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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, 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 accounts 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, Brian Chambliss


Time: Starts at 12pm

Location:Renaissance Park 4th floor common room

Title: TBA

Abstract: TBA

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