THE AMALIE and EDWARD KASS LECTUREWhat is the most terrible thing in life?' Ivan Pavlov's Final Reflections on Science, Christianity, Bolshevism and his Life's Quest
Professor Daniel P Todes
Institute of the History of Medicine, Johns Hopkins University
December 10, 2012.
Wintering at his beloved science village in Koltushi during the final months of his life, Ivan Pavlov labored over two manuscripts. One, entitled 'Pyschology as a Science', drew upon experiments on dogs and chimps to revise his longstanding view of conditional reflexes in an attempt to incorporate Gestaltist insights while refuting Gestalt psychology itself. The other was an argument against the persecution of religion in the form of a psychologically revealing essay on science, Christianity, and the terrors of chance addressed to Stalin's right-hand man, Vyacheslav Molotov. Taken together, they represent his final thoughts about the two abiding passions of his last two decades - his science of the psyche and the fate of his homeland. In my talk I will discuss these archival documents and use them to explore the trajectory of Pavlov's research on conditional reflexes, his evolving attitude toward religion and Bolshevism, and the personal psychology that underlay is life's wo!
Chadwick B05 Lecture Theatre, UCL, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT
For location maps: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/histmed/events/index
www.ucl.ac.uk/histmed
Aucun commentaire:
Enregistrer un commentaire