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Congratulations to Joseph Heath, 2013 Royal Society of Canada (RSC) Fellowship Inductee

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Joseph Heath, Director, Centre for Ethics and Professor in the Department of Philosophy, and School of Public Policy and Governance, has been named a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada.

Joseph Heath is an international leader in political philosophy and the theory of rationality, as well as one of Canada’s leading public intellectuals. He has made fundamental contributions in two areas: the understanding of the relations between rationality, morality and culture, and the foundations of business ethics.

Seminar Talk: Chrisoula Andreou

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The Good, the Bad and the Trivial

Chrisoula Andreou,
Department of Philosophy, University of Utah

Monday, Sept. 16, 4-6pm.
Larkin 200

Abstract: Dreadful and dreaded outcomes are sometimes brought about via the accumulation of individually trivial effects. Think about inching toward terrible health or toward an environmental disaster. In some such cases, the outcome comes about through a sequence of actions, each of which is trivial in its impact. Cases of this sort are not only practically challenging, but theoretically challenging as well. They raise puzzling questions about the assessment of conduct. Sometimes each action in an extended sequence of moves can be correctly assessed as permissible (relative to a certain set of concerns) even though the sequence foreseeably leads to an outcome that is unacceptable (relative to the same set of concerns) and even though acceptable outcomes are available.This seems paradoxical. I argue that this (apparent) puzzle glosses over complications associated with action individuation and units of agency. Reflection on these complications makes it clear that in the paradoxical cases there is an accurate way of seeing what is being done at various particular moments that clearly brings out the tight connection between the current action and the non-trivial damage that is to be expected.

Welcome Back!

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The Centre for Ethics would like to welcome our new members of visiting faculty, post-doctoral and undergraduate fellows.
Faculty: Andrew Botterell (UWO); Amir Farmanesh (Virginia Commonweath); Carolyn McLeod (UWO); Shlomi Segal (Hebrew U, Jerusalem)
Post-doctoral: Returning Meg Bowman (Ph.D. Philosophy, U of Utah) and Dominic Martin (Ph.D. Philosophy, Université de Montréal/Université Catholique de Louvain)
Undergraduate: Matt Oliver (TRN 2014) and Alice Tsai (VIC 2014)
Our Events calendar is posted and there are a number of different faculty/student reading groups starting up. Schedules are not fixed yet, but if you are interested please ask around for further information.

“Talking Philosophy: My Brother’s – and My Sister’s Keeper”

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“Talking Philosophy:  My Brother’s – and My Sister’s Keeper” will be broadcast across Canada on IDEAS, CBC RADIO ONE as follows:

Part One:
Wednesday, May 1, 2013
at 9:05 pm, 9:35 pm in Newfoundland

It can be heard on line now at: http://www.cbc.ca/ideas/

Part Two:
Wednesday, May 8, 2013
at 9:05 pm, 9:35 pm in Newfoundland

This program is also heard around the world on http://www.cbc.ca/ideas/

MY BROTHER’S – AND MY SISTER’S – KEEPER
Anything you can do to make someone’s life better, you must do. Right? But how much do you owe to other people, and who should you help: your family, your neighbours, strangers in far-away-countries? In this two-part series, philosophers Michael Blake, Simone Chambers and Arthur Ripstein, along with IDEAS producer Sara Wolch, consider the limits and the extent of our obligations to others, as individuals and as a society.