The Epistemology and Ethics group is composed of faculty and graduate students at Fordham and other nearby universities. Papers are read in advance, so the majority of the time is devoted to questions and discussion. If interested in attending, email dheney[at]fordham[dot]edu.
September 19th Kate Manne (Cornell)
October 17th Sandy Goldberg (Northwestern)
November 14th Eden Lin (Ohio State)
February 27th Nathan Ballantyne (Fordham)
March 20th Sophie Horowitz (UMass, Amherst)
April 24th Nomy Arpaly (Brown)
Psychopathy is a mental disorder closely associated with marked emotional dysfunctions, limited capacity for moral judgments, recidivistic offending, and poor treatment outcome. Considering its peculiar characteristics, the status of psychopathy in the field of law raises several disputes. While current criminal law holds psychopaths fully responsible and punishable for their misbehavior, some scholars argue that psychopathy is a condition that may severely compromise an individual’s moral agency and capacity for rationality. As such, it should be included among the potential excusing or mitigating factors for criminal responsibility and punishment. This argument finds additional support in the body of studies from neurocriminology showing that people who suffer from psychopathy exhibit (often severe) reduced functioning in the socio-emotional brain regions that are now known to be significantly involved in moral decision-making and prosocial behavior. The insights into the neurobiological roots of psychopathy seem to challenge even more the perennial dilemmas that have occupied the minds of legal scholars and philosophers for many years: Are psychopaths “bad” or “mad” (or both)? And how should criminal law and the justice system deal with them? This seminar aims to examine these issues and explore other contentious arguments about the status of psychopathy in the field law.
Three leading experts in neurocriminology, law, and philosophy will discuss recent neuroscientific findings in psychopathy research. The speakers will consider how these findings might contribute to the reconsideration of the responsibility of psychopathic offenders and how criminal justice should optimally respond to individuals suffering from such a controversial disorder.
Speakers:
Stephen J. Morse; Ferdinand Wakeman Hubbell Professor of Law; Professor of Psychology and Law in Psychiatry; Associate Director, Center for Neuroscience & Society; University of Pennsylvania Law School
Adrian Raine; Richard Perry University Professor, University of Pennsylvania
Katrina L. Sifferd; Professor and Chair of Philosophy, Elmhurst College
Free and open to the public, but RSVP is required via Eventbrite. This event is part of the Seminars in Society and Neuroscience series.
Upcoming and Past Events at The Center for Global Ethics and Politics
*all events open to the public and held at The Graduate Center, CUNY (365 Fifth Avenue at 34th St.)* | for video of past events please see here)
Spring 2018
- Linda Bosniak, Rutgers University, “‘Here To Stay’ and The Contested Ethics of Presence” Monday, February 5 @ 6:30 pm, room 9204-05.
- Co-sponsored by the Social and Political Theory Student Association
- Daniele Archibugi, Birkbeck University of London, “Do we Need a Global Criminal Justice?”, Monday April 9 @ 6.30 pm, room 9204.
- Seyla Benhabib, Yale University, “Isaiah Berlin. A Judaism between Decisionism and Pluralism,” Monday, April 23 @ 6.30 pm, room 9204.
NSSR Philosophy Speaker Series Presents:
“ETHICS, ANTHROPOLOGY, AND WORDS NOT AT HOME”
Veena Das in Conversation with Alice Crary.
April 12, 2018
6:00-8:00 PM
6 East 16th Street Room D1009
CO-SPONSORED BY:
Gender and Sexuality Studies
Minorities and Philosophy
NYC Wittgenstein Workshop
The three day conference, “Age and Longevity in the 21st Century: Science, Policy, and Ethics”, sponsored by Global Bioethics Initiative, offers a unique opportunity to call attention to the impact of new technologies on the global profile of aging and longevity. By facilitating expert discussion in a unique setting regarding broad-based perspectives on these topics, the conference promotes global thinking, scientific exploration and policy orientation at the individual, social, community and macro-societal level.
Who can present?
Scientists from leading universities, academics, and practitioners with diverse professional backgrounds (biology, biomedical engineering, industry, nursing, medicine, health care administration, ethics, philosophy, theology) who are active in the fields of aging research, regenerative medicine, cryonics and healthy life extension are expected to present at this important conference.
Abstract Proposal Early Deadline: December 15, 2017
Abstract Proposal Regular Deadline: January 15, 2018
Abstract submissions should not exceed 350 words and should include your name, affiliation, a recent photo, and a short biography (150 words). Please send your abstract to alita@globalbioethics.org
Who can attend?
The conference is open to NGO representatives, scientists, the general public, policy-makers, academics, students, activists, and medical professionals from various backgrounds, activists and scientists.
Conference Venue: ONE UN New York Millennium Hotel
ONE UN New York brings the world together with spectacular NYC accommodations and panoramic views. Boasting a 70-million-dollar transformation, the hotel combines a modern aesthetic with form, function, and attention to detail across all 439 guest rooms and suites. Set across from the United Nations Headquarters adjacent to the East River, the hotel’s Midtown East location is simply ideal. Nearby, Manhattan icons such as the Empire State Building, Grand Central Terminal, the theater district and splendid shopping invite travelers from around the world to explore the city that never sleeps.
Venue Address:
One UN Plaza
New York City, NY 10017
Objectives:
- To bring together leading experts with a broad range of interests related to diverse aspects of aging and research.
- To present outcomes of regenerative medicine, genetic engineering, stem-cell research, and current and potential therapies.
- To critically assess the degree to which such developments impact global health and the status of older persons worldwide.
- To discuss how national governments can create collaborative regulatory and policy environments that will stimulate investment, lower barriers to entry, and encourage dynamic market-based solutions.
