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Preparing Students for Lives of Purpose

An Integrated Approach to the Study of Ethics

At national and local levels and on college campuses, we find ourselves challenged by divisive times. Ethics initiatives do not prescribe the answers but they can help students understand the moral issues at stake, talk about issues with intellectual sophistication, live lives of purpose and consequence, and assume positions of ethical leadership. In business, politics, science, law, and leadership, the need for an education in ethics is profound and employers increasingly recognize this need.

Ethics Working Group Events

The Ethics Working Group hosts events, including guest speakers, throughout the year to discuss research and developments in the field and provide professional development opportunities.

Sept. 12 Paper presentation
Will Reckner, Assistant Professor of Philosophy
Comments by Jeppe von Platz

Oct. 18 Paper presentation 
Miriam McCormick, Associate Professor of Philosophy and PPEL
Comments by Jaiver Hidalgo

Nov. 1 Paper presentation
Brookes Brown, Assistant Professor of Philosophy & Director, Law, Liberty, & Justice Program, Clemson University 

Nov. 16 Paper presentation
Jeppe von Platz, Assistant Professor of Philosophy
Comments by David Lefkowitz

April 12 Manuscript workshop: Immigration & Ethics
Stephen Macedo, Laurance S. Rockefeller Professor of Politics and the University Center for Human Values, Princeton University

Upcoming Ethics-Related Events (Fall 2018)

Ethics Bowl
Southeast Regional Intercollegiate Ethis Bowl
Team Mebers: Eliana Fleischer, '20, Grant Ekstrom, '19, Holly McNaughton, '19, and Matt Holyst, '20
Nov. 10 • University of North Florida 

Ethics Fellow-Hosted Debates
Are We Living in a Simulation?
Sept. 26 • C-Base of Lora Robins Residence Hall

Jepson Leadership Forum Series
How Democracy Is Failing America's Poor
Peter Edelman, Georgetown Law
Oct. 25 • 4:30 p.m. • Jepson Alumni Center, Robins Pavilion

The Reality of Voter Disenfranchisement
Levar Stoney, Mayor of the City of Richmond
Nov. 28 • 7 p.m. • Modlin Center for the Arts, Alice Jepson Theatre

Toward an Inclusive Democracy: Eleanor Roosevelt's Legacy
Blanche Wiesen Cook, John Jay College of Criminal Justice and the Graduate Center of the City University of New York
Dec. 4 • 4:30 p.m. • Jepson Alumni Center, Robins Pavilion

Marshall Center Lecture Series
Finding a Solution to the Mass Incarceration Crisis
Blanche Wiesen Cook, The King’s College
Nov. 9 • 4:30 p.m. • Jepson Hall, Room 118

From Aspiration to Frustration: William Penn and the Vagaries of Leadership
Andrew Murphy, Jepson School of Leadership Studies
Nov. 30 • 4:30 p.m. • Jepson Hall, Room 118

Philosophy Speaker Series
The Nature of Morals Founded on the Human Fabric
Elizabeth Radcliffe, College of William & Mary
Nov. 8 • 5 p.m. • Jepson Alumni Center, Rosenbaum Room

PPEL Speaker Series