Michael Waddell with a response from Daniel De Haan
The lecture will draw on insights from Catholic anthropology, which regards human persons as comprised of body and soul and as profoundly relational beings, to address some of the issues that arise out of reflection on autistic existence, including the use of person-first versus identity-first language, the autism rights movement, autistic identity, and the question of whether a cure for autism is desirable.
Michael Waddell is The Edna and George McMahon Aquinas Chair in Philosophy at Saint Mary's College of Notre Dame, IN, USA. His work focuses primarily on the thought of Thomas Aquinas, medieval philosophy, and the Catholic intellectual tradition more broadly. He has recently started working on a project centered on the philosophy and theology of (cognitive) disabilities, particularly autism.
Daniel De Haan is a VHI Research Associate and a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Faculty of Divinity, University of Cambridge, working on the neuroscience strand of the Templeton World Charity Foundation Fellowships in Theology, Philosophy of Religion, and the Sciences Project, directed by Sarah Coakley. His current research focuses on the philosophical foundations of translational cognitive neuroscience.
The lecture is free to attend.
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