Past Events

From hunger to obesity to industrial agriculture, modern-day food systems have no lack of “wicked” problems involving social, economic, and political—as well as health—dimensions.

Jeff Raikes, CEO of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and co-founder of the Raikes Foundation, will be in conversation with Ethics in Society Program Director Rob Reich.

We believe that schools can cultivate good character, meaning roughly a set of intellectual, moral and prudential virtues.

In this lecture, the eminent historian Peter Brown will explore the wider social and imaginative implications, for the Christian churches of late antiquity, of the well-known sayings of Christ that His followers should place “treasure in

You've taken classes, you've performed on stage, or you've worked behind the scenes.

We read novels for many reasons: for interest, to learn about writing techniques, to be intellectually challenged, for sheer pleasure. Some have speculated that reading novels also serves moral purposes.

The question of what constitutes a good society has been debated since the time of Aristotle.

This talk is called "What Transactions Can't Do," Lecture 2 of the Tanner Lectures.

This talk is called "The Turn Against Institutions," lecture one of the Tanner Lectures.

This is Lecture 1 of the Wesson Lectures. Professor He's title for the series is "An Empirical Theory of Authoritarian Deliberation."

Help the Center for Ethics in Society celebrate the 25th anniversary of ethics at Stanford. Come mingle with undergraduate honors program alumni and faculty.

(This event has been canceled.) In a talk called, "Poverty In The Context Of Plenty: Life, Death And Hope In A Mumbai Undercity," journalist Katherine Boo will discuss her recent book "Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death, and Hope

Stop Hunger Now aims to end hunger in our lifetime by providing food and life-saving aid to the world's most vulnerable and by creating a global commitment to mobilize the necessary resources.

What is the link between violence, guns and mental illness?  What is the appropriate medical, legal and social response?   Two leading scholars and policymakers discuss these issues at this public forum.  Commentary will be provided by f

Abstract:  Is institutional philanthropy good or bad for American democracy?

Jason Armagost and Brian Turner, who are both writers and members of the U.S. armed services, will read from the recent work.

We are pleased to announce Elizabeth Anderson (Philosophy, University of Michigan) will deliver our 2012-2013 Wesson Lecture on Problems of Democracy.

In addition to comments in Buddhist texts on its benefits and dangers, this presentation will reflect more generally on how wealth relates to basic Buddhist teachings about suffering and nonself.

Directed by Rush Rehm

Please join us for an important panel discussion on domestic workers and their struggle to bring value to their work.

Can libertarians care about social justice? In "Free Market Fairness," John Tomasi argues that they can and should. Drawing simultaneously on moral insights from defenders of economic liberty such as F. A.

The economic future is uncertain for many Americans. Unemployment remains high following the deep financial crisis. Median family incomes have stagnated. Poverty rates are at historical highs.

When Uly Mörnach was found murdered on a cold November morning in 1502, no one was surprised. He had been the most hated member of the butchers' guild, and the other guildsmen had conspired to kill him

Thinking about Education as a long-term career? What are the ethical issues unique to the field of education? As an educator, what are some of the challenges you'll face?

In the spring of 2012, The New York Times published an Op-Ed piece by Greg Smith, who had recently resigned as the head of Goldman S

Across America communities and their residents are going through wrenching economic change. These changes affect people of all races, ethnicities, gender, and ages.

Thinking of going to Med School? Interested in doing research in a lab? Then you don't want to miss this discussion. What are the ethical issues unique to the medical field?

After ten years of research, Kathryn Lofton published Oprah: The Gospel of an Icon, a study that uses the works of Oprah Winfrey to define the history and structure of religion in modern America. The world of Oprah Winfrey is many things; it is entertaining, philanthropy, therapeutic, and corporate

Thinking of going to Law School? Already at the Law School? Then you don't want to miss this lecture. What are the ethical issues unique to the legal profession? As a lawyer, what are some of the challenges you'll face?

What is economic freedom, and how important is it? These questions represent a crucial junction point in the history of liberal thought. Some liberals, like JS Mill and John Rawls, place little importance on economic liberties (the liberties of working and owning, as we might put them).

This panel discussion marks the end of Stanford's two-year Ethics & War series.

One-act play by Richard Rhodes, taken from the transcripts of the historic 1986 summit meeting between Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev.

