwall, Yale Philosophy
Rebecca Newberger Goldstein, Author

Lecture One: The Richness of Human Experience
Wednesday, April 19  5:30-7pm

Discussion One
Thursday, April 20  10am-12pm
Commentators are:
Rachel Barney, University of Toronto, Classics and Philosophy
Tom Hurka, University of Toronto, Philosophy

Read all participant bios here.