The Rise of Persian: Understanding the Evolution of Writing in the Sasanian and Early Islamic Periods This talk explores the evolution of writing during the Sasanian and early Islamic periods, shedding light on the long-term process that led to Persian becoming the lingua franca in Western and Central Asia from Iran to the borders of China. With the groundwork laid by pioneering scholars, we now have a stronger foundation for reading and understanding Middle Persian documents in their many forms. As Bernhard of Chartres observed, “we are but dwarves on the shoulders of giants,” benefiting from the invaluable contributions of…
THIS EVENT HAS BEEN CANCELLED.
Global Antiquity is pleased to invite you to the first in its 2024–2025 Faculty Lunch Series talks, featuring Professor Solange Ashby (Near Eastern Languages and Cultures, UCLA). On Friday, November 8 from 12:00 pm–1:30 pm in Royce 306, she will speak on Nubian Rites, Linguistics, and Gold: An Unusual Demotic Term Explored. Lunch and refreshments will be served at 12:00 pm followed immediately by the talk and discussion. All are welcome, and we hope to see you there! Abstract: This talk explores the sole appearance of the Demotic term w-r-k in a first century CE prayer inscription from the…
January 24, 2025 | 4:00PM – 6:00PM PT Zoom RSVP HERE Join us on January 24, 2025 for a virtual colloquium with Stephen Yablo, MIT. The talk will take place from 4:00PM – 6:00PM PT on Zoom. Talk title, abstract, and speaker bio coming soon. Join our mailing list! Sign up for our mailing list to stay up-to-date with future UCLA Philosophy events, conferences, and colloquia! SIGN UP HERE
January 17, 2025 | 4:00PM – 6:00PM Dodd Hall 275 & Zoom RSVP HERE Join us on Friday, January 17, 2025 in Dodd Hall 275 for a talk by Rose Novick, University of Washington, as part of the History, Philosophy, and Science of Science (HPASS) speaker series. One Kind of Adaptationism There is only kind of adaptationism: explanatory adaptationism. Explanatory adaptationism claims that adaptation is the “big question” in evolutionary biology, and natural selection is the “big answer”. In recent decades, philosophers of biology have largely come to agree, first, that explanatory adaptationism is only one kind…
January 8, 2025 | 5:00PM – 7:00PM Dodd Hall 248 & Zoom RSVP HERE Join us on Wednesday, January 8, 2025 in Dodd Hall 248 (and Zoom) for a talk by Josh Hunt, Syracuse University, as part of the History, Philosophy, and Science of Science (HPASS) speaker series. On the Constitutive Aims of Science I recast the debate between scientific realists and antirealists as a dispute over the constitutive aims of science. Drawing on accounts of epistemic normativity, I propose a general method for identifying the constitutive aims of an activity, understood as minimal criteria for success….
December 4, 2024 | 5:00PM – 7:00PM Dodd Hall 247 & Zoom RSVP HERE Join us on Wednesday, December 4, 2024 in Dodd Hall 247 for a talk by Foad Dizadji-Bahmani, Cal State LA, as part of the History, Philosophy, and Science of Science (HPASS) speaker series. Truth, Approximate Truth, and the Pessimistic Meta-Induction The scientific realism debate is a longstanding one in the philosophy of science. One of the most important arguments in the anti-realist’s armory is the Pessimistic Meta-Induction (PMI). As is well known, PMI purportedly shows that the history of science undermines realism. PMI…
November 20, 2024 | 5:00PM – 7:00PM Dodd Hall 247 & Zoom RSVP HERE Join us on Wednesday, November 20, 2024 in Dodd Hall 247 for a talk by Emily Adlam, Chapman University, as part of the History, Philosophy, and Science of Science (HPASS) speaker series. Against Self-Location In this talk, I will make a distinction between pure self-locating credences and superficially self-locating credences, and then argue that there is never any rationally compelling way to assign pure self-locating credences. I will first argue that from a practical point of view, pure self-locating credences simply encode our…
From Šalām to Drōd: A History of Middle Iranian Epistolary Traditions This lecture will explore the letters written in late antique Iran and Central Asia in Middle Persian, Bactrian, and Sogdian. Regions in which these languages were used shared an inheritance from the Achaemenid empire—not just a script but also conventions of writing from orthography to epistolary expressions. Comparing these with the Aramaic chancery documents of the Achemenids reveals a trajectory of epistolary traditions stretching over a millenium and thousands of miles. About the Speaker Adam Benkato is an Associate Professor in the Department of Middle Eastern Languages and Cultures…
