Arianna Huffington, Yo-Yo Ma, and Alexis Wilkinson to talk philosophy at Fenway this fall
It’s for a civic discussion called Fenway Forum, part of the city’s inaugural HUBweek.
Is scalping Sox tickets unethical? How do you feel about immortality? Is it worse to cheat on a person or a test?
Arianna Huffington, Yo-Yo Ma, and Alexis Wilkinson will get philosophical about those questions and others at Fenway Park next month for Boston’s upcoming HUBweek.
The Fenway Forum is one of HUBweek’s signature events, taking place at 4 p.m. on October 4. It’s a discussion led by Harvard professor Michael Sandel: a renowned modern philosopher who has made appearances worldwide, including on The Colbert Report.
If you’re not exactly well-versed in Descartes, that doesn’t mean you Kant go. (See what I did there?)
The event is inclusive and accessible, Sandel said in a conference call with reporters Tuesday. He emphasized that it’s not a lecture and will instead be an interactive exchange of ideas between himself, the panelists, and the fans in the stands.
The idea is to raise ethical questions about civic duty, responsibility, and society. Sandel said that he hopes the event will reconnect Boston as the “Athens of America.’’
There’s an intentional parallel between Fenway Forum and the agora: the traditional public gathering out of which democracy was born.
One of the participants, Huffington is even Greek-born. Her first book, Thrive, extols a life philosophy encouraging people to expand beyond the traditional binary of work-life balance.
Ma, one of the world’s greatest cellists, is an alumnus of HUBweek partner Harvard University. He has played in international symphonies as well as the bluegrass band Goat Rodeo. In 1998, he founded Silkroad, a nonprofit that seeks to fuse arts, education, and business—a goal similar to that of HUBweek.
As an undergraduate at Harvard, Wilkinson was the first female black president of the prestigious Harvard Lampoon comedy club. Following graduation this spring, Wilkinson took a job writing for the hit HBO comedy Veep.
The Fenway Forum speaks to the broader goals of HUBweek: to celebrate innovative thinking going on in the Boston area and to foster a community around the intersection of arts, science, and technology.
Tickets for Fenway Forum are on sale now. For more information on that or any of HUBweek’s 39+ events, visit their website.
Related, here are 25 things to do in your last few days of summer:
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