For more information about the conference, please contact:
Ana Lita, Ph.D.
Executive Director
Global Bioethics Initiative
Phone: (212) 687-3324
Fax: (212) 661-4188
Email: alita@globalbioethics.org
Website: conferenceaging.org
Rutgers Workshop on Chinese Philosophy (RWCP) is designed to promote critical engagements and constructive dialogues between scholars of Chinese philosophy and Western analytic philosophy with the hope of bringing the study of Chinese philosophy into the mainstream of philosophical discourses within the Western academy. It is run every other April. The workshop is co-directed by Tao JIANG (Religion), Ruth Chang (Philosophy) and Stephen Angle (Wesleyan).
The theme and format of the fourth RWCP workshop is “Engagements with Western Philosophers.” Thirteen invited scholars will participate in the workshop, including seven experts on Chinese philosophy (one presentation will be jointly offered by two speakers) and six leading voices in the Western analytic philosophy.
Scholars of Chinese Philosophy:
Yong Huang (Chinese University of Hong Kong)
Sungmoon Kim (City University of Hong Kong)
Chenyang Li (Nanyang Technological University, Singapore)
Li Kang (Vassar College)
JeeLoo Liu (California State University, Fullerton)
Justin Tiwald (San Francisco State University) and Bradford Cokelet (University of Kansas)
Scholars of Western Philosophy:
Elizabeth Camp (Rutgers University)
Johann Frick (Princeton University)
Stephen Macedo (Princeton University)
Peter Railton (University of Michigan)
Jonathan Schaffer (Rutgers University)
Jennifer Whiting (University of Pittsburgh)
RSVP is required for attendance. Further information will be forthcoming in the spring of 2018.
Working Papers in Ethics and Moral Psychology is a speaker series conducted under the auspices of the Icahn School of Medicine Bioethics Program. It is a working group where speakers are invited to present well-developed, as yet unpublished work. The focus of the group is interdisciplinary, with an emphasis on topics in ethics, bioethics, neuroethics, and moral psychology. The meetings begin with a brief presentation by the invited speaker and the remaining time is devoted to a discussion of the paper. The speakers will make their papers available in advance of their presentation to those who sign up for the Working Papers mailing list.
All speakers:
9/28/2017:
Eric Chwang
/Rutgers University-Camden
11/2/2017:
Phoebe Friesen
/CUNY Graduate Center
12/14/2017:
Adam Kolber
/Brooklyn Law School
2/8/2018:
Paul Cummins
/Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
3/8/2018:
Elizabeth Victor
/William Paterson University
4/19/2018:
Melissa Moschella
/Columbia University
5/24/2018:
Camil Golub
/Rutgers University-Newark
JOIN THE WORKING PAPERS MAILING LIST AND RSVP TO:
nada.gligorov@mssm.edu
New technologies increasingly mediate our interactions with each other and the institutions on which we depend. What special moral problems do these new technologies pose? Are existing moral categories and practices up to the task? For the April edition of Philosophy in the Library, three philosophers–Joanna Smolenski, Tony Doyle, and Samir Chopra–present short talks on the ethics of ongoing developments in genetic engineering, big data, and artificial intelligence, followed by a Q&A with the audience.
Part 1: Editing the Genome–How CRISPR/CAS9 is Changing the Game
Joanna Smolenski of CUNY Graduate Center discusses CRISPR technology, and how it can be used to modify both somatic cells and the germline (i.e., reproductive cells). Our talk will consider the pros and cons of such modification, as well as unique ethical challenges it could present. For instance, could we ever legitimately consent to the editing of our germlines? Ultimately, it would seem that our existing consent protocols are inadequate to ensure robust informed consent to germline editing, and so we should hold off on such interventions until we have a better understanding of their downstream impacts.
Part 2: Big Data & the Future of Privacy
Tony Doyle of Hunter College considers how big data, with its massive collection, thorough aggregation, predictive analysis, and lightning dissemination of personal information has produced previously unfathomable benefits and insights. Analysis is replacing intuition; the gut is yielding to algorithm. However, as our digital wake ripples out, big data is putting privacy on the run with unnerving inferences about our preferences, commitments, aspirations, and vulnerabilities. How we are sorted by big data’s analytics can determine the opportunities that come our way: a reasonable mortgage, a good job, or a decent apartment. Privacy matters because it promotes autonomy, that is, our ability to make choices, free of coercion or manipulation, in the light of our considered conception of the good life. But ultimately, is privacy doomed to be a lost cause?
Part 3: Artifacts & Agency
Samir Chopra of Brooklyn College considers how thinking about the agency–both moral and legal–of artifacts can be helpful in thinking about the puzzles that artificial intelligence creates for us. Thinking about agency lets us think about actions and powers and ends–the kinds of things we should be thinking of, in considering how to ‘fit’ AI into our world.
https://www.facebook.com/events/207736016496883/
Upcoming and Past Events at The Center for Global Ethics and Politics
*all events open to the public and held at The Graduate Center, CUNY (365 Fifth Avenue at 34th St.)* | for video of past events please see here)
Spring 2018
- Linda Bosniak, Rutgers University, “‘Here To Stay’ and The Contested Ethics of Presence” Monday, February 5 @ 6:30 pm, room 9204-05.
- Co-sponsored by the Social and Political Theory Student Association
- Daniele Archibugi, Birkbeck University of London, “Do we Need a Global Criminal Justice?”, Monday April 9 @ 6.30 pm, room 9204.
- Seyla Benhabib, Yale University, “Isaiah Berlin. A Judaism between Decisionism and Pluralism,” Monday, April 23 @ 6.30 pm, room 9204.