Urbana University will host Dr. Marcy Latta as the 2016 Swedenborg Scholar in Residence March 28-29. The public is invited to her lecture at 7 p.m. on Monday, March 28, in the Swedenborg Memorial Library, 579 College Way, Urbana. Latta will present “Seeing Others As Ourselves: Compassion as a Solution to Kant’s Problem Regarding Others.”

“Kant generates a problem about reliably discerning the moral status of others,” Latta states. “Whereas I can infer that I am free and thus deserving of moral consideration, Kant precludes the possibility of ascertaining that another is free.“ She continues, “examples of one group of people denying the equal moral status of another particular group of people abound throughout history; this grim sociological reality reveals that the recognition problem is not just a theoretical conundrum, but is a matter of lived experience. I draw from both Schopenhauer and Swedenborg to argue that compassion, in particular, helps us to perceive who deserves moral consideration and moves us to act accordingly in the appropriate ways.”

Latta earned a Bachelor’s degree in biology from University of North Carolina, a Master’s degree in philosophy from Tufts University and a Ph.D in philosophy from University of Pennsylvania. She taught at University of Pennsylvania and currently teaches at Bryn Athyn College as an assistant professor of philosophy. Her areas of specialization are Kant’s moral philosophy, normative ethics, history of ethics and early modern philosophy.

The Swedenborg Scholar in Residence at Urbana University program has been funded by the General Convention of the New Jerusalem in the USA since 2000.

The presentation about Kant is free of charge and open to the public. For additional information, contact the Urbana University Library, 937-772-9316.