Lloyd to be Moody Lecturer

Sir Geoffrey Lloyd, professor emeritus of ancient philosophy and science and former master of Darwin College at the University of Cambridge, will visit the University during the first two weeks of May to present a series of talks titled, “The Ambitions of Curiosity: The Development of Inquiry in the Ancient World.”

Lloyd, who will come to campus as the 2001William Vaughn Moody Lecturer, is a world-renowned historian of science and philosophy and is known for his wide-ranging, interdisciplinary scholarship.

He is the author of 12 books, including Magic, Reason, and Experience (1979), The Revolutions of Wisdom (1987) and Adversaries and Authorities (1996), and his works have been translated widely in Europe and Asia. In 1997, the British government knighted Lloyd for “services to the history of thought.”

Ian Mueller, Professor Emeritus in Philosophy, Director of the Master of Arts Program in the Humanities and coordinator for the visit, said of Lloyd, “His work draws from various disciplinary perspectives, including philosophy, history and anthropology.” His comparative work on learning in ancient societies is incredibly sophisticated.”

In his lectures, Lloyd will discuss the beginnings of theoretical inquiry in fields such as mathematics, astronomy, medicine and historiography in ancient Mesopotamia, Greece and China. The four-part series will begin Wednesday, May 2, with a talk titled “Histories, Annals, Myths.” On Friday, May 4, Lloyd will present “The Modalities of Prediction, and on Wednesday, May 9, “The Numbers of Things.” The last lecture in the series, “Individuals and Institutions,” will take place on Friday, May 11. All of the talks will be free and open to the public, and each will begin at 4 p.m. in Classics 10, 1010 E. 59th St.

William Vaughn Moody, an American poet and playwright, was Professor in English Literature at the University until 1903. The Moody Lecture Series was established in 1916 in his honor.

During his visit to campus, Lloyd also will be the respondent to three papers at a conference titled “Perspectives on Traditional Chinese Science and Medicine” at the Franke Institute for the Humanities, from 3 to 5:30 p.m., Tuesday, May 8.