Left Forum Panel Explains Recent Acts of Violence

NEW YORK, NY (May 13, 2013) – A panel that focuses on the psychology, politics, and economics of lethal violence at home and abroad will be held at the Left Forum conference at Pace University in June. The NY Chapter of the Ernest Becker Foundation will sponsor the panel, titled: Escape from Evil: Understanding and Overcoming Violence.  The panelists will analyze and discuss current events, including the Boston Marathon bombing, the Newtown shootings, and the ongoing Afghan War and Middle East conflicts, from a psychological perspective.  The primary panelists are Sheldon Solomon, Professor of Psychology and Professor of Interdisciplinary Studies at Skidmore College, and James Gilligan, Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at New York University and former Director Mental Health Services for the Massachusetts prisons.  NY Chapter members David Rouge and Stephen James will be on hand to introduce the panelists and provide information on the Ernest Becker Foundation that is sponsoring the event.
 
“The Ernest Becker Foundation supports research and application at the interfaces of science, the humanities, human spiritual commitments and social action,” said James. “The Foundation seeks to cultivate and support scholarly work that explores and extends the insights of Ernest Becker, disseminate to the public and its institutions the understandings which emerge from the work, and apply these principles to the mitigation of violence and suffering.”
 
Ernest Becker was an interdisciplinary thinker who applied innovative theoretical formulations to current problems and concerns. His best known work, The Denial of Death was a work of psychology and philosophy that was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for General Non-Fiction in 1974, two months after the author’s death.
 
According to David Rouge, “Left Forum provides a context for critical dialogue that is essential for a more just society. It is the largest gathering in North America of the US and international Left, bringing together intellectuals and organizers to share perspectives, strategies, experience and vision. Left Forum provides a context for critical engagement by people of different persuasions who seek common ground to discuss, debate, and engage political stands with each other.  The conference does not take political stands itself; it facilitates networking and other vital tasks among attendees.”
 
The conference will be held from June 7-9 at Pace University, One Pace Plaza in New York City.  The exact date, time, and room number for the panel will be announced by the end of May.  For more information go to: www.leftforum.org.
 
Stephen James
NY Chapter of the Ernest Becker Foundation
vxjames@gmail.com
203-984-0573
 
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Contact Information

Stephen James

Member

The Ernest Becker Foundation

vxjames@gmail.com