Ludgate Colloquium 2023: Intelligence? Thinking about thinking through time
Friday, 15 December 2023
Intelligence? Thinking about thinking through time
2023 Ludgate Colloquium
Ticket Price
£28 Standard Ticket Price
£18 Students
The central topic of the 2023 colloquium is a question about intelligence—what it means, where the idea came from, and how it might relate to other key concepts of mind: notably, wisdom and reason.
‘Intelligence’ as a word is first found in English at the end of the fourteenth century. But Wisdom Literature far pre-dates this—what might the differences in concept be? In European Middle Ages, reason often struggled against the non- or supra-rational—both prized and deeply suspect, depending on the Christian tradition. The notion of ‘intelligence’ in the modern sense emerges in the nineteenth century—but to what uses was this concept put? Likewise, the modern period involves a recognition that reason and intelligence might not be the only important relationship: what about emotional intelligence, the capacity of feel with, or for, another? And then in the contemporary world, intelligence as a human quality is enhanced—or challenged, or endangered?—by AI, Artificial Intelligence. What is this and what can it do now and in the future?
Programme
10:00am Welcome
10:15am Professor Paul Joyce (King’s College, London)
The Wisdom of Scripture
10:45am Professor Robert Swanson (University of Birmingham) Mediaeval Friars and reason - Franciscan v Dominican
11:15am Discussion
12-1pm Lunch
1:00pm Dr Sara Lyons (University of Kent The emergence of ‘intelligence’ as a category
1:30pm Claire Hobbs (organist and music therapist) Emotional intelligence
2:00pm Professor Neil Lawrence (Department of Computer Science and Technology) Artificial Intelligence
2.30-3.00pm Discussion
3:00pm Wine Reception
3:30pm Event Ends
The ticket price includes tea/coffee, sandiwch lunch and wine reception.
