The fifth edition of the annual philosophy lecture organised by the Philosophy Sharing Foundation will be delivered on Wednesday by John Ryder, provost of the American University of Malta.

He will be addressing the phenomenal rise of social media in a lecture titled ‘Politics by Twitter. Has Social Communication Become a Problem?’. The talk, to which the public is invited, will serve as an eye-opener to new avenues in philosophical thinking and debate.

Ryder (1951) is a specialist in US philosophy, especially American philosophical naturalism and pragmatism, its historical development, contemporary applicability and its reception outside the US.

His published work tends to focus on issues in systematic ontology and epistemology and on social and political philosophy. He is the author of several publications and also co-editor of The Blackwell Guide to American Philosophy. He is currently working on a book on a theory of experience.

Ryder is also the co-editor of several volumes of selected papers from the Central European Pragmatist Forum (CEPF), co-founded by him in 2002 together with Emil Višňovský of the Slovak Academy of Sciences. Through biannual meetings, the CEPF provides US and European specialists in American philosophy the opportunity to meet and exchange ideas with one another.

Between 2002 and 2012, Ryder served as president of the Alliance of Universities for Democracy (AUDEM), which through annual conferences in Europe brings together universities and academics from the US and central and Eastern Europe and from all academic fields.

■ The activity is being held on Wednesday at the Grand Hotel Excelsior in Floriana at 7.30 pm. A discussion and reception will follow the lecture. Entrance is free of charge. Proceedings will be in English.

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