[408] Indigenous People Of North America Focus Of Annual Lyceum Talk

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: April 9, 2010
EDITORIAL CONTACT: Lisa L. Rollins, 615-898-2919, or lrollins@mtsu.edu

INDIGENOUS PEOPLE OF NORTH AMERICA FOCUS OF ANNUAL LYCEUM TALK
Author-Professor Scott Pratt Visits MTSU for Applied Philosophy Lyceum on April 16

(MURFREESBORO)— “Creation and Liberation: The Ontology of American Indian Origins" is the title and focus of this year’s Applied Philosophy Lyceum event at MTSU on Friday, April 16.
The free and open talk will be delivered by guest scholar Scott L. Pratt, chairman of the philosophy program at the University of Oregon, beginning at 3:30 p.m. in Room 304 of MTSU’s James Union Building, with an informal question-and-and-answer session and reception afterward.
“Professor Pratt has done substantial work on the ways in which the ideas and practices of peoples indigenous to North America have influenced American philosophy,” said Michael Principe, MTSU philosophy professor. “His presentation at MTSU will focus on the significance of various creation stories as understood by American Indians. He will rely on the work of such American-Indian theologians as Vine Deloria and George Tinker.” According to event organizers, Tinker has argued that American Indians and other indigenous people have a long-standing confidence that they have much to teach European and North American peoples about the world. Related to this, Pratt’s discussion will attempt to understand some of these lessons.
Pratt, in addition to authoring “Logic: Inquiry, Argument and Order and Native Pragmatism: Rethinking the Roots of American Philosophy,” also has co-edited a variety of texts, including “Jimmy Buffett and Philosophy: The Porpoise Driven Life” and has been published widely on the intersection of American philosophy and the philosophies of indigenous people in North America. The annual Applied Philosophy Lyceum is sponsored by the Department of Philosophy, with the purpose of initiating philosophical reflection by bringing distinguished scholars to the MTSU campus to address crucial contemporary issues.
For more information on the April 16 lecture, please contact the philosophy department by calling 615-898-2907.
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With three Nobel Prize winners among its alumni and former faculty, Middle Tennessee State University confers master’s degrees in 10 areas, the Specialist in Education degree, the Doctor of Arts degree and the Doctor of Philosophy degree. MTSU is ranked among the top 100 public universities in the nation in the Forbes “America’s Best Colleges” 2009 survey.


ATTENTION, MEDIA: To request a jpeg of guest speaker Scott L. Pratt, please e-mail Lisa L. Rollins in the Office of News and Public Affairs at lrollins@mtsu.edu.