How to Have Impossible Conversations
FDC has invited Dr. Peter Boghossian as the speaker for the 2022 Goldtrap Lecture. He will discuss practical techniques and tools that can be used to improve conversations. Drawn from hostage negotiations, applied epistemology, cult exiting, and elsewhere, these skills enable individuals to speak across deep moral and political gulfs.
Dr. Peter Boghossian is a Founding Faculty member at the University of Austin, Texas, a founder and Advisor to the Foundation Against Intolerance & Racism (FAIR), a Visiting Fellow for Reason Foundation think tank, and the Director of National Progress Alliance.
Peter’s work is centered on bringing the tools of professional philosophers to people in a wide variety of contexts and helping others think through what seem to be intractable problems. His dissertation explored increasing the moral reasoning of prison inmates and aiding their desistance from crime, and his teaching pedigree, spanning more than 25 years, focused on the Socratic method, pedagogy, scientific skepticism, and critical thinking. His books have been translated into over a dozen languages, and his most recent book, How to Have Impossible Conversations, is used in classrooms and companies throughout the world. Peter’s articles can be found in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Philosophers’ Magazine, Scientific American, Time Magazine, Skeptic, National Review, and elsewhere.
The schedule on Wednesday, April 6 will be:
- 12:00-1:00pm: Meeting with grad students and faculty
- 1:10-2:00pm: Presentation
- 2:00-2:15pm: Q&A