Seattle University Collaborative Projects - International Academy of ...

Maimonides and Spinoza: How two thinkers with similar intuitions came to verydifferent conclusionsKen Seeskin, Northwestern University (k-seeskin@northwestern.edu)This presentation explores how two rationalist philosophers seeking to avoid anthropomorphicconceptions of God came to very different conclusions about how to respond to that God.Maimonides' strategy was to stress our ignorance of God. If we cannot know what God is, thenany comparison between God and humans is immediately suspect. Spinoza's strategy was theopposite: to stress that we can know God but that there is no supernatural component to what weknow. The result is that while Maimonides' thought culminates in awe and humility in the faceof something too great for us to comprehend, Spinoza's culminates in a feeling of empowermentas we comprehend how everything follows from the essence of God. In this way, what is forMaimonides the highest virtue becomes for Spinoza a source of pain or weakness.2. A 21 st Century Education for the Medico-Psycho-LegalPractitioner: Principles, Research, Methods, and PracticeChanging Attitudes among Trainees: Whose Job is it?Brad Booth, University of Ottawa (bbooth@theroyal.ca)With the exponential growth of individuals with mental illness coming in contact with the law,psychiatric care for these individuals is at times difficult to find. Many psychiatrists do not haveexperience with the legal system and therefore may avoid treating this group of patients. Toclarify the attitudes of psychiatric trainees, a survey of senior Canadian residents at the nationalpsychiatry review course was conducted. Among the 145 respondents, only 24% had been taughton correctional psychiatry and only 29% had any experience. Nearly 56% had been taught onsexual offenders but only 27% reported having had experience with this population. Nearly 1/3reported they preferred not to deal with forensic issues and 43% preferred not to work withpeople with sexual offences. The data did show that teaching and experience with this populationappears to be a powerful tool in changing attitudes. Being aware of these barriers may assist indeveloping strategies to increase psychiatric service availability.Forensic Nursing Education: International Collaborations andMultidisciplinary PedagogyArlene Kent, University of Saskatchewan (arlene.kent@usask.ca)18