Jean-Pierre Dupuy is Professor Emeritus of Social and Political Philosophy at Ecole Polytechnique, Paris and Professor of Political Science at Stanford University. He is a member of the French Academy of Technology and of the Conseil Général des Mines, the French High Magistracy that oversees and regulates industry, energy and the environment. Dupuy chairs the Ethics Committee of the French High Authority on Nuclear Safety and Security. He is the Director of the Research Program of Imitatio, a new foundation devoted to the dissemination and discussion of René Girard’s mimetic theory. His most recent work has dealt with the topic of catastrophe. Recent publications in English include, The Mechanization of the Mind (Princeton University Press, 2000); On the Origins of Cognitive Science (The MIT Press, 2009); The Mark of the Sacred (Stanford University Press, 2013); and Economy and the Future. A Crisis of Faith (Michigan State University Press, 2014).

 

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Lecture:

Choosing the Past

Can events from the future influence the present and the past? Can we have an impact on the past conditions that determine our present and future? Can we change our destiny? Can we choose our predestination? These questions have always been a source of concern for the students of human affairs, in philosophy, the human sciences, literature and film. I shall discuss a number of case studies which may include Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo, as well as the logic of nuclear deterrence.

Time: 2 am
Location: Cultural Services of the French Embassy / Ballroom

 

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