Manhattan College’s Aquinas Lecture To Explore European Culture And Philosophy

RIVERDALE, N.Y. – Richard Kearney, the Charles B. Seelig chair of philosophy at Boston College, will deliver the 2008 Aquinas Lecture at Manhattan College on Friday, Feb. 15. Kearney’s lecture The Narrative Imagination, which is free and open to the public, will be held at 12:00 p.m. in the alumni room of O’Malley Library.

Kearney has served as a visiting professor at University College Dublin, the University of Paris (Sorbonne) and the University of Nice. He is the author of more than 20 books on European philosophy and literature, including two novels and a volume of poetry, and has edited or co-edited 14 others. His most recent work in philosophy comprises a trilogy entitled Philosophy at the Limit. The three volumes are On Stories (2005), The God Who May Be (2001) and Strangers, Gods and Monsters (2003).

As a public intellectual in Ireland, Kearney was involved in drafting a number of proposals for a Northern Irish peace agreement (1983, 1993, 1995) and in speechwriting for the former Irish president, Mary Robinson. He has presented five series on culture and philosophy for Irish and/or British television and broadcasted extensively on the European media.

Kearney was formerly a member of the Arts Council of Ireland, the Higher Education Authority of Ireland and chairman of the Irish School of Film at University College Dublin.

For more information about this lecture, please contact Dr. Seamus Carey, associate professor and chair of the philosophy department, at (718) 862-7124 or seamus.carey@manhattan.edu.  If you are a member of the media and wish to cover this event, please contact Scott Silversten, communications manager, at (718) 862-7232 or scott.silversten@manhattan.edu. Manhattan College is located at West 242nd Street near Broadway in the Riverdale section of the Bronx, one mile from the Westchester County line, and accessible by MTA subway line 1.

Founded in 1853, Manhattan College is an independent, Catholic, coeducational institution of higher learning offering more than 40 major programs of undergraduate study in the areas of arts, business, education, engineering and science, along with graduate programs in education and engineering. For more information about Manhattan College, visit www.manhattan.edu.