Cultural anthropologist and University of Chicago professor Dr. Richard Shweder will deliver a talk titled Some Hazards of Moral Thinking at the Chilmark Public Library on Wednesday, July 29 at 5:30 p.m.

Dr. Shweder, the William Claude Reavis Distinguished Service Professor in the department of comparative human development at the University of Chicago, will discuss the implications of a great moral legend from Orissa, India: Is it permissible to kill one person to save 1,200?

He will suggest that the illiberality of a cultural practice is not necessarily a measure of its lack of moral value, examine some of the sources of moral disagreement on a global scale, and raise the question whether it is really possible to be a robust cultural pluralist and a dedicated political liberal at the same time. His discussions are often provocative and he encourages audience participation.

Dr. Shweder has an extensive resume in the field of cultural anthropology. He has been a recipient of a John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship and the American Association for the Advancement of Science Socio-Psychological Prize for his essay, Does the Concept of the Person Vary Cross-Culturally?

During the 2008-2009 academic year Dr Shweder was a member of the School of Social Science at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, where he completed his work as editor-in-chief of a large reference work project on diversity in child and adolescent development titled The Child: An Encyclopedic Companion (to be published in September 2009 by the University of Chicago Press). He is currently writing a book provisionally titled Customs Control: Un-American Activities and the Moral Challenge in Cultural Migration.

Shweder received his Ph.D. degree in social anthropology at Harvard University in 1972, taught a year at the University of Nairobi in Kenya and has been at the University of Chicago ever since.

His recent research examines the scopes and limits of pluralism and the multicultural challenge in Western liberal democracies. He examines the norm conflicts that arise when people migrate from Africa, Asia and Latin America to countries in the North. They bring with them culturally endorsed practices (e.g., arranged marriage, animal sacrifice, the circumcision of both girls and boys, ideas about parental, legal and political authority) that mainstream populations in the United States or Western Europe sometimes find aberrant and disturbing. How much accommodation to cultural diversity occurs and ought to occur under such circumstances?

The discussion is sponsored by the Friends of the Chilmark Public Library. Admission is free. For details, call 508-645-3360.