Moral Attitudes & Decision-Making at the Kenan Institute for Ethics » News

PBS special Brains on Trial brings Alan Alda to campus

katherine — Thu, 12 Sep 2013 15:48:57 +0000

Over the past couple of years, Walter Sinnott-Armstrong has been consulting with PBS on a new, two-part documentary, Brains on Trial, hosted by Alan Alda. On September 11, a one-hour panel was taped at Duke’s Nasher Museum of Art moderated by Alan Alda, with faculty panelists Sinnott-Armstrong, Ahmad Hariri, Scott Huettel, and Nita Farahany. The panel addressed ways in which new technology and scientific studies could be used to further criminal justice, with perspectives from psychology, neuroscience, philosophy, and the law. Among the questions discussed were: “Can FMRI scans be used to detect guilt in criminals, and if so, should they?” “Does the use of neuroscience technology violate the right against self-incrimination?”

Sinnott-Armstrong, the Chauncey Stillman Professor in Practical Ethics in the Department of Philosophy and the Kenan Institute for Ethics, is a faculty leader in the program for Moral Attitudes and Decision-Making at KIE. This program area explores why people think and do what they do through the lenses of psychology, neuroscience, philosophy, and sociology.

The panel airs on WUNC-TV Thursday, September 12 at 10:00 pm. For additional photos of the panel, visit Duke Today.

Student submissions for fall art exhibition due Oct. 16

katherine — Tue, 10 Sep 2013 13:32:22 +0000

Call for Work

The Icon Industry:
The Visual Economy of Human Rights

Deadline for Submissions: October 16, 2013
Opening: November 4, 2013

The Kenan Institute for Ethics at Duke University is seeking works of art—in all visual mediums—for a fall exhibit: The Icon Industry: The Visual Economy of Human Rights. The call for work is open to all graduate and undergraduate students.

The term “visual economy” in art is commonly defined as a minimalist approach. But, what happens when this search for simplicity becomes a standard for representation of human rights? Often one iconic image comes to define events, groups or issues, boiling down the complexity into a singular representation that we grab onto as the “right” image. For example, how has the 1984 National Geographic cover image photographed by Steve McCurry of then-refugee Sharbat Gula, known as “the Afghan girl” come to represent—even today in Western culture—a population of Afghan women? It is arguably one of the iconic images of the 20^th century, forever referential.

This exhibit asks artists to explore, critique, and/or celebrate the notion of the iconic image in human rights issues as seen in our news media. Artists are encouraged to approach the work through a sense of awareness, examining the role of the image, creation of icons, the role of the image subject as a human rights agent and as a symbol, the use of simplicity in visual communication and/or our image obsession. Repurposing iconic and other images depicting human rights subjects/issues is allowed and encouraged in the debate, but respect must be given to the subject of the image. Further, artists are asked to consider how their work contributes to the continued dialog overall. This exhibit aims to call awareness, and in doing so create a space for reflection on our current state of visual rhetoric, but also look forward to a more engaged public in the ethics of representation.

Submissions and questions should be emailed to:
caitlin.kelly@duke.edu
Caitlin Margaret Kelly
2013-2014 Kenan Graduate Arts Fellow

New KIE web resource shares DukeImmerse: Uprooted/Rerouted student experiences

katherine — Tue, 10 Sep 2013 12:17:40 +0000

Visitors to KIE’s newly published web resource on forced migration can view the work of twelve undergraduates who participated in KIE’s DukeImmerse: Uprooted/Rerouted program last spring. The students spent a semester studying the ethical challenges of forced migration through the lens of Bhutanese and Iraqi refugee experiences. The program includes four interdisciplinary courses, a month of team-based field research in Egypt or Nepal, and community engagement projects with resettled refugees here in Durham, NC. Visitors to the site can:

Watch students perform monologues based on life stories of the Bhutanese and Iraqi interviewed.
Read student essays based on field research and community engagement.

Dan Ariely examines the “irrational” moral code of syndicate criminals

katherine — Tue, 27 Aug 2013 12:19:29 +0000

KIE Senior Fellow Dan Ariely looks at the “irrational ethics” of mobsters, who are able to commit heinous crimes against those outside their syndicate, but become deeply wounded when a member of the group cooperates with investigators. Testimonies in the recent Whitey Bulger trial have provided insights into this unique moral code.

Measuring Morality project data available to researchers

katherine — Thu, 15 Aug 2013 19:02:26 +0000

The Measuring Morality project, a part of Moral Attitudes and Decision Making at KIE, has just made its data publicly available. The dataset serves as a nationally representative baseline for measuring morality. The survey questions were chosen in consultation with an international group of scholars from sociology, psychology, and linguistics, and represent a wide range of theoretical traditions. By making the data available to researchers, the project aims to serve as a Rosetta Stone for moral attitude inquiry and interdisciplinary comparison.

