Philosophy at the University of Salford - and Elsewhere February 21, 2012

The next lunchtime Professorial Lecture will be given by Andrew Basden, Professor of Human Factors & Philosophy in Information Systems. The lecture will be held on Tuesday 21 February in the Council Chamber, the Old Fire Station and will commence at 12 noon.

About the Lecture

"The University of Salford should consider setting up a work in philosophy." This is the message that Professor Basden will seek to bring in his Professorial Lecture.

At various times throughout its history, the University of Salford has been strong in engineering, science and humanities, but never in philosophy. However, philosophy is essential for understanding interdisciplinarity, which characterises much of Salford's ethos. Philosophy is the discipline that integrates, the 'discipline of disciplines', because, whereas each science focuses on its own narrow aspect, philosophy can be aware of many aspects.

The lecture will begin with a quick overview of some of the philosophy interests currently within Salford, placed within the history of philosophy. Problems that have challenged philosophy since its inception will be outlined. The long-held presupposition of the supremacy and neutrality of theoretical thinking is now being challenged, with growing philosophical interest in everyday experience, but little idea how to address this.

Professor Basden's philosophical expertise is centred on the Dutch thinker, Herman Dooyeweerd, who approached philosophy from a radically different direction and, as a result, generated a way of thinking eminently suited to understanding and acting within everyday experience. Dooyeweerd's suite of aspects has proven to be especially important in interdisciplinary studies, analysis and practical action alike. An overview of this work will be given. A strategy for developing a work in applied philosophy at Salford will be suggested, which links Dooyeweerd with more conventional modern and postmodern philosophy so that both may be enriched.

About Professor Basden

Andrew Basden is the Professor of Human Factors and Philosophy of Information Systems in the Business School in the University of Salford. His earlier interests were information technology but, after a 12-year spell in the pharmaceutical and chemical industries, and the medical and surveying professions, he returned to academic life, seeking to research the human and social context in which information technology might be employed or other human endeavours might be played out. He has also been active in the fields of environmental sustainability and theology.

Needing to undergird these interests led him into critical theory and philosophy and, as a result, he is a world-renowned scholar in the philosophy of Herman Dooyeweerd. He has published widely in many fields, from information technology, human factors and the critique of critical theory as applied in business and information systems. His magnum opus, 'Philosophical Frameworks for Understanding Information Systems', 2008, presents a radical new approach to situating information systems in its everyday human context derived from multi-aspectual philosophy. He is a founder member of the international Centre for Philosophy, Technology and Social Systems and is internationally acknowledged as an expert on multi-aspectual philosophy. He is founder and gatekeeper of 'The Dooyeweerd Pages' (http://www.dooy.info/)an international resource for scholars of Dooyeweerd's multi-aspectual philosophy.

To Register

We recommend that you complete the online registration process to book your place as tickets are limited. Your e-ticket will be sent to you by email. Please remember to bring this to the event.

Official Website: http://www.salford.ac.uk/home-page/events/events/philosophy-at-the-university-of-salford-and-elsewhere