The University of Central Arkansas will host Dr. Chelsea Harry as the 2017 Norbert and Carol Schedler Scholar-in-Residence.
Harry will present a lecture titled “Function, Flourishing and Fair Treatment: An Aristotelian Argument for Non-Human Animal Well-Being” at 7 p.m. Monday, March 27 in the College of Business Auditorium.
The lecture is free and open to the public and will be followed by a reception.
“Chelsea Harry is a model of what it means to be an engaged philosopher,” said to Dr. Taine Duncan, director of the UCA Gender Studies program and associate professor of philosophy. “In her teaching, research, and community involvement, Chelsea centers her ethical theory in practice. She demonstrates the importance of understanding our complex world, and applies these ideas to environmentalist action, advocacy for animal rights, and in encouraging students to do service learning.”
Harry’s lecture is part of the Norbert and Carol Schedler Scholar-in-Residence program, supported by the Norbert and Carol Schedler Endowment and sponsored by the Schedler Honors College and the Department of Philosophy and Religion at UCA. This event is also being co-sponsored this year by the UCA Gender Studies Program and the Department of Psychology and Counseling.
Assistant professor of the history of philosophy at Southern Connecticut State University, Harry focuses on the philosophy of nature, particularly as theories of nature intersect with concepts of time. Her specialties are ancient Greek philosophy and German philosophy from the late eighteenth through mid-nineteenth centuries. She is the author of “Chronos in Aristotle’s Physics: On the Nature of Time,” as well as numerous scholarly articles and book chapters. Asserting that “philosophy does not have to be an armchair or ivory tower discipline,” she integrates community engagement into her teaching, working with refugee and immigrant organizations as well as elementary and high schools in the New Haven area.
Her talk at UCA will exhibit her interdisciplinary approach to teaching and scholarship. Drawing on diverse sources, from Aristotle to animal science, Harry questions the ancient philosophical tradition, which drew sharp distinctions dividing animal abilities from our human capacities and goals.
