e-Seminar

In an effort to foster greater multi-disciplinary learning, the Center for the Study of Science and Religion, with generous support from the Fetzer Institute, has developed the proceedings from the Mind and Reality Symposium into a unique and invaluable learning tool—the Mind & Reality e-Seminar.

The Mind & Reality e-Seminar is a free multi-media learning tool that is accessible via this website. Please take a moment to explore it using the links contained in the box on the right side of your screen.

Warning: transcripts of the proceedings are unedited and contain errors.

Opening Remarks: Paul C. Gailey
Director of the Fetzer-Franklin Fund


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Paul Gailey is a physicist currently serving as Senior Science Advisor to the Fetzer Institute and Director of Research for the Fetzer-Franklin Fund. He earned his graduate degrees from the University of North Carolina and the University of Utah, and has worked in the areas of electromagnetic theory, nonlinear dynamics, and random processes particularly as they relate to living systems. During his career, Dr. Gailey served as a Research Scientist for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, a Research Director at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and as Associate Professor of Physics and Astronomy at Ohio University. Parallel to his research and research management activities, he has engaged in a lifelong study of spiritual traditions and how they relate to the philosophy of science. During the past ten years, he has served variously as consultant, Vice President, and Senior Advisor to the Fetzer Institute, working to promote a deeper cultural dialogue on science and spirituality – particularly regarding how our conception of science is interacts with human values and our sense of meaning.

Keynote: Owen Flanagan
Professor of Philosophy, Duke University


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Keynote Audio (107 MB, MP3) >>
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Owen Flanagan is the James B. Duke Professor of Philosophy and Co-Director of the Center for Comparative Philosophy. He is also Professor of Psychology and Brain Science, and Professor of Neurobiology at Duke University. In 1999-2000, Dr. Flanagan held the Romanell Phi Beta Kappa Professorship awarded by the national Phi Beta Kappa office to an American philosopher for distinguished contributions to philosophy and to the public understanding of philosophy.

Dr. Flanagan works primarily on the mind-body problem, moral psychology, and the conflict between the scientific and the humanistic image of persons. His publications include: The Science of the Mind (MIT University Press, 1991), Varieties of Moral Personality (Harvard University Press, 1991), Consciousness Reconsidered (MIT University Press, 1992), Self-Expressions: Mind, Morals and the Meaning of Life (Oxford University Press, 1996), Dreaming Souls: Sleep, Dreams and the Evolution of the Conscious Mind (Oxford University Press, 2000), and The Problem of the Soul: Two Visions of Mind and How to Reconcile Them (Basic, 2002). His newest book, The Bohisattva's Brain: Neuroscience, Virtue, and Happiness, will be completed this summer and published by MIT Press.

He was a Templeton Fellow at USC in 2005-2006 and delivered six lectures this past February (2006) at USC entitled "Human Flourishing in the Age of Mind Science." These lectures will eventually appear as a book (publisher to-be-determined). He has also published numerous articles including several recent articles on the nature of the virtues; the moral emotions; Buddhism, Confucianism; and the scientific status of psychoanalysis.