Mark Juergensmeyer is director of the Orfalea Center for Global and International Studies, professor of sociology, and affiliate professor of religious studies at the

In the lecture, Walzer will address the criticism that is current among some soldiers and academic strategists these days that if you try to fight an asymmetric war i

For decades, parents with children with Down syndrome were told to take them home and love them, as they were considered to have irreversible intellectual disabilities.

Over the past decade, public support for the death and the number of death sentences imposed have decreased substantially. Several jurisdictions have abolished the death penalty during this period. Marshall -- who has been involved in death penalty cases for more than two decades -- will discuss these developments, with a particular focus on the current effort to repeal the death penalty in California, the State with the largest number of death row inmates.

There are two important conditions that are designed to regulate a justified behavior in a war: Distinction (between combatants and civilians) and Proportionality.

A Socratic dialogue with attendees about dealing with personal moral risk. The centerpiece will be a case by Bowen McCoy entitled "The Parable of the Sadhu," which describes ethical issues he faced on a trek in the Himalayas.

Sebastian Junger is the internationally acclaimed, best-selling author of WAR, The Perfect Storm, A Death in Belmont and Fire.

Post screening discussion: Ian Olds (Director, The Fixer) in conversation with Robert Crews (History, Stanford)

Ms. Meredith will explore the ethical dilemmas facing philanthropy. Philanthropy in the USA boasts $300 billiion annually in unconstrained private resources as gifts from individual philanthropists, foundations and corporations to impact social change. Is that reasonable and should philanthropy have such influence on society as a whole? What are the issues on the blurring of the lines as nonprofit organizations want a revenue stream and for-profit businesses want a mission? What are the ethcial dilemma's facing nonprofits daily as they accept private gifts or government funds then they must manage to outcomes, or not? How do nonprofits report on their successes or failures as they meet compliance issues for reporting to the government and their donors? The IRS has a 99.4% acceptance rate for nonprofit organization applications so should anyone really be able to create a nonprofit that can accept charitable gifts? What are the implied conflicts of interest? These are just a few of the many issues that we will discuss.

The U.S. military completed the drawdown in Iraq in December 2011. That drawdown was made possible by a variety of factors, to include the so-called "Surge" in 2007 and 2008. The Surge itself was hugely controversial at the time it was announced and remained so through the Presidential election cycle. This talk will provide insight on the political pressure senior leaders in Baghdad were under and how they thought about assessing the success of the Surge as they reported back to Washington, to include the heated September 2007 testimony to Congress by General David Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker. The example of how General Petraeus, who Colonel Miller worked directly for at the time, set the parameters for thinking about the problem and preserved his decision space will be the focus of the discussion.

For the past two years, Winograd has collaborated with Joshua Cohen to teach a course at the Stanford d.school called Designing Liberation Technologies. Small interdisciplinary student teams develop new ideas for dealing with problems in health and development in some of the poorest neighborhoods (“informal settlements”) of Nairobi, Kenya. The ideal is for the students to create innovations that can bring real improvements to people’s lives. The reality is that we are only one part of a larger technical/economic system, and our efforts to do good may actually create more problems than they solve. We don’t have answers, but have grappled with some of the questions about how students with a bounded amount of commitment can ethically work in an environment that is distant, both in miles and in culture and wealth.

This talk focuses on the issues of justice that arise in listing decisions, the way organs are distributed, and in the solicitation of organs; as well as the ethical challenges and opportunities present in Donation after Cardiac Death.

Carol Rosenberg has covered the proceedings in the U.S. prison camps in Guantánamo Bay for The Miami Herald for nine years. Earlier this year, she was awarded the Robert F.

Meskell's talk outlines some salient historical trends that have been instrumental in framing ideas about heritage protection and our anxieties over occupation, rights of access, utilization and risk.

At Stanford, undergraduate students have many opportunities to participate in research: in required writing courses, through independent study, in lab or other research assistantships, in capstone courses or Honors theses. When engaging in this research, do students see themselves as responsible for upholding the highest standards of ethical research—the way their instructors or faculty directors do? Drawing on her experiences teaching a PWR2 course, “Ethics in Research and Technology,” this presentation focuses on ways Bleakney has encouraged students to see themselves as ethical actors in designing research and through upholding the guidelines and principles of human subjects’ research. Bleakney will discuss the goals of her course, challenges faced, and some techniques used to engage students in ethical research; she will also showcase some exemplary student projects

Political Photography, traditionally known as documentary photojournalism, has exploded upon our digital universe in ways that trigger as well as test our aesthetic sensibilities and moral judgments. The iconic Vietnam war-era photos of napalm victims, burning Buddhist monks, shootings at Kent State, and the Saigon street execution photo, for instance, attest to the prickling longevity of certain images in our individual as well as collective visual consciousness. Recently, the Abu Ghraib prison pictures and the searing images from 9/11 have raised a dialectical volley of reactions, fears, and ethical concerns for editors, photographers, and audiences.

