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CANCELLED - Open University Pavis Lecture

Wednesday, 4 November 2009, 16:30
Berrill Lecture Theatre, The Open University, Milton Keynes

Making Reason Public: Necessary Conditions for Dialogue and Discourse

Unfortunately, the Department of Sociology at the Open University much regrets it has had to cancel the forthcoming 2009 Pavis Lecture which was to have taken place on 4 November 2009.

The Pavis Lecturer for 2009, Professor Onora O'Neill (Baroness O'Neill of Bengarve), with great regret has had to withdraw from speaking because her amendments to the Apprenticeship, Skills, Children and Learning Bill, Report Stage, will be debated in the House of Lords on the same date and she will speak to these amendments in person.

We hope to be able to reschedule Professor O'Neill's lecture "Making Reason Public:   Necessary Conditions for Dialogue and Discourse" at another time and will advise you accordingly. Professor O'Neill expresses her regrets and apologies.

We much regret any inconvenience you have experienced in consequence of this change of plan, which we learned about on Monday 26 October, and share the regret and disappointment which doubtless you feel. We look forward to welcoming you to The Open University and the Pavis Lecture at another time.

Professor Richard Collins
Department of Sociology
The Open University

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Professor Onora O'Neill (Baroness O'Neill of Bengarve)

Onora O'Neill will argue that recent accounts of 'public reason' (notably those of Rawls and Habermas) focus on its context in the public and political process of democracies. This work has been linked to conceptions of deliberative or participatory democracy. But is this form of "public reason" feasible in large democratic societies, where inclusive communication may be impossible? Can new technology change this or will it support no more than quasi- communication? Professor O'Neill will discuss an alternative more Kantian conception of public reason that focuses on reasoning rather than on its public context and will argue that this may be relevant to public life in C21 democracies.

Professor Onora O'Neill is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Cambridge and a cross bench Member of the House of Lords. She was formerly President of the British Academy and Principal of Newnham College Cambridge. She writes on ethics and political philosophy and on international justice. She is probably best known for her influential BBC Reith Lectures of 2002 on "Trust" and has written extensively on trust and on other topics such as bioethics (she was chair of the Nuffield Council on Bioethics and acting chair of the Human Genetics Advisory Commission). She has been a member of the House of Lords' Select Committees on Stem Cell Research, BBC Charter Review and Genomic Medicine.