What does morality require of us? Are there objective moral truths? Do we have free will? How is the mind related to the brain? Does science provide an authoritative source of knowledge? Does God exist?
These are some of the weighty questions Scott Sehon tackled in his recent inaugural lecture as Joseph E. Merrill Professor of Philosophy.
He talked to colleagues and other members of the Bowdoin community in Kresge Auditorium on November 7. Sehon, who joined Bowdoin College in 1993, explored efforts by philosophers to find a middle ground between the two extremes of “unscientific magic” and “nihilism” that can confront us when we address important questions directly.
Much of Sehon’s scholarship concerns issues in the philosophy of mind and action, especially the question of free will. His most recent book, though, concerns political philosophy: Socialism: A Logical Introduction (Oxford University Press, 2024). He is currently working on a book about the morality of abortion, coauthored with Bowdoin colleague Kristi Olson.
