At the end of September we hosted Dr. Andrew Pinsent, Research Director of The Ian Ramsey Centre for Science and Religion – University of Oxford. Dr. Pinsent is also Research Fellow of the Harris Manchester College, member of the Faculty of Theology and Religion at Oxford, and a priest of the diocese of Arundel and Brighton in England. He has a DPhil in Physics (Oxford University, 1991), a STB in Theology (Pontifical Gregorian University, Rome, 2003) and a PhD in Philosophy (Saint Louis University, United States, 2009). His main research interests include the philosophy of science, virtue ethics, metaphysical issues in contemporary science and theology, and the philosophy of persons.

In his visit to our University, Dr. Pinsent delivered one of the monthly meetings of the seminar “The Brain and the Personal Self” of the Philosophy Institute, lecturing about “Joint Attention and the Second Person Personnel Formation of Virtue”. About 12 researchers from different academic units of the University participated in this activity. After his presentation, there was time for questions from those present and a fruitful discussion on the subject. A summary of his presentation will soon be available in our Documents section.

Dr. Pinsent also delivered the lecture “Teaching as Accelerating Insight: Perspectives from Neuroscience and the Snow Queen”, within the framework of the Academic Conference “Neuroscience and its Impact on Education”, organised by the School of Education. This lecture emphasized the importance of the teaching role as facilitator of the student’s insight. More than 150 professionals from the educational field (both university and secondary) took part in this activity.

We are grateful to Dr. Pinsent, whose visit helped to strengthen the ties between the Ian Ramsey Center for Science and Religion and the Philosophy Institute, in their research on Science and Religion.