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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

Ethics Bowl
Southeast Regional Intercollegiate Ethics Bowl
Team Members: 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
Democracy in the Age of Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube
Zeynep Tufekci, Contributing Opinion Writer to The New York Times and UNC-Chapel Hill Associate Professor
Feb. 13 • 7:00 p.m. • Camp Concert Hall, Modlin Center for the Arts

Democracy for Realists
Larry Bartels, May Werthan Shayne Chair of Public Policy and Social Science at Vanderbilt University
Mar. 5 • 7 p.m. • Jepson Alumni Center

Can We Make Our Democracy Work?
 Melody Barnes, Former Director of the White House Domestic Policy Council; Principal and Co-Founder of MB2 Solutions LLC, a domestic policy strategy and impact development firm
Apr. 10 • 7:00 p.m. • Jepson Alumni Center

Marshall Center Lecture Series
The Re-Discovery of Cicero's Political Philosophy
Jonathan Zarecki, Associate Professor, University of North Carolina, Greensboro
Feb. 15 • 1:30 p.m. • Jepson Hall, Room 118

James Madison as "Father of the Constitution"?
Lynn Uzzell, Lecturer, University of Richmond and University of Virginia
May 16 • 4:30 p.m. • Location TBD

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