2009-2010 | 2008-2009 | 2007-2008 | 2005-2007

2011-2012 Arrow Lecture
"Who Needs the Nation-state?"
Dani Rodrik (International Political Economy, Harvard)
Video of Rodrik's talk.
 

2010-2011 Arrow Lectures
For the 2010-2011 academic year, we sponsored two Arrow Lectures.
"Is war too deep in human nature to eradicate?"
Jonathan Glover (Ethics, King's College, London)
Video of Glover's talk.

"Social Choice and Human Rights"
Amartya Sen (Economics, Harvard; 1998 Nobel Prize Winner, Economics)
Video of Sen's talk.
 

2009-2010 Arrow Lectures
"Designing a Path to Sustainable Development" [event details]
Jeffrey Sachs (Director of The Earth Institute, Quetelet Professor of Sustainable Development, and Professor of Health Policy and Management at Columbia)

[co-sponsored by the Woods Institute for the Environment and the Department of Economics]
Recording of Sachs' talk. 
 

2008-2009 Arrow Lectures
"Democracy in Dangerous Places" [event details]
Paul Collier (Economics, Oxford / Director, Centre for the Study of African Economies, Oxford)

[co-sponsored by the Department of Economics]

2007-2008 Arrow Lectures
"Ethical Challenges for the Legal Profession"
William H. Neukom (Stanford Law '67, President of the American Bar Association, Partner with the firm of K&L Gates, and former Executive Vice President and General Counsel for Microsoft). Neukom addressed challenges for the legal profession. Topics discussed included social justice, the rule of law, access to legal services, and information management.

"Beyond Band-Aids: Curing the Sick American Health-Care System"
Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel (Chair, Department of Bioethics at the Clinical Center of the National Institutes of Health). Emanuel argued that the current proposals for health-care reform fall far short of what the nation urgently needs. His alternative of universal health-care vouchers, which he developed with Stanford medical professor Victor Fuchs, would provide what he argues is missing from prevailing approaches: comprehensive, affordable, and quality care for all Americans.

"Chasing the Flame: Sergio Vieira de Mello and the Fight to Save the World"
Samantha Power ( Anna Lindh Professor of Practice of Global Leadership and Public Policy at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government). Power discussed themes related to her newly published book, Chasing the Flame: Sergio Vieira de Mello and the Fight to Save the World (Penguin, 2008), a comprehensive biography of United Nations official Sergio Vieira de Mello who was killed in a terrorist attack on the United Nations Headquarters in Iraq in 2003. The book explains how Vieira de Mello’s personal evolution paralleled that of the United Nations and how his contradictions and failures were rooted in those of the institution he so loyally served.
Recording of Power's talk.

"The War on Terror is No Metaphor"
Philip Bobbit (Law, University of Texas). Bobitt discussed topics related to his new book, Terror and Consent: The Wars for the Twenty-First Century(Knopf, 2008). His lecture brought together historical, legal, and strategic analyses to understand how a “war on terror” might actually be won and the role of international law for democracies caught in such a struggle.

"Medicine and the Public Trust"
Sir Michael Marmot (Epidemiology and Public Health, University College London / Director, UCL International Institute for Society and Health). For the past twenty years, Marmot has been at the forefront of research on health inequalities. His path-breaking research exposes the role of socio-economic factors in increasing the risk of life- threatening diseases.
[co-sponsored by the School of Medicine, the Haas Center for Public Service, and the Center for the Study of Poverty and Inequality]

"All Animals Are Equal – But in What Sense of Equality?"
Peter Singer (Bioethics, Princeton University Center for Human Values). Singer explained what he means by the claim that “all animals are equal.” Singer first broached this claim in Animal Liberation (Random House, 1975), a book sometimes credited with starting the modern animal rights movement. The claim is often misunderstood and sometimes used to caricature the animal movement. Singer discussed why it is something that we all ought to accept and what its implications are for our everyday life.
Recording of Singer's talk.

"Campaign Ethics: The Vices of Misinformation and Manipulation
Dennis Thompson (Political Philosophy, Harvard). Thompson looked at examples of political campaign practices in the past to develop principles for judging campaigns in the present and the future. According to Thompson, when assessing the conduct of political campaigns, we should care less about fair competition among the candidates and more about the ability of voters to exercise free choice. Campaigns, he said, are not great moments of civic education, but neither should they be occasions for misinformation and manipulation.
Recording of Thompson's talk.


2005-07 Arrow Lectures
"Inequality and the (Futile) Pursuit of the American Dream"
Barbara Ehrenreich (Author). Ehrenreich spoke about the human costs of the nation’s growing income disparities.

"The Ethics of Human Enhancement"
John Harris (Law, University of Manchester). Harris, one of Europe leading bioethicists, addressed prominent ethical challenges involved with biotechnological interventions, including genetic engineering, stem cell research, and cloning.
[co-sponsored by the Center for the Study of Poverty and Inequality]

"Non-fiction, or Whatever: Searching for the Boundaries"
Calvin Trillin (Author). Trillin discussed ethics in journalism and the meaning of truth in creative non-fiction. His presentation weaved together insightful comments and humorous anecdotes in an Aurora Forum conversation with Alan Acosta, Associate Vice President and Director of University Communications.

"A Dialog on Corporate Social Responsibility"
In this debut lecture of the Arrow series, Patrick Byrne, CEO of Overstock.com and Ethics Center’s Advisory Board member, and David Luban of Georgetown’s Law School, focused on central themes in business ethics and corporate philanthropy.