2026 NOVEMBER 5-7
An International Symposium
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An International Symposium -
Introductions: Dan Cere, Brandon Vaidyanathan, Charles Taylor, Tara Isabella Burton. Opening panel: Sean Kelly, Elaine Scarry, Richard Kearney, Bill Barbieri
The transformative power of music | Jean-Sebastian Vallee, Katie Bank, Rebekah Wallace, Jonathan Berger, Ian Corbin, Stephen Bullivant.
The transformative power of art and architecture | Anjan Chatterjee, Alberto Perez-Gomez, Stephen Legari, JF Martel, Olivia Wood.
Ritual and spirit in an age of disenchantment: Julian Carron, Ayodeji Ogunnaike, Matt Mitler, Mauro Magatti, Tara Isabella Burton.
October 24 –25, 2025
Thomson House at McGill University, Montreal, Quebec
ABOUT
This two-day gathering inaugurates our project with conversations and performances that move from talking about beauty to experiencing it.
We’ll explore how music, art and architecture, ritual, and story can become existential resources in a secular age. At this event, we will:
Catalyze a shared conversation across disciplines and practice
Experience beauty in situ (music, poetry, guided tours)
Frame new research questions and public language for the years ahead
SPEAKERS
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Dean of Arts and Humanities, Harvard; philosopher
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Walter M. Cabot Professor of Aesthetics and General Theory of Value, Harvard
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Professor of Neurology, Psychology, and Architecture, University of Pennsylvania; founding director, Penn Center for Neuroaesthetics.
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Writer, filmmaker; culture and the re-enchantment of art.
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Assistant Professor of African Religions, McGill
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Co-founder, Sacred Design Lab; Author, The Power of Ritual
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Professor of Ethics, Catholic University of America; Director, McLean Center for the Study of Culture and Values
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Leverhulme Early Career Fellow, University of Birmingham; historian; scholar of choral practice and lived aesthetics.
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Junior Research Fellow, Blackfriars, University of Oxford; scholar of science & religion and embodiment cognition.
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Charles B. Seelig Chair of Philosophy, Boston College; co-author of Radical Hospitality; author of Touch.
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Professor of Theology, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Milan; Author, Disarming Beauty
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Philosopher; Instructor in Neurology, Harvard Medical School
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Professor of Sociology, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Milan; Editor, Social Generativity.
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Professor of Theology and the Sociology of Religion, St. Mary’s University, London
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Novelist and theologian; author, Strange Rites, Here in Avalon
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Director of Choral Studies, McGill; conductor.
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Emeritus Professor of Architecture, McGill; architectural historian.
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Art Therapist, Montreal Museum of Fine Arts
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Poet, teacher; Dawson College
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Professor Emeritus of Philosophy, McGill; Author, A Secular Age; Cosmic Connections
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Sociologist, Project Director, Symposium Organizer
