Campus Symposium on ‘Minds Wide Shut’

Monday, September 27, 2021 7:30 pm EDT to 8:30 pm EDT

Virtual event

The Lisska Center for Scholarly Engagement invites alumni and families for this year’s symposium “Minds Wide Shut.” Join us for a pre-recorded interview with Gary Morson (Slavic Languages & Literatures, Northwestern U.) and Morton Schapiro (President of Northwestern U. and Dept. Economics), co-authors of Minds Wide Shut: How the New Fundamentalisms Divide Us (Princeton UP, 2021), followed by a faculty panel discussion of the book via Zoom. The faculty panel will include Sam Cowling (Philosophy), Veerendra Lele (Sociology/Anthropology and Provost’s Office), May Mei (Math), and Heather Pool (Politics & Public Affairs).

In Minds Wide Shut, Morson and Schapiro examine how rigid adherence to ideological thinking has altered politics, economics, religion, and literature in ways that are mutually reinforcing and antithetical to the open-mindedness and readiness to compromise that animate democracy. In response, they propose alternatives that would again make serious dialogue possible.

The event is available to members of the Denison community. Attendees will be emailed the Zoom link in their registration confirmation and before the event.