Dear Friends and Colleagues,

Please join us Monday, September 21, at 4 pm at the Centre for Ethics. Our opening event will be an “Author Meets Critics Panel” on Joe Carens’ book The Ethics of Immigration. The panelists are Ronnie Beiner (Political Science), Audrey Macklin (Law), and Stephanie Silverman (SSHRC post-doc). The event will be followed by a reception (6-7 pm). We will also use this opportunity to introduce you to the visiting faculty, postdoctoral and undergraduate fellows who will be in residence at the Centre this year.

The Seminar Series will usually meet on Mondays from 4 – 6, but our first Seminar will take place on Thursday, October 8, at 4 pm. Anne Philips (LSE, Political Science) will talk about “The Politics of the Human.”

I am very excited about the coming year. We have a wonderful line up of speakers, a number of public issues forums planned, several workshops, and an active group of graduate associates. Please see our updated website for more details: https://ethics.utoronto.ca/

Please consider joining us on Wednesdays at Noon for one of the following programs:
• Ethics at Noon: Bi-weekly research presentations by Faculty Associates and Fellows at the Centre; September 16: Anna Su (Law): “Government Involvement in Reforming Religions”
• Ethics Hour: a shorter, more informal discussion about contemporary ethical issues led by prominent scholars at the University of Toronto
• Working group on Law, Urbanity & Justice. Contact ronit.levineschnur@utoronto.ca

I am thrilled at the opportunity to put my energies to work on behalf of the Centre and look forward to seeing you all on September 16 and 21!

Peggy Kohn
Acting Director, Centre for Ethics

      Margaret (Peggy) Kohn takes over as Acting Director for the Centre for Ethics July 1st. She is a professor of political theory at the University of Toronto. Her main research interests are urbanism, critical theory, the history of political thought, and colonialism.

Ethics at Noon with Jörn Lamla

Governing Privacy by Digital Reterritorialization and the Reconfiguration of Democracy

Jörn Lamla is a professor in the Department of Sociology, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Kassel, Germany. His research interests include social theory, the relation of consumer society and democracy, citizenship and issues of privacy in the digital world. Professor Lamla is currently a visiting scholar at the Centre for Ethics.

Wednesday, June 24, 2015
12 noon – 2:00 pm

Room 200, Larkin Building
15 Devonshire Place

Jay Pratt, Vice-Dean, Research & Infrastructure, Faculty of Arts & Science, today announced the appointment of Professor Margaret Kohn, as Acting Director of the Centre for Ethics effective July 1, 2015 to June 30, 2016.

Margaret (Peggy) Kohn is a professor of political theory at the University of Toronto. She received her BA in philosophy from Williams College and her MA and PhD in Government from Cornell University. Her main research interests are urbanism, critical theory, the history of political thought, and colonialism. Her current book project is entitled The Death and Life of the Urban Commonwealth. It examines displacement in cities (including gentrification, slum clearance, privatization of public space) from a critical and normative perspective.

Kohn’s first book Radical Space: Building the House of the People explored the political impact of the popular public sphere. It was awarded a prize for “Best Book: Honorable Mention” by the European Politics section of the American Political Science Association. She has also published scholarly articles in journals such as Political Theory, Journal of Politics, Theory & Event, Polity, Constellations, and Dissent.

Her second project examined contemporary public space. It analyzed the political consequences of the privatization of public space in North America. It argued that democratic values such as political speech and action are weakened by the privatization of public places like squares and streets where these activities were traditionally exercised. The resulting book – entitled Brave New Neighborhoods: The Privatization of Public Space – was published by Routledge in the Spring of 2004.

Kohn has also written about postcolonial theory and empire. Her most recent book Political Theories of Decolonization (with Keally McBride) was published by Oxford University Press in 2011.

Please join me in welcoming Peggy Kohn as Acting Director of the Centre for Ethics. I am thrilled to be leaving the Centre is such capable and accomplished hands!

Simone Chambers
Professor of Political Science
Director, Centre for Ethics

The Centre for Ethics and Centre de recherche en éthique (CRÉ) meet in Montreal this year (April 20 and 21).

Program