UWeek Vol.17, No.6 November 4, 1999

Lenn E. Goodman, professor of philosophy at Vanderbilt University and the Solomon Katz Distinguished Lecturer in the Humanities for Autumn 1999, opens the 1999-2000 Solomon Katz Distinguished Lecturers in the Humanities Series with "Crosspollinations: Philosophically Fruitful Interactions Between Jewish and Islamic Philosophy."

His lecture will be at 8 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 16, in 220 Kane Hall. The series is sponsored by the University of Washington Walter Chapin Simpson Center for the Humanities and the College of Arts and Sciences. Admission is complimentary; a reception will follow in the Walker-Ames Room of Kane Hall.

Goodman's lecture will focus on three thoughts that passed from Biblical and Qur'anic scripture and Greek philosophical dialogues, treatises and commentaries to Muslim and Jewish philosophers:

The seemingly ineffable content of religious experience can be articulated through symbols and made a social reality, as imagery, ritual, myth and law

The idea that since man is made in the image of God, people can learn about God by studying humanity

The belief that God executes justice in history by visiting upon us the consequences of our actions, individually and communally.

Goodman, a philosopher and scholar of Jewish and Islamic philosophy, is the author of 12 books and more than 100 articles, chapters and reviews. His most recent book, "Jewish and Islamic Philosophy: Crosspollinations in the Classic Age," is a study in comparative philosophy and was published by Edinburgh University Press and Rutgers University Press in September. ¶

University Week
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November 4, 1999