Don’t miss this opportunity to hear Dr. John-Robert Curtin from The University of Louisville - who will be presenting an interesting talk on the topic of "Civility".
Dr Curtin’s talk is also part of the Festival of Ideas programme.
More about this talk:
To be a Unitarian is to be a person questioning and observing everything possible without regard to general beliefs, but also a keen observer of what is, or might be. It is not judgmental but inquisitive, not dogmatic but open to possibilities. Often Unitarians are referred to as “Free Thinkers”. Darwin was certainly a Free Thinker as he searched for truth in everything he did. That coupled with a born naturalist curiosity led him to not only question, but also to speculate on the “Whys” in nature, the mysteries of species development, and the vast varieties of creatures. Perhaps, his most keen observations were about compassion and mankind’s propensity for what he called sympathy, that we now know as compassion. Unfortunately, his insights on compassion are not as widely known as his speculation on species development.
As a lifelong Universalist/Unitarian my understanding of Darwin vastly improved once I learned of his Unitarian background. This opinion presentation comes from my speculation and my precision guesswork of Darwin’s ongoing search for compassion and truth. The presentation will include speculation, conjecture, quotes, and some poetry that might engender audience members to rachet up their own search for compassion and truth as they begin to understand that questions always lead to more questions, truth is rarely absolute, and knowledge begets more questions.
Dr. John-Robert Curtin
Biography:
Dr. John-Robert Curtin is a graduate faculty member and also professor at Indiana University. He teaches conflict management, mediation, restorative justice and human resources. He co-founded, with Tony Belak, the 4Civility Institutes in Louisville Kentucky and in Dublin Ireland. Together they have trained over 5,000 mediators worldwide. Dr. Curtin spent over 20 years in Public Television as a producer and Station President where he won a number of awards including an Emmy and two thoroughbred racing Eclipse Awards. He has an Interdisciplinary Ph.D. from the University of Louisville with a concentration in alternative dispute resolution.
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