From the March 2013 Desktop News | The topic of abortion has historically been and continues to be a sensitive topic in society. Dr. William G. Lycan, a professor of philosophy at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, has researched some of the reasons behind this and will be on the UA campus to discuss, “Why the Abortion Issue is So Difficult,” on March 7 at 7:30 p.m.in Room 205 Smith Hall, part of the 2012-2013 Philosophy Today Lecture Series.

Lycan’s talk will address reasons why abortion is a sensitive topic in society today. As he explains, “The abortion issue seems uniquely intractable; people not only strongly disagree but seem unable to find common ground for discussing the issue. The abortion issue is, in an important way, unique in our moral experience and nothing in any standard moral theory bears usefully on it.”

A Wisconsin native, Lycan is the author of over 170 articles as well as seven books that include Logical Form in Natural Language; Knowing Who; Consciousness; Judgment and Justification; Modality and Meaning; Consciousness and Experience; and Real Conditionals.

He is currently William Rand Kenan, Jr. Professor of Philosophy at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and holds a half-year post at the University of Connecticut. He has been an invited visiting professor at many universities in the United States, Australia, and New Zealand.

Lectures in the Philosophy Today series are geared toward a general audience and are of interest to those in any profession or academic discipline. The series is sponsored by UA’s College of Arts and Sciences Department of Philosophy, a grant from Louis W. Perry and other alumni, and friends of the department.   The lectures are free and open to the public.

Read more from this issue of Desktop News | Read all Desktop News