On Tuesday night, the Philosophy Department invites you to order up your favourite beverage and consider whether understanding the physiological basis of our thoughts and feelings will ultimately make ethics and morals irrelevant.

Philosophy graduate student Adam Riggio will offer “I Am Living in a Material World and I Am a Material Girl – But I Am Still Free” as part of the St. John's Public Lecture series at The Ship.

The talk will address how the age-old assumption that mental faculties are separate from the material self is being proven wrong by neurological science, and examine societal concerns about the implications of reducing thought to just a physical experience.

Mr. Riggio doesn’t subscribe to the notion that moral responsibility will go out the window once neurologists have found scientific reasons for emotional, religious or ethical reasoning. “That’s crazy,” Riggio says. “Even without a belief in any religion, we can still have these concepts without thinking about the ‘soul’.”  He will argue that morality and social responsibility derives from our nature. “Humans are social beings that require rules.”

Following his lecture, patrons will be invited to ask questions and weigh in on this complex debate.

The discussion starts at 8:30 p.m. at The Ship Pub off Duckworth Street. The lecture is free and all are welcome to attend. The St. John's Public Lectures in Philosophy are held the last Tuesday of each month, 8:30-10 p.m.; September-November, January-March inclusive.