May 10, 2004

Contact: Judy Saltzman, (805) 528-3008
Philosophy Department, (805) 756-2041

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Cal Poly Philosophy Department to hold Annual Colloquium May 14
Speakers Include Experts on Indian, Muslim Thought

SAN LUIS OBISPO -- Cal Poly's Philosophy Department will present its Fifth Annual Spring Philosophy Colloquium from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on Friday, May 14, with visiting experts on Indian and Muslim thought as well as two Cal Poly speakers.

The lectures are free and open to the general public. They will be given in Room 220 of the campus's University Union.

Schedule for the day is:

  • "Indian Nyaya Logic: Its Comparison with the Aristotelian
    Syllogism,"     Rendla Venkat Reddy, University of Osmania, Hyderabad, India
    (emeritus), 9-10:30 a.m.
  • "Wisdom and Method: Yoga in the Platonic Dialogues," Judy
    Saltzman, Cal Poly, 10:30 a.m.-noon.
  • “Why We ARE Alone: the Fermi Paradox and the Great Filter (or More Bad News for Humankind)," Keith Abney, Cal Poly, 1-2:30 p.m.
  • "New Roads to Mecca: Islamic Pilgrimage in Comparative
    Perspective,"     Juan Campo, UC Santa Barbara. 3-4:30 p.m.

Reddy specializes in Indian logic and contemporary Indian philosophy. Among his nine published books is a text on logic. He has also been editor of the Indian Journal of Philosophic Studies and compiling editor for the Encyclopedia of Philosophy and Religion.

Campo, an associate professor of religious studies at UCSB, was a student of the distinguished Muslim scholar Fazlur Rahman at the University of Chicago. He spent a number of years studying in Egypt and frequently leads student groups there. Author of numerous articles on Islam and related topics, he is writing a book on pilgrimage in comparative perspective.

Saltzman, a specialist in a broad range of religious thought, has been a member of Cal Poly's philosophy faculty since 1975.

Abney, a lecturer in Cal Poly's Philosophy Department, teaches philosophical classics and ethics and also specializes in science and religion.

For more information, call the Philosophy Department at (805) 756-2041.

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