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The opening program in the 2016-17 Chautauqua Lecture Series at Eastern Kentucky University will feature Nancy Nyquist Potter, author, philosopher and University of Louisville professor, addressing “Heroes, Mavericks and Psychopaths: The Virtue and Vice of Defiance.”

Potter will speak on Thursday, Sept. 1, at 7:30 p.m. in O’Donnell Hall of the Whitlock Building. The event is free and open to the public.

Potter has published extensively in feminist ethics and political philosophy as well as the interdisciplinary field of philosophy and psychiatry. Her current research focuses on the connections between theories of knowledge and ethics, with special attention to nosological and diagnostic issues, and on the relationship between voice, silence and uptake, particularly for patients living with mental illness.

Her newest book, “The Virtue of Defiance and Psychiatric Engagement,” was published recently by Oxford University Press and offers a “nuanced and complex look at defiance, taking seriously issues of dysfunction while mindful of social contexts in which such behavior may arise.” Her previous books include “Mapping the Edges and In-Between: A Critical Analysis of Borderline Personality Disorder” and “How Can I Be Trusted? A Virtue Theory of Trustworthiness.”

Potter has taught philosophy at the University of Louisville since 1995. She is a core faculty member of the University’s Interdisciplinary Master’s Program in Bioethics and Medical Humanities, an adjunct faculty member with Women and Gender Studies, and an associate with the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences. She is a past president of the Association for the Advancement of Philosophy and Psychiatry and continues to serve on its Executive Council.

The lecture is sponsored by the Department of Philosophy and Religion, the Department of Psychology and EKU Honors.

This year's series will follow the them of "Order and Chaos."

For more information, visit www.chautauqua.eku.edu or contact Chautauqua Lecture Coordinator Dr. Erik Liddell at erik.liddell@eku.edu.