Human animal

The talk will take place on October 6 at 7:30 PM in the Sala Mirador of the Centre of Contemporary Culture of Barcelona (Montalegre, 5). Free admission, limited seating.

Just as we wonder what differentiates us from other animal species and makes us uniquely human, can we ask which are the circumstances that animalize us? What strips us of our humanity? Or to put it another way, what socio-economic, political and educational conditions prevent us from displaying those elements that are specifically human? Evolutionary biology expert Francisco J. Ayala will discuss these issues with the philosopher Victor Gomez Pin, who has just published Reducción y combate del animal humano (Ariel, 2014). They will talk accompanied by fellow philosopher Jaume Casals.

Francisco J. Ayala was born Madrid in 1934. He obtained his doctorate from Columbia University in 1964 and, in 1987, was appointed with the title of "University Professor" at the University of California, Irvine, where he is engaged in research work and teaching biology. He is one of the most eminent Spanish scientists presently working in the field of evolutionary biology. He is a member of the United States National Academy of Sciences, a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and member of the American Philosophical Society. He was scientific adviser to President Clinton and president of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, which publishes the review Science. He has been awarded Doctor Honoris Causa degrees by some twenty universities in ten different countries and is a member of numerous academies of science, including that based in Madrid. He was awarded the National Medal of Science (United States) and has received a great number of other prizes in different countries, including the Templeton Prize valued at one million pounds sterling, which was presented by the Duke of Edinburgh at a ceremony in Buckingham Palace on 5 May 2010.

Víctor Gómez Pin has a Doctor d’Etat (Ph.D.) from the Sorbonne University and presently Professor of Philosophy at the Autonomous University of Barcelona, he has been working on the project of establishing the state of affairs with the basic questions of philosophy, considering them in the light of contemporary thought. As a result of this work and with the sponsorship of UNESCO, he founded the International Ontology Congress in 1993. Author of some thirty books, he has been awarded the Anagrama Prize for the Essay (1989), the Espasa Prize for the Essay (2006), and the Istituto Veneto per Venezia Prize (2009).

Further information: CCCB