Philosopher John Lysaker to speak at Kenyon College

GAMBIER, Ohio (March 23, 2004) John T. Lysaker, associate professor of philosophy at the University of Oregon, will speak at Kenyon College on "Taking Emerson Personally" at 4:10 p.m. on Wednesday, April 7, in the College's Rutherford B. Hayes Hall, room 109.

A 1988 graduate of Kenyon, Lysaker earned his doctorate from Vanderbilt University. In addition to teaching courses on nineteenth-century philosophy, individualism, and philosophy and teaching, he serves on the executive committees of the comparative literature and women's studies departments.

Lysaker is the author of You Must Change Your Life: Poetry, Philosophy, and the Birth of Sense, which recounts some of the ways in which poetry has import for how we live our lives. Two new books are underway. One is a topical study of Ralph Waldo Emerson's moral perfectionism, while the other considers the fate of the self in schizophrenia.

Lysaker frequently works with his brother Paul H. Lysaker, a psychologist and 1982 graduate of Kenyon, on issues related to schizophrenia. Their recent article, "Schizophrenia as dialogue at the ends of its tether: The interrelationship of disruptions in identity, symptoms, and social alienation," will appear in the Journal of Constructivist Psychology.

Sponsored by the Department of Philosophy, the Department of Religious Studies, the Larwill Lectureships, the Office of the Provost, the Philosophy Symposium, and Professor of Religious Studies Emeritus Donald L. Rogan, the lecture is free and open to the public.