The International Balzan Symposium "Truth, in the Humanities, Science and Religion" will take place on 16-17 May 2008 in the Auditorium of the Università della Svizzera Italiana in Lugano, Switzerland.

Registration can be made online or by calling +39 02 76002212 (from Monday to Friday, 9 am - 6 pm).

Due to the limited number of seats available confirmation of your participation will be sent before 1 May 2008.

A complete programme with the list of speakers can be dowloaded in a pdf format by clicking the link provided above .


PROGRAMME

Friday, May 16

11:00 a.m. Opening Session
Addresses of Welcome:
Piero Martinoli, President of the University of Lugano
Bruno Bottai, Chairman of the Board of the International Balzan “Prize” Foundation
Introduction and Chair: Sergio Romano, Chairman of the General Prize Committee of the International Balzan “Prize” Foundation
Keynote Lecture: Truth and Ourselves: the Elusive Last Word by Simon Blackburn, Cambridge

1:30 p.m. Philosophy Session
Chair: Salvatore Veca
Speaker: Emanuele Severino Truth, Contradiction, Nihilism
Panel: Simon Blackburn, Pascal Engel, Wolfgang Künne,
Marcelo Sánchez Sorondo, Emanuele Severino

3:30 p.m. Mathematics - Physics - Cosmology Session
Chair: Per Olof Lindblad
Speakers: Yuri Manin Truth as a Value and Duty: Lessons of Mathematics;
Bengt Gustafsson Thoughts on Truth in Physics, Astrophysics and Cosmology
Panel: Paolo de Bernardis, Reinhard Genzel, Bengt Gustafsson, Kai Hauser, Yuri Manin, Martin John Rees


Saturday, May 17

8:30 a.m. Biological Sciences - Biodiversity - Sustainability Session
Chair: Nicole Le Douarin
Speakers: Jean-Pierre Changeux Is the Brain the Organ of Truth?
Robert McCredie May Science as Organised Scepticism, with Illustrations from Environmental Problems
Panel: Marco Baggiolini, Jean-Pierre Changeux, Robert McCredie May

10:45 a.m. History - Social Sciences Session
Chair: M.E.H. Nicolette Mout
Speakers: Quentin Skinner Truth and Explanation in History;
Dominique Schnapper Cultural Relativism: Meaning and Limits
Panel: Serge Moscovici, Alberto Quadrio Curzio, Dominique
Schnapper, Quentin Skinner, Keith Thomas             

2:00 p.m. Theology  Religion Session
Chair: Sergio Romano
Speakers: Georges Marie Martin Cottier Faith and Truth;
Mohammed Arkoun Violence, the Sacred, and Regimes of Truth 
Geza Vermes The Truth About the Historical Jesus
Panel: Mohammed Arkoun, Jan Assmann, Georges Marie Martin
Cottier, Brian Hebblethwaite, Geza Vermes

4:00 p.m. Concluding Session
Chair: Enrico Decleva
Synthesis: “Truth”: Common Themes? by John Richard Krebs and Simon Blackburn
Closing remarks: Bruno Bottai and Achille Casanova

Speeches in Italian, English, French and German with simoultaneous translation into Italian and English.