Observations and discussion about the approach to marketing healthcare products as part of international development projects.

The Europe Center announces the international conference, “History and Responsibility: Hebrew Literature and 1948” which will take place at Stanford University on Jun

George Packer is a staff writer for The New Yorker and the author, most recently, of The Assassins' Gate: America in Iraq.

From the astonishing mind of MacArthur “Genius Award”— winning inventor and sound sculptor, Trimpin: A stirring and uncategorizable reflection on memory and remembran

Our panel of experts will focus on the question: Should we film war?

Panelists:

Nancy Sherman is a distinguished University Professor at Georgetown, appointed in the Philosophy Department and affiliated with the Kennedy Institute of Ethics.

David Luban is University Professor and Professor of Law and Philosophy at Georgetown University.

Who Needs the Nation-state?
Dani Rodrik (International Political Economy, Harvard)

Tim O'Brien is the author of numerous books and articles, including The Things They Carried, In the Lake of the Woods, and July, July (Winner of the National Book Awa

Having a chance to comment regularly on current events is not the ordinary ambition of 18th-century historians, but having worked on the origins of the American Constitution for the past quarter century, I have encountered numerous opportunities to discuss current events from a historian's perspective. This talk will discuss the ethical issues that arise when one combines political argument about the present with a historian's obligation to be responsible to the evidence of the past.

This panel discussion focuses on the draft versus the volunteer army in the U.S.

The following films are being shown as part of the UNAFF/UNAFF Traveling Film Festival

War Photographer is director Christian Frei's 2001 film that followed photojournalist James Nachtwey.

• Media Ethics
  James Steyer (Comparative Studies in Race & Ethnicity / Founder, Common Sense Media)
   
• Parenting and Politics in Deafness
  

For the 2010-2011 academic year, we sponsored two Arrow Lectures.

Understanding Institutional Corruption

• Redefining Soul Food: Politics and Pleasures of Food and Eating in the Black Communities
  

The Theodore and Frances Geballe Research Workshops bring together groups of Stanford faculty and advanced graduate students, as well as visiting scholars and those at other local institutions to present their current research and otherw

Ethical Issues in Higher Education

Keynote addresses from Michael McPherson President, Spencer Foundation and John Hennessy President, Stanford University

• Forget Me Not: The Untold Truths of St. Bernard Parish
  Kail Lubarsky, Office of Development / Hurricane Katrina volunteer
   
• How to Avoid Complicity
  

In collaboration with the Humanities Center and the Philosophy Department, the Center co-sponsored a year-long graduate-faculty workshop that addressed foundational issues in the study of normative ethics, bringing together leading philo

Recent Trends in Law Firm Economics, Attorney Career Patterns, and the Provision of Corporate Legal Services

Polyglot Politics
Lecture 1: Rethinking Justice for Multilingual Entities
Lecture 2: Institutional Design for Multilingual Democracies

Democracy's Scope
Lecture 1: "What makes a Demos?"
Lecture 2: "Democratic Inclusion & Exclusion"

David Miller (Political Theory, Oxford)

There were no Tanner Lectures in 2007-2008.

• Ethical Issues in Sustainable Building Design
  John Kuntz, Civil Engineering
   
• Three Gloomy Futures for Gender Inequality
  David Grusky, Sociology
   

Racial Stigma, Mass Incarceration, and American Values

The Market: Good, Bad, or Just Indifferent?

Speaker:  Anne Phillips, London School of Economics

Comments: Mark Kelman, Stanford Law

Chair: Richard Ford, Stanford Law

Along with the Humanities Center and the Program in Ethics in Society, the Center co-sponsored a year-long workshop that explored issues in global justice from both empirical and theoretical perspectives.

• Regulation, Security, and the Rationing of Public Attention
  Mariano-Florentino Cuellar, Law
   
• Ethical Aspects of Gender and Sexuality
  

On February 24th and 25th 2005, the Center on Ethics hosted a conference on the subject of Moral Leadership.

With grant assistance from the Mellon Foundation, the Center sponsored a year-long interdisciplinary workshop entitled Ethics in the Professions that included Stanford faculty as well as national experts.