Workshop: What Makes Us Human?

Time
10. - 12. December 2024

Location
Zukunftskolleg

Organizer
Zukunftskolleg & Martin Buber Society, Jerusalem

Speaker:
MBS and Zukunftskolleg Fellows

An Interdisciplinary Workshop on Humanity’s Nature and Value


About the workshop:

Humanity has long grappled with fundamental questions concerning its own nature and value. What characterizes human beings? Are there any human characteristics that remain consistent throughout history? If so, what are they? If not, how do current human beings differ from their ancestors and descendants? Can we know what the human being is before it has completed its historical development? What will the human being become? Can technology and societal developments change what it means to be human, and perhaps radically transform its own nature? In contemporary times, these questions have gained urgency and relevance due to technological developments in artificial intelligence and human enhancement, as well as findings in various disciplines regarding the sophisticated cognitive and emotional capacities of non-human animals. In this workshop, we aim to leverage the disciplinary diversity of the Zukunftskolleg (ZUKO) and the Martin Buber Society of Fellows in the Humanities and Social Sciences (MBSF) to address the complexity of human nature and value. Invited experts will introduce central themes of novel research and questions on this topic across disciplines. Participants will form interdisciplinary groups to collaboratively tackle specific questions concerning the nature and value of humankind.

Programme:

Tuesday, 10 December:

10:00 - 12:30, Working in subgroups:

1. Humans & Rationality

2. Humans & Primates

3. Humans & Society

4. Humans & Technology


13:30 - 15:00, Jour fixe:
Pitch talks

18:00 - 19:30, public panel, Bürgersaal:
“What makes us Human?”

Speakers:

  • Aleida Assmann (Cultural Historian, University of Konstanz)
  • Meg Crofoot (Biologist, University of Konstanz / Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior)
  • Nadia Mazouz (Philosopher, ETH Zurich) 
  • Hans Alves (Psychologist, Ruhr University Bochum)

 

Wednesday, 11 December:

10:00 - 12:00, Working in subgroups

16:00 - 18:00, Working in subgroups

18:30 – 19:30, “What makes human unique”
with Prof. Michael Tomasello Anthropologist, Duke University/USA

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