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10/21/2004 12:04:00 AM

Scientia lecture to examine human violence

Is violence a “natural” or “acquired” part of being human? Can its role in human affairs be reduced? Have humans progressed or regressed?

Martin Wiener, the Mary Gibbs Jones Professor of History at Rice, will examine these questions in the next Scientia lecture at 4 p.m. Oct. 26. Titled “Violence in History,” the lecture will be held in McMurtry Auditorium, Anne and Charles Duncan Hall.

Drawing on his scholarship in the history of criminal justice, Wiener will primarily address the history and prospects of interpersonal violence in his lecture, but he will also look at the larger realm of ethnic, national and ideological violent conflict.

Throughout this year’s Scientia series, “Conflict, Violence and War,” speakers are examining a spectrum of topics, extending from the appearance of violence in images to the occurrence of competition versus cooperation in gaming and bargaining experiments. The series is looking at the causes and possible purposes of violent behavior as well as what might be done to contain violence in the future.

Scientia, an institute of Rice University faculty, was founded in 1981 by the mathematician and historian of science Salomon Bochner. Scientia provides an opportunity for scholarly discussion across disciplinary boundaries; its members and fellows come from a wide range of academic disciplines.

The lecture is free and open to the public. For more information, visit <www.ruf.rice.edu/~scientia>.