“The Gifford Lectures are held at each of the four ancient Scottish universities. They were established under the will of Adam Lord Gifford, a Senator of the College of Justice, who died in 1887. For over a century, the Gifford Lectures have enabled a distinguished international field of scholars to contribute to the advancement of theological and philosophical thought.”
“The Gifford Lecture Series in 2004-2005 was to have been delivered by Professor Edward Said. Sadly he died on 25 September 2003. The Series in 2004-2005 is dedicated to his memory.”
“Past Gifford Lectures at Edinburgh include William James, John Dewey, Albert Schweitzer, Niels Bohr, Arnold Toynbee, Sir John Eccles, Iris Murdoch, Charles Taylor, Michael Ignatieff and J Wentzel van Huyssteen.”
This year’s lecture was given by Noam Chomsky on March 22. He discussed the role of a rampant, militaristic superpower, the fact that both the Democrat and Republican parties are much further Right than the vast majority of American citizens and perhaps the most unspoken truth of all: America’s role, over the last 30 years, in rejecting any kind of true peace deal between Israelis and Palestinians. They have never been an honest broker for peace and the vast majority of the Western media has failed in not examining this intransigence and the real role of successive Israeli, expansionist governments.