At the end of September we received Dr. Andrew Pinsent, Research Director of The Ian Ramsey Centre for Science and Religion – University of Oxford. Dr. Pinsent is also Research Fellow of the Harris Manchester College, member of the Faculty of Theology and Religion at Oxford, and a priest of the diocese of Arundel and Brighton in England. He has a DPhil in Physics (Oxford University, 1991), a STB in Theology (Pontifical Gregorian University, Rome, 2003) and a  PhD in Philosophy (Saint Louis University, United States, 2009).  His main research interests include: Philosophy of science, Virtue ethics, Metaphysical issues in contemporary science and theology, and Philosophy of persons.

In his visit to our University, Professor Pinsent was in charge ofIn his visit to our University, the Professor was in charge of one of the monthly meetings of the seminar “The Brain and the Personal Self” of the Philosophy Institute, entitled “Joint Attention and the Second Person Personnel Formation of Virtue” on September 28th. About 12 researchers from different academic units of the Unviersity participated in this activity. After his presentation, there was time for questions from those present and a fruitful discussion on the subject. Soon you may find an article about his contribution in our Documents section.

Dr. Pinsent also gave the lecture “Teaching as Accelerating Insight: Perspectives from Neuroscience and the Snow Queen“, in the framework of the Academic Conference “Neuroscience and its Impact in Education“, organised by the School of Education. This lecture empashized the importance of the teaching role as facilitator of the student’s insight. More than 150 professionals from the educational field (both university and secondary) took part in this activity.

We are grateful to Dr. Pinsent, whose visit, helped to strengthen the ties between the Ian Ramsey Center for Science and Religion and the Philosophy Institute, to continue working on the interdisciplinary research of Science and Religion.