Joining a roster that includes some of the world's leading authors,
scientists and intellectuals, Laura J. Snyder, Ph.D., Professor of
Philosophy at St. John’s University, was a featured speaker at
the celebrated TEDGlobal
conference, held this year in Edinburgh.
TED, which stands for technology, entertainment and design, is a
nonprofit organization formed in 1984 to bring together influential
thinkers from these diverse worlds. Past conferences have
featured Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Al Gore, Jane Goodall, Peter
Gabriel and Arianna Huffington.
Dr. Snyder spoke on
“The Invention of the Scientist” and the origins of modern
scientific inquiry. “It was so much fun to tell it,” she wrote in
her blog after addressing an
audience of more than 800. “What was thrilling was how fascinated
this group of nonacademics and nonhistorians were by the
philosophical and historical story I wove for them.”
This year’s conference, June 25 – 29, focused on the concept of
“radical openness,” and “what openness, collaboration and mutual
understanding in an ultraconnected world will mean for human
potential.” Dr. Snyder’s talk took place on June 28.
Dr. Snyder answered this call with a presentation about four
influential men who, nearly 200 years ago, launched a revolution in
the scientific community. Her lecture was based on her
award-winning book, The Philosophical Breakfast
Club: Four Remarkable Friends Who Transformed Science and Changed
the World (2011).
“While eating and drinking, the four men (Charles Babbage, John
Herschel, Richard Jones and William Whewell) talked about science,
and how it had stagnated from the days of the scientific revolution
in the 17th century,” Dr. Snyder said in her TED Talk. The men
called their meetings “philosophical breakfasts.”
She continued, “It was time for a new revolution, which they
pledged to bring about. What is remarkable and inspiring about
these men is that, by the end of their lives, they had succeeded —
even beyond their wildest dreams.”
Since each TED Talk is limited to 15 minutes, Dr. Snyder had the
formidable task of explaining only the most essential elements of
her book to an educated though nonspecialist audience.
“To me," she said, "it was not at all an exercise in ‘dumbing down’
or ‘selling out.’ Rather, it was quite similar to what we as
teachers try to do all the time: take specialist research and
present it in a way that students can understand and learn from. It
was wonderful to be able to bring my story to an audience of movers
and shakers in the technology, scientific and business
worlds.”
A Fulbright Scholar and past president of the International Society for the History
of Philosophy of Science (HOPOS), Dr. Snyder has taught at St.
John’s University since 1996. The Philosophical Breakfast
Club, an “official selection” of the TED Book Club, has earned
favorable reviews in The Wall Street Journal, The
Washington Post, The Economist and other major
publications.
“I’m really still digesting the whole experience,” Dr. Snyder
said of her first TED conference. “I met so many fascinating and
clever men and women who have incredible levels of interest in
ideas — an interest unmoored from the kind of intellectual agenda
or self-interest found at many academic conferences.”
