Kenan Institute for Ethics

Staal, Love win Moral Purpose Award

cl228 — Tue, 15 May 2012 19:38:21 +0000

What role does a liberal arts education play in creating a full life? Duke freshman Sophia Staal and UNC-Chapel Hill senior Darius Love provide answers in their Kenan Moral Purpose Award-winning essays, given to the best student papers on the topic from the two schools. Staal recounted the conversion that happened after she became a Division I varsity athlete, while Love reflected on how he learned to embrace difference during his four years in Chapel Hill.

Human Terrain screening and discussion, 4/23

cl228 — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 14:17:41 +0000

Facing long wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the U.S. military has adopted a controversial new program, ‘Human Terrain Systems’, to make cultural awareness a key element of its counterinsurgency strategy. Michael Udris’s Human Terrain (2010) exposes this and the U.S. effort to enlist academia in the war effort. Having gained rare access to war games in the Mojave Desert and training exercises at Quantico and Fort Leavenworth, Udris takes the viewer into the heart of the war machine and the shadowy collaboration between American academics and the armed services.

Taking the theme “condemned to be free,” each of the films in the 2012 Ethics Film Series in some way explores how individuals – even in the most restrictive, oppressive circumstances – claim their existential freedom by taking responsibility for their decisions and actions. The consequences of these claims, and the weight of their responsibility, may appear overwhelming, but it is this acknowledgement of freedom that enables authentic ethical action.

A post screening discussion features Michael Udris.

Co-sponsored by the Center for Documentary Studies and the Program in Arts of the Moving Image.

Free and open to the public.
Monday, April 23, 7pm
Griffith Film Theater, Bryan Center, Duke University (map).
Parking is available in the Bryan Center parking deck.

Artifice: What Is Good Art? on view through May 13

cl228 — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 14:05:57 +0000

Artifice, Team Kenan’s third annual What Is Good Art? exhibition, features photography, painting, collage, sculpture, video and more.

The judging panel included:

Christopher Bass, Vice President at Oak Hill Capital Partners, L.P.
William Fick, Visiting Assistant Professor of the Practice of Visual Arts
Noah Pickus, Director, Kenan Institute for Ethics
Kimerly Rorschach, Director, Nasher Museum of Art
Raquel Salvatella de Prada, Assistant Professor of the Practice of Visual and Media Arts
Walter Sinnott-Armstrong, Professor in Practical Ethics in the Department of Philosophy and the Kenan Institute for Ethics
Charles Thompson, Director of Undergraduate Studies, Duke Center for Documentary Studies

Monday through Friday, 9am-5pm, through May 13, 2012
West Duke Building (map)
Free and open to the public.

Contact Christian Ferney for more information.

Integrity report reaches across Duke

cl228 — Thu, 05 Apr 2012 19:54:51 +0000

Integrity in Undergraduate Life at Duke University: A Report on the 2011 Survey follows up on surveys conducted in 1995, 2000 and 2005 and includes new questions on nonacademic subjects. Duke Student Government held its first ever faculty-student town hall meeting on April 4th to discuss its findings, covered by the Duke Chronicle. The Duke Chronicle also ran an article and editorial on the report, and Duke Today ran a piece on the report. The full report may be found here.

“When, Why, and Should We Lie: The Science Behind Lie To Me,” Apr. 12

cl228 — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 20:14:45 +0000

Professor Paul Ekman will deliver the 2011-2012 Kenan Distinguished Lecture in Ethics, entitled “When, Why, and Should We Lie: The Science Behind Lie To Me.” The annual series brings a distinguished speaker to campus to address moral issues of broad social and cultural significance.

In 1991, Ekman was awarded the Distinguished Scientific Contribution Award, the American Psychological Association’s highest award for basic research. In 2001, he was named by the American Psychological Association as one of the most influential psychologists of the 20th century. And in 2009, TIME Magazine listed him as one of the top 100 most influential people of that year. Ekman’s work in psychology and facial expression is the basis behind the popular TV show “Lie to Me,” and he has written numerous books, including Telling Lies and Emotional Awareness (co-authored by the Dalai Lama). He’ll discuss emotion, expression, and deceit.

Co-sponsored by the Office of the President, the Duke Institute for Brain Sciences, the Department of Psychology & Neuroscience, the Department of Philosophy, and the Triangle Center on Terrorism and Homeland Security.

Thursday, April 12, 5:30pm
Fleishman Commons, Sanford School of Public Policy (map)
A reception follows the talk.
Free and open to the public.
Free parking is available in the Sanford School of Public Policy lot, at the corner of Towerview Road and Science Drive.

Immigration Outside the Law, Apr. 16

cl228 — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 20:12:10 +0000

Join us and Duke Law School for two events with UCLA law professor Hiroshi Motomura. In the morning, Professor Motomura will hold a book workshop at the Law School, and then give a lunchtime seminar at the Kenan Institute for Ethics. Both events will focus on athe meaning of unlawful presence, the role of states and cities, and the integration of immigrants. Part of the 2012 Moralities of Migration series.

Co-sponsored by Duke Law School
Monday, April 16
8:30-11:15am, Duke Law School (map)
12-1:30pm, Kenan Institute for Ethics, Room 101 (map)

New Frontiers of Regulation in Europe, Apr. 18

cl228 — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 20:10:47 +0000

Regulation has been evolving rapidly in Europe. New institutions and new concepts are being deployed to address an expanding array of risks. Old assumptions are obsolete. This colloquium will explore this evolution, including the continuing exchange of ideas with the United States, and the new frontiers of the European regulatory state.

Featured speakers
Alberto Alemanno, HEC Paris and editor-in-chief of the European Journal of Risk Regulation
Jonathan B. Wiener, Professor of Law, Duke University and co-chair of the 2012 World Congress on Risk

A colloquium of the Duke Rethinking Regulation initiative.

Wednesday, April 18, 2012
11:00am-1:00pm
Duke Law School Room 4055 (map)
Boxed lunches provided.
Seating is limited. RSVP to Jennifer Cook.

Uprooted/Rerouted narratives, Apr. 22

cl228 — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 20:09:33 +0000

Having recently returned from Egypt and Nepal, DukeImmerse students are pleased to present Uprooted/Rerouted: Narratives of Iraqi and Bhutanese Refugees Losing and Finding Homes. With Grace Benson, Jamie Bergstrom, Kiran Bhai, Nicole Daniels, Eugenie Dubin, Heather Durham, Kelly Howard, Esther Kim, CeCe Mercer, Malena Price, Julie Stefanich, and Ronnie Wimberley.

Sunday, April 22, 6pm
The Nasher Art Museum (map)
Free and open to the public, with free parking and a free post-show reception.

Ruth Grant discusses Strings Attached on WUNC’s The State of Things

cl228 — Wed, 28 Mar 2012 14:21:10 +0000

KIE senior fellow Ruth Grant discussed how incentives affect good behavior and whether rewarding someone for being good devalues acts of goodness, the topic of her latest book, Strings Attached: The Ethics of Incentives, on WUNC’s The State of Things on 3/28. Listen or download audio here.

Of Gods and Men screening, Apr. 3

cl228 — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 14:05:27 +0000

Loosely based on real-life events, Of Gods and Men (2010) explores the faith and motivation of eight French Trappist monks who chose to stay in Algeria in the midst of increasing violence in the 1990s. Written by and directed by Xavier Beauvoir, Of Gods and Men won the 2010 Ecumenical Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival and was France’s official Oscar selection.

Taking the theme “condemned to be free,” each of the films in this series in some way explores how individuals – even in the most restrictive, oppressive circumstances – claim their existential freedom by taking responsibility for their decisions and actions. