Influential philosopher John Lachs will deliver the Berry Lecture in Public Philosophy on April 20 at Vanderbilt University.
Lachs, Centennial Professor of Philosophy, will speak on “Death and Self-Importance” at 7 p.m. in Room 114 of Furman Hall. The lecture will explore the significance of death and whether its inevitability renders our lives unimportant.
The lecture will be followed by two critical responses from Vanderbilt philosophers Michael Hodges, professor of philosophy, and Robert Talisse, the W. Alton Jones Professor of Philosophy.
The lecture is free and open to the public. A reception will precede the main event starting at 6:15 p.m.
Lachs is an internationally renowned philosopher. He is also a popular teacher at Vanderbilt, inspiring thousands of Vanderbilt students to take up the perennial philosophical question, “How ought we to live?”
The Berry Lecture Series in Public Philosophy began in 1988, funded by John and Shirley Lachs, Alan Berry and Kendall Berry. In addition to the annual lecture, the Berry Fund finances travel for graduate philosophy students and awards annual prizes for outstanding service, prospectuses and publications.