UMKC Econ: News and Events

Public Lecture by Dr. Susan Haack (University of Miami)

"Inquiry and Advocacy, Fallibilism and Finality, Science and Law"

5:30 PM – 6:45 PM, Thursday, October 13, 2005
UMKC Law School Lecture Room #3
Free and open to the public
Presentation description: Two kinds of tension between the nature of science and the culture of law -- between inquiry and advocacy, and between fallibilism and finality -- lie at the root of some of the legal difficulties in handling scientific testimony. Sometimes the legal system asks more of science than science can give, demanding answers to scientific questions before such answers are scientifically feasible. Sometimes the legal system gets less from science than science could give, keeping alive scientific controversies regarded as settled within science itself. One can see changes that extend statutes of limitations or enable post-conviction DNA testing, on the one hand, and the use of court-appointed scientists, on the other, as adaptations of the legal culture in response to these tensions.
Short Bio:

Susan Haack (B.A., M.A., B.Phil., Oxford; Ph.D., Cambridge), is presently Cooper Senior Scholar in Arts and Sciences, Professor of Philosophy, and Professor of Law at the University of Miami. Her areas of interest include philosophy of logic and language, epistemology and metaphysics, philosophy of science, including issues of scientific testimony in court, Pragmatism, and feminism. Haack is included in Peter J. King, 100 Philosophers: The Life and Work of the World's Greatest Thinkers (New York: Barron, 2004), which includes philosophers, from the East as well as the West, from Thales and Confucius to the present day -- one of the very few of living philosophers so honored.

Professor Haack is the author of several well-known books as well as of numerous articles. She has been widely reviewed and cited in general interest publications such as the Times Literary Supplement, the Wilson Quarterly, and the Chronicle of Higher Education, as well as in specialized journals. Haack has continued to expand her range as she tackles not only questions about scientific evidence and scientific method but also the relation of science to literature, the tensions between science and religion, the role of scientific testimony in court, and predictions of the end of science.

Haack's writing is known for its clarity, directness, tough-mindedness, and humor. Her work is also strongly interdisciplinary; she has published in literary, legal, and scientific as well as philosophical journals, and has been invited to speak not only in philosophy departments and law schools but also at the Whitney Humanities Center at Yale, the American Council of Learned Societies, the New York Academy of Sciences, the Institute of Medicine at the National Academy of Sciences, etc.

Professor Haack has received the Faculty Senate Distinguished Scholar Award, the Provost's Award for excellence in research, and awards for excellence in teaching, and the Graduate School's Award for "outstanding graduate mentor." Besides regular philosophy courses, she offers interdisciplinary courses for the College of Arts and Sciences, one on Science and Values and another on Philosophy and Literature, and a class on scientific testimony in the School of Law. Haack serves on the Board of the Shannon Center for Advanced Studies at the University of Virginia, on the Advisory Board of the Peirce Edition Project, and on the editorial boards of numerous journals in the U.S., the U.K., Spain, and Brazil.

<read more about Dr. Haack>

Special Seminar with Dr. Susan Haack

Oct. 14, 3-5pm in Royall Hall 211

Susan Haack, who is a world famous philosopher (a Peirce scholar and an epistemologist), is scheduled to visit us and present several lectures. One of the seminars will be focused around Prof. Haack.

Reading: "On Legal Pragmatism: Where does the path of the law lead us?"

Special Seminar for Graduate Students and Faculty with Dr. Michael Perelman

3:00 pm - Friday, April 29
Royall Hall Room 212

Our visiting scholar is Michael Perelman, Professor of Economics at California State University - Chico. Dr. Perelman has been described as a "radical" economist. He is also the author of many books (and claims that he has enough notes on file to write fifty more!). In this seminar, he will show how his thinking has evolved from his dissertation until now. He will explain what each book has meant for the development of his scholarship, and he will explain the implications of each of his books for the discipline of economics. This will be a rare opportunity to look inside the thought processes of an accomplished, kindred, heterodox economist and to see how his conceptualization of economics and its relation to the world have grown over time. It is not often that graduate students are given such a window through which to examine the development of such a prolific, critical scholar. This should be one of our more unique departmental seminars. Please try to attend. We will end in plenty of time for those of you who will be going to the annual UMKC Banquet of Scholars Friday evening.

“Right-Wing Extremism and Business Incompetence are Destroying American Prosperity”

Dr. Michael Perelman

Professor of Economics, California State Univ. - Chico

Thursday – April 28th – 7:00 PM

Room 111 – Royall Hall University of Missouri – Kansas City

800 E. 52nd St. (2nd bldg. West of Rockhill Rd.)

FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC

Wealth and wage inequalities in the US have never been more disparate. The agenda of the Radical Right -- military adventurism abroad, anti-government policies at home, and reckless efforts to commercialize and privatize virtually every aspect of our society -- are ‘fouling the nest’. Along with business incompetence, these self-destructive policies are destroying American prosperity. Sadly, mainstream economics is largely unprepared to understand this emerging economic catastrophe.

More info about the speaker:

http://www.csuchico.edu/econ/new/Faculty-Staff/Perelman%20NEW.shtml

http://www.csuchico.edu/~michael

Free parking: garage at 52nd & Rockhill Rd.

Event info at 816-235-1153

Sponsor: UMKC Dept of Economics

* see books by this author at http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/search-handle-form/102-3990754-0481723 *

Mon., April 4th 7 pm “Social Security: A Manufactured Crisis?”

A Special Program at Linda Hall Library Auditorium, 5109 Cherry Street (near Manheim Hall at UMKC). Sponsored by The Community of Reason and the Greens of Kansas City.

Panel discussion with:

*L. Randall Wray, professor of economics, UMKC: “Manufacturing a Crisis",
*Stephanie Bell, assistant professor, economics UMKC: “Why Americans Should Just Say ‘No’ to Private Accounts”
*Max Skidmore, professor of political science UMKC: “Sense and Nonsense About Social Security”

For 70 years, the far right has attacked Social Security. In this panel, Professors Wray,

Bell, and Skidmore examine how the debate has been framed with misleading and erroneous assumptions, how proposed “reforms” will weaken if not destroy Social Security, and how supporters can protect the social safety net.