The Measuring Morality dataset is now available for download by all researchers, with the condition that they register their names and institutional affiliations as well as promise to send a copy of any publications that reference the data. In this way, project leaders can track the data’s use. KIE Senior Fellow and Associate Professor of Sociology Stephen Vaisey is the Principal Investigator for the project. Measuring Morality is supported by a grant from the John Templeton Foundation.

Embarking KIE students to keep reflection journals through the summer

katherine — Sun, 23 Jun 2013 14:27:32 +0000

As the academic year has come to a close, undergraduates in Kenan programs are trading classrooms for exciting new opportunities around the globe. The students in KIE’s DukeEngage: Dublin program will be learning about the immigrant experience in Ireland’s capital city through engagement with local communities and organizations. The two students in this year’s Kenan Summer Fellows program will be traveling to Greenland and Korea to delve into projects exploring ethical dimensions of globalization and adoption. In a new endeavor, Kenan is continuing its relationship with the World Food Programme in Nepal through a summer intern who will aid the WFP in evaluating the effectiveness of its educational and assistance programs. All of these students will be writing back to KIE throughout the summer with reflections on their experiences.

Check out the new hub for student engagement journals for easy access to current and past journals kept by students in various KIE programs, and stay tuned for incoming updates from our far-flung correspondents!

Summer Fellows tackle the American-Korean culture of adoption, Greenland’s rights and resources

katherine — Mon, 10 Jun 2013 20:12:01 +0000

Our far-flung Kenan Summer Fellows Cece Mercer and Christine Delp have written their first reflection journals for their summer projects exploring what it means to “live an ethical life.” Be sure to read these and continued posts through the summer on the KSF journal page.

Together with a faculty mentor, the two undergraduates formulated projects that incorporate research and personal reflection. Cece is a Korean adoptee exploring the culture of adoption, both through interviewing other adoptees in the U.S. and through traveling to Korea to understand how the adoption process is viewed from the other side. Christine will be in Greenland, exploring the ways in which changing environmental and economic climates are affecting the lives of indigenous Inuit communities.

KIE announces Kenan Graduate Arts Fellowship

katherine — Sat, 08 Jun 2013 14:26:29 +0000

The Institute will begin offering a new fellowship for graduate students entering the second year of study with the MFAEDA program. Beginning in the 2013-2014 academic year, the fellow will engage throughout the year with KIE faculty, fellows, students and staff to strengthen programming and explore the way in which the visual arts creates an ethical dialogue. The fellowship will include curating an exhibit and opening event for the fall, engaging directly with undergraduate students, and acting as a jury member for Team Kenan’s annual What is Good Art? competition in the spring.

The fellowship will allow freedom to pursue the student’s interests and deepen his/her own work in addition to broadening KIE’s relationship with the visual arts. The chosen fellow will receive a $5,000 yearly stipend and access to additional resources. For further information and application instructions, visit the Graduate Awards page.

All applications must be received by 5pm on June 30th, 2013.

Walter Sinnott-Armstrong gives tips on making an argument

katherine — Sat, 01 Jun 2013 12:19:15 +0000

At a recent Duke Forward event in Washington, D.C., KIE Professor Walter Sinnott-Armstrong gave a presentation to Duke alumni on how to make an effective argument. The five main points he shared were a distilled version of his online Coursera course “Think Again: How to Reason and Argue,” co-taught with UNC’s Ram Neta last fall. The Coursera course will be offered again beginning in August and is open to all.

Announcing the essay winners of the 2013 Kenan Moral Purpose Award

katherine — Tue, 07 May 2013 16:23:55 +0000

The Kenan Moral Purpose Award is given for the best undergraduate student essay on the role a liberal arts education plays in students’ exploration of the personal and social purposes by which to orient their future and the intellectual, emotional, and moral commitments that make for a full life. In partnership with the Parr Center for Ethics at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, KIE provides the winning undergraduate from each school with a cash prize.

The winning Duke student is Joy Liu, a Trinity junior majoring in public policy and biology (pictured at right). Her essay “Ambition” discusses a pivotal trip to Africa, in which a friendship with a local youth transformed her motivations. The Carolina student chosen, Elizabeth Henderson, is a senior majoring in journalism and mass communication. In “On Open-Mindedness,” she discusses the ways in which her liberal arts education has taken her out of her comfort zone and instilled in her an intellectual curiosity.