2003 Seminar

Patterns of Belief in a Scientific Age
15th-16th February 2003
The Brunei Gallery Lecture Theatre School of Oriental and African Studies
10 Thornhaugh Street, London WC1H OXG

The propensity to believe is one of the key traits found in human societies around the world and throughout history.

Whether it is religious, political, moral or scientific, belief by its nature both unites and divides. It spurs mankind to achieve greatness; allowing us to triumph over seemingly impossible odds; at the same time, in the form of indoctrination, it may cage intellect and free will.

Belief is at the heart of invention: would the Wright brothers ever have got off the ground, had they not believed in the possibility of flight. Yet belief can also hold us back, limit our thoughts and creativity, lead us into acts of brutality, and weave web of 'what-is-so' while blinding us to all else.

We live in a highly scientific and technological age, but superstition, assumption and irrationality abound. Question a handful of people-in-the-street and you'll find those who believe in ghosts, UFO abductions, past life experiences, horoscopes. Cast your net further and you'll find others who are insist that 'Elvis lives', that Vitamin C cures colds, that immigrants are stealing our jobs... Such beliefs may be held, or rejected, with equal passion.

So what is belief and how is it nurtured and revised through experience? Why are some beliefs lifelong -- steady companions in an otherwise turbulent world -- while others are updated as we grow older and (we hope) wiser? How do beliefs influence our lives, our perceptions and our personalities? Are some of us more likely to favour certainty than others, perhaps to protect against the stresses of the unknown or to bind us more closely to a certain group? Are we, in fact, hard-wired to believe: our brains and nervous systems a belief-generating machine that evolved not to assure truth, logic or reason, but survival?

Such questions are among the most important of our time, yet it would be presumptuous to expect a seminar like this to answer them. Rather, what we hope to achieve in this brief time together is to explore some of the ways in which belief operates in this scientific age. It may also show how certainty, while comforting, cannot help but carry the risk of being wrong.

The Speakers and their subjects
(In order of speaking)

Saturday, February 15th

A sociological perspective on belief
Professor Eileen Barker, FBA, OBE

Varieties of believing
Dr Fraser Watts

Invention of the gods: an evolutionary perspective on human spirituality
Professor Robin Dunbar, FBA

Free will and conscious experience
Dr Patrick Haggard

Sunday, February 16th

Don't believers ever need psychotherapy? If yes, why? If not, why not?
Professor Kate Loewenthal

Materiality and meaning
Judith Williamson

The wackier it is, the more they believe it: an exploration of the world of hoaxes, hoaxers and victims
Nick Yapp

Experimental UFO hoaxing
David Simpson

The Art of Doubt
Professor David Marks

Scheherazade and the global mutation of teaching stories - Robert Irwin
more info >>

Fields of the Mind - Dr. Rupert Sheldrake
more info >>

Consciousness, will and responsibility - Chris Frith
more info >>

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