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Speaker Series

Sponsored by the Philosophy and Religion Department, the PPE Program, and the Ethics Institute, our Speaker Series are collaborative and generative events. These events are open to the entire Northeastern and Boston-area research ethics communities.

PPE Speaker Series

PPE Speaker, Lisa McLeod and Patricia Williams

Time: 11:45pm-1:15pm

Location: Cabral Center

Title: Book Event

Abstract: TBA

Ethics Institute Speaker Series

Ethics Institute Speaker, Roy Lee

Time: Starts at 12pm

Location: Renaissance Park 4th floor common room

Title: Aristotle on Why No One is Above the Law

Abstract: Rule of law prevents rulers from abusing their power. But since the law commands universally, Aristotle thinks that individuals are needed to judge exceptional particular cases where the law is silent. Still, Aristotle gives several reasons why the law, and not an individual, should be the ultimate ruler. Scholars often take Aristotle’s focus on ethical virtue to mean that practical philosophy is not codifiable into general rules. But if I am right about Aristotle, at least in politics, expertise is codifiable.

About the Speaker: Roy Lee is assistant professor of Philosophy at Creighton University

Ethics Institute Speaker, Lukas J. Meier

Time: Starts at 12pm

Location: Renaissance Park 4th floor common room

Title: Neuralink – a Threat to Democracy?

Abstract: Earlier this year, Elon Musk’s company Neuralink implanted its novel brain-computer interface in a human for the very first time. Brain-computer interfaces are devices that can both read and modify brain activity with growing accuracy. Could this unprecedented window to the human mind threaten people’s autonomy and, by extension, the political system altogether? Drawing on the latest clinical data, I will try to answer this question by ethically assessing the new technology.

About the Speaker: Lukas J. Meier is a junior research fellow at the University of Cambridge.

Ethics Institute Speaker, Eliza Wells

Time: Starts at 12pm

Location: Renaissance Park 4th floor common room

Title: The Normative Character of Social Roles

Abstract: “What should I do?” Often, our answers reference our social roles as teachers, citizens, parents, etc. On the standard view, agents only have genuine normative reasons to comply with role norms when doing so is explained by independent moral principles. I disagree. I argue that the way role norms function within social practices generate reasons to comply. This delivers a striking upshot: while others maintain that moral considerations can cancel roles’ normative force, I suggest that we have reasons to comply even with norms that result in moral conflicts.

About the Speaker: Eliza Wells is an assistant professor of Philosophy at the University of Manitoba.

Ethics Institute Speaker, Itzel Garcia

Time: Starts at 12pm

Location: Renaissance Park 4th floor common room

Title: TBA

Abstract: TBA

About the Speaker: Itzel Garcia is a assistant professor in Philosophy at Cal Poly Pomona.

Ethics Institute Speaker, Ron Sandler

Time: Starts at 12pm

Location: Renaissance Park 4th floor common room

Title: TBA

Abstract: TBA

About the Speaker: Ron Sandler is a professor of Philosophy and the Director of the Ethics Institute at Northeastern University.

Past Speakers

Ethics Institute Speaker, Brian Chambliss

Time: Starts at 12pm

Location:Renaissance Park 4th floor common room

Title: Attention in the Digital Environment

Abstract: Digital videoconferencing technologies (like Zoom) are now an unavoidable part of many people’s lives. And while they have expanded our ability to interact online, these technologies pose challenges to our ability to attend together in the ways that come naturally to many people during face-to-face interactions. This talk will examine one important form of attending together—joint attention—and some challenges that we face in jointly attending in digital environments.

About the Speaker: Brian Chambliss is an Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Susquehanna University.

Ethics Institute Speaker, Lisa McLeod

Time: Starts at 12pm

Location: Renaissance Park 4th floor common room

Title: “How We Proceed from ‘Here’: Attending to Whiteness as License with Critical Phenomenology”

Abstract: 

My forthcoming book, Unveiling the Color Line: W.E.B. Du Bois on the Problem of Whiteness, investigates Du Bois’s conception of whiteness as arrogant, irrevocable license. In this talk I offer a brief sketch of the book, then explain that Du Bois’s portrayal of white epistemic opacity troubles some common of reason and cognition, suggesting that attending to (and overcoming the ills of) whiteness, for white people, may require forms of work articulated by critical phenomenologists.

About the Speaker: Lisa McLeod is a part-time lecturer for the Department of Philosophy and Religion at Northeastern University.

Ethics Institute Speaker, Rachell Powell

Time: 11:45am-1:15pm

Location: Cargill 097

Title: “Genetic Modification and the Future of Human Nature”

Abstract: 

Proponents of genetic enhancement contend that human germline modification is morally desirable because it will result in a net improvement in human health and wellbeing. Conservative opponents, in contrast, have appealed to the value of human nature as such as a reason for restraining the development and use of human genetic modification technologies regardless of their effects on wellbeing. In this talk, I show that germline intervention will be necessary merely to preserve human nature and the levels of genetic health that we presently enjoy for future generations. This is due to relaxed selection pressures in human populations caused by the increasing efficacy and availability of conventional medicine. I conclude that intervening in the human germline is a matter of justice with moral goals that should appeal to enhancement enthusiasts and defenders of human nature alike.

Ethics Institute Speaker, Marta Giunta Martino

Time: Starts at 12pm

Location: Renaissance Park 4th Floor Common Room

Title: “Dissenting from Within: A Taxonomy of Resistance in Public Institutions.”

Abstract: 

This paper offers a taxonomy of dissent within public institutions. It identifies the salient dimensions of dissent and proposes paradigmatic cases to illustrate them. The paper proceeds as follows. First, I discuss the grounds of dissent by elaborating on institutional dysfunctions and their connections to disagreement and dissent. Second, I clarify what options a public servant faces when confronted with disagreement or institutional dysfunctions. In particular, I distinguish between compliance, exit, and dissent. I do not attempt to provide a normative discussion of the three options at a public servant’s disposal. At this stage, I limit myself to comparing the three options to focus on dissent as ultimately the most controversial and neglected. Third, by distinguishing between different objects of dissent and between legal and illegal forms of dissent, I offer some instances of dissent within institutions. Fourth, I differentiate between dissent grounded in public and personal moral and political values and discuss the possible aims of public servants when engaging in dissent. The taxonomy aims to show the complexity of acts of dissent within institutions. The paper highlights the pervasiveness and complexity of dissent within public institutions and provides a framework for different acts of dissent to be understood and, subsequently, normatively assessed.

About the Speaker: Marta Giunta Martino is a PhD candidate in Political Science at the University of Geneva.

PPE Speaker, Neema Avashia

Time: Starts at 4 pm

Location: RP 909

Title: Amplifying “Anotherness”: Disrupting Dominant Narratives About Appalachia

Abstract: Appalachia is frequently represented as a monolith in mainstream media representations of place and people. But for the folks who live in this region, we know that it is far from monolithic. That it is home to immigrants, to queer people, to Hindus and Buddhists and Muslims and Jews, to people who are politically radical, to every identity not included in a dominant narrative that casts our homes as White, Christian, straight, and conservative. This dominant narrative has been used to vilify Appalachian people, to dehumanize them, and ultimately, to extract the resources from the regions without any accountability for that extraction. So what happens when we challenge that dominant narrative? When we write and publish and amplify narratives that complicate understanding of place and people? How can this effort be used to build solidarity between our communities and those in other parts of the country, and to resist the polarization and dehumanization that characterize a lot of the political discourse in this moment?

About the Speaker: Neema Avashia is the daughter of Indian immigrants, and was born and raised in southern West Virginia. She has been an educator and activist in the Boston Public Schools since 2003, and was named a City of Boston Educator of the Year in 2013. Her first book, Another Appalachia: Coming Up Queer and Indian in a Mountain Place, was published by West Virginia University Press in March 2022. It has been called “A timely collection that begins to fill the gap in literature focused mainly on the white male experience” by Ms. Magazine, and “A graceful exploration of identity, community, and contradictions,” by Scalawag. The book was named Best LGBTQ Memoir of 2022 by BookRiot, was one of the New York Public Library’s Best Books of 2022, and was a finalist for the New England Book Award, the Weatherford Award, and a Lambda Literary Award. She lives in Boston with her partner, Laura, and her daughter, Kahani.

Ethics Institute Speaker, Amelia Hicks

Time: 11:45am-1:15pm

Location: Cargill 097

Title: Philosophizing about Autism in Public

Abstract: 

I have three goals for this talk, all of which are related to a public philosophy project I’ve been working on for the past two years: a podcast called NeuroDiving. NeuroDiving is a philosophy podcast about neurodivergence, produced by me and Joanna Lawson (also a neurodivergent philosopher). At the beginning of the talk, I’ll catch you up on what we’ve done so far, and describe our goals for the future.

Second, I’d like to share what I’ve learned about the current state of “philosophy of autism.” The bad news is that a great deal of philosophy of autism is dehumanizing, empirically suspect, and boring. The good news is that a few philosophers—almost all neurodivergent themselves—are developing more interesting research programs related to autism and neurodivergence. And yet another piece of good news is that autism and neurodivergence are philosophically fascinating. There are many potentially fruitful philosophical research programs in this area, and I’ll step you through a few of them.

And third, I’d like to share what I’ve learned so far about communicating publicly about autism and neurodivergence. Perhaps unsurprisingly, standard pieces of journalistic advice often backfire when it comes to autism and neurodivergence (and disability more broadly). So, what are some better pieces of journalistic advice? And can we expect journalists (and other public communicators) to follow those better pieces of advice within the incentive structures of contemporary media?

About the Speaker: Amelia Hicks is an Associate Professor of Philosophy at Kansas State University.

PPE Speaker, Tommie Shelby

Time: Starts at 4:30pm

Location: Churchill Hall 103

Title: “How Racial Stereotypes Wrong: A Political Ethics of Belief”

Abstract: As racial stereotypes are beliefs about contingent matters of fact (namely, the traits and tendencies of different “racial” groups), it is puzzling how they could be proper objects of moral condemnation, resentment, and blame. Beliefs are not actions. They cannot be formed at will. And their assessment is usually taken to be a matter of their truth or falsity, not their moral permissibility or wrongfulness. This lecture attempts to specify where the moral problems with racial stereotypes lie. It does so, in part, by arguing that there is an underappreciated political ethics that should guide belief formation and intergroup relations in societies that have been deeply shaped by racial injustice. Along the way, stereotypes are distinguished from similar and related phenomena, including group prejudice and implicit bias. Epistemic errors are distinguished from moral wrongs and vices, and it is explained how both types of faults are related and combined in stereotypes.

About the Speaker: Tommie Shelby, Professor of African and African American Studies and of Philosophy at Harvard University

Ethics Institute Speaker, Patricia Williams

Time: 12-1:15pm

Location: Cargill 097

Title: TBA

Abstract: TBA

Ethics Institute Speaker, Bo Kim-Kopec

Time: 12-1:15pm

Location: Behrakis Building-310

Title: TBA

Abstract: TBA

Ethics Institute Speaker, Professor Chad Lee-Stronach

Time: 12pm-1:30pm

Location: Renaissance Park 4th Floor Common Room

Title: “Reproving Utilitarianism”

Abstract: 

Utilitarianism is sometimes said to not only be true but to be provably so by a plausible interpretation of Harsanyi’s (1955) social aggregation theorem. It seems that to reject Utilitarianism, its opponents must, on pain of contradiction, reject one of the theorem’s premises. Prof. Chad Lee-Stronach argues that opponents of Utilitarianism need not reject anything; they may instead subsume Harsanyi’s theorem within a more general moral theory.

Ethics Institute Speaker, Saira Khan

Time: 5:30pm- 6:30pm

Location: Snell Engineering 108

Title: “Rational Preference in Transformative Experiences”

Abstract: 

L. A. Paul’s Transformative Experience makes the claim that many important life decisions are epistemically and personally transformative in a way that does not allow us to assign subjective values to their outcomes. As a result, we cannot use normative decision theory to make such decisions rationally, or when we modify it to do so, decision theory leads us to choose in a way that is in tension with our authenticity. This talk examines Paul’s version of decision theory, and whether this version in fact admits of the challenge she wants to raise. Saira argues that Paul fails to engage critically with traditional accounts of decision theory and, on closer inspection, it is not clear that her version of decision theory entails a tension between rational and authentic choice. Furthermore, the definition she provides of authenticity in fact undermines her argument.

Speaker: Saira Khan, Ph.D. Center for the philosophy of Science  at University of Pittsburgh

PPE Speaker, Chris Zurn

Time: Starts at 4:45pm

Location: Hurtig 224

Title: “Splitsville USA”

Abstract: 

Christopher will be talking about his most recent book Splitsville USA. The book argues that, in order to save representative democracy, we need to split up the United States into several new nations, through a mutually negotiated peaceful dissolution. Christopher claims that the roots of the dangers to basic electoral democracy in the current United States are structural, based in our basic political and constitutional institutions. And he argues that the only realistic and effective way to fix those is to dissolve the current US into several new nation states.

Ethics Institute Speaker, Kaja Jenssen Rathe

Time: 12pm-1:30pm

Location: Philosophy and Religion Common Area, Renaissance Park 4th floor

Title: “Reflections on Critical Phenomenology: The Question of Method and Implications for Political Philosophy”

Abstract:

In this talk, Kaja will interrogate the promise of critical phenomenology for political philosophy. Introducing critical phenomenology with special focus on the ongoing debate about its method and scope, Kaja will draw on Maurice Merleau-Ponty, Lisa Guenther and my own research on “immigrant indebtedness” to make the case that critical phenomenology can offer a fruitful point of dialogue with political philosophy at large.

Speaker: Kaja Jenssen Rathe Arctic University of Norway

Ethics Institute Speaker, César Cabezas

Time: 12pm-1:30pm

Location: Philosophy and Religion Common Area, Renaissance Park 4th floor

Title: “Is Anti-Racism Moralistic?”

Abstract: 

According to their critics, anti-racists are moralists who are quick to label those who do not meet their exacting moral standards on matters of race as “racists” who deserve to be shamed and shunned. César argues that the moralism challenge rests on a misunderstanding of the anti-racist conception of racism. César shows that there is a long tradition of anti-racist theory and practice that uses the term “racism” mainly to explain the workings of systemic racial oppression, rather than to morally condemn individuals.

Speaker: César Cabezas of Temple University

PPE Speaker, Kenan Malik

Time: 10:30am-12pm

Location: Renaissance Park 909 Conference Room

Title: “Not so Black and White: A History of Race from White Supremacy to Identity Politics”

Abstract: 

Kenan Malik (London-based writer, lecturer, broadcaster) will be discussing his new book “Not so Black and White: A History of Race from White Supremacy to Identity Politics.”

PPE Speaker, Sigal Ben-Porath

Time: Starts at 11:45am

Location: Renaissance Park 909 Conference Room

Title: “Should colleges permit hateful speech?”

Abstract: 

Should colleges permit hateful speech? In this talk Sigal Ben-Porath will draw some boundaries for campus speech and argue that they are distinct from the boundaries we draw in democracy more broadly. Sigal will consider the commitment to values such as safety, equality, true knowledge, and dignity as limiting factors for protected campus speech. Sigal Will consider some counter arguments and hope to hear additional counterarguments during the discussion.

Ethics Institute Speaker, Iris Berent

Time: 12pm-1:30pm

Location: Philosphy and Religion Common Area, Renaissance Park 4th Floor

Title: “Can We Get Human Nature Right?”

Abstract:

Few questions in science are as controversial as human nature. At stake is whether our basic concepts and emotions are all learned from experience, or whether some are innate. Here, Berent demonstrate that reasoning about innateness is biased by the basic workings of the human mind.
Psychological science suggests that newborns possess core concepts of “object” and “number”. Laypeople, however, believe that newborns are devoid of such notions, but that they can innately recognize emotions. Moreover, people presume that concepts are learned, whereas emotions (along with sensations and actions) are innate.
Berent traces these beliefs to two tacit psychological principles: intuitive Dualism and Essentialism. Essentialism guides tacit reasoning about biological inheritance and suggests that innate traits reside in the body; per intuitive Dualism, however, the mind seems ethereal, distinct from the body. It thus follows that, in our intuitive psychology, concepts (which people falsely consider as disembodied) must be learned, whereas emotions, sensations and emotions (which are considered embodied) are likely innate; these predictions are in line with the experimental results.
In this talk, Berent demonstrates how these intuitive biases taint our understanding of human nature, derail science, and quite possibly, give rise to the “hard problem” of consciousness.

Speaker: Iris Berent of Northeastern University

Ethics Institute Speaker, Elettra Bietti

Time: 12pm-1:30pm

Location: Philosphy and Religion Common Area, Renaissance Park 4th Floor

Title: “Rawls and Anti trust’s Justice Function”

Abstract:

Antitrust law is more contested than ever. The recent push by the Biden Administration to re-orient antitrust towards justice and fairness considerations is leading to public backlash, judicial resistance and piecemeal doctrinal developments. The methodological hegemony of welfare maximizing moves in antitrust makes it theoretically fragile and maladaptive to change. To bridge disagreements and overcome polarization, this talk revisits John Rawls’ foundational work on political and economic justice, arguing that it can facilitate consensus and inform the present and future of antitrust law.

Speaker: Elettra Bietti of Northeastern University

PPE Speaker, Manon Garcia

Time: 10:30am-12pm

Location: Renaissance Park 909 Conference Room

Title: “The Joy of consent: A Philosophy of Good Sex”

Abstract: 

On Friday, September 29th, Manon Garcia will be coming to discuss her book “the Joy of Consent: A Philosophy of Good Sex.”