DATE: September 09, 2008

CONTACT: Daniel Wueste, 864-656-6147
ernest@clemson.edu

WRITER: Teresa C. Hopkins, 864-656-1222
hopkin1@clemson.edu

Science historian, author to speak on 'The Mind of the Market'

CLEMSON — Michael Shermer, author of a number of books on science, ethics and economics, will present a public lecture, “The Mind of the Market,” at 3:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 16, in the Self Auditorium of the Strom Thurmond Institute of Government and Public Affairs.

Shermer is the executive director of the Skeptics Society, a monthly columnist for Scientific American and the founding publisher of Skeptics Magazine. He also hosts the Skeptics Distinguished Science Lecture Series at the California Institute of Technology, and is adjunct professor of economics at Claremont Graduate University in Claremont, Calif.

“The Mind of the Market” is the title of Shermer’s latest book. In it, Shermer blends together research in psychology and biology with new ideas and findings in behavioral economics. He explores the roots of economic behavior and the transformation of society from a hunter-gatherer economy to a modern economy supported by the institutions of democratic capitalism. Along the way Shermer explains the value of virtue, the necessity of trust in supporting market exchange and how trade between groups leads to peace and prosperity.

The talk is part of the year-long Presidential Colloquium at Clemson, “Principles and Perspectives in Progress,” produced by the Robert J. Rutland Institute for Ethics and various co-sponsors. In addition to the ethics institute, sponsors of Shermer’s visit to Clemson include The John E. Walker Department of Economics, The Strom Thurmond Institute and the department of philosophy and religion.

For information on the Presidential Colloquium, visit http://www.clemson.edu/ethics/colloquium/index.php.

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