UCLA Philosopher to Present Lecture on Free Will, Moral Responsibility

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Dr. Pamela Hieronymi, professor of philosophy at the University of California, Los Angeles, will present the lecture “The Problem of Free Will and Moral Responsibility,” Feb. 20 at 7:30 p.m. in 205 Smith Hall on The University of Alabama campus.

The lecture is part of the Philosophy Today lectures series in UA’s College of Arts and Sciences. It is free and open to the public.

Hieronymi will discuss the different ways people come to worry about whether they are free and responsible and the possibility of their worries being calmed. She will explore the intuitive worry about freedom that results from the responsibility for actions.

Hieronymi received a bachelor’s in philosophy from Princeton University and a doctorate in philosophy from Harvard University. She has been a faculty member at UCLA since 2000, where her research focuses on ethics, philosophy of mind, philosophy of action, the discussion of moral responsibility and free will.

She has presented lectures at universities across the country including the University of Michigan, the University of California at Berkley, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, New York University, Columbia University and Yale University.

Her many awards include a Carrier Prize from Harvard University’s department of philosophy, a summer stipend from the National Endowment for the Humanities, an Andrew W. Mellon Fellowship for Junior Faculty, and a Frederick Burkhardt Residential Fellowship for Recently Tenured Scholars from the American Council of Learned Societies.

Lectures in the Philosophy Today series are geared toward a general audience and are of interest to those in any profession or academic discipline. The series is sponsored by UA’s College of Arts and Sciences department of philosophy, a grant from Louis W. Perry and other alumni and friends of the department.

UA’s department of philosophy is part of UA’s College of Arts and Sciences, the University’s largest division and the largest liberal arts college in the state. Students from the College have won numerous national awards including Rhodes Scholarships, Goldwater Scholarships and memberships on the USA Today Academic All-American Team.