Inaugural Professorial Lecture –Professor Charles Pigden

"Life and Works" or a "Philosopher High and Low"
About Professor Pigden's research:
Charles first came to Otago as a post-doc in 1986, with a permanent post from 1988.
Though he has publications in the philosophies of science, mathematics, logic and religion, he is primarily a meta-ethicist interested in the objectivity (or otherwise) of value.
He is an expert on the philosopher Bertrand Russell, whose life and work inspired his interest in the subject.
He has developed and proved a version of Hume’s famous thesis that you cannot derive an Ought from an Is, which is immune to the counterexamples of the Otago logician Arthur Prior.
Charles is a pioneer in the Philosophy of Conspiracy Theories, arguing that since people frequently conspire, there is nothing wrong with conspiracy theories as such, though many are silly and suspect for other reasons.
He takes a great pride in the PPE programme at Otago which he helped to found in 1999.

This lecture will be followed with light refreshments, tea, coffee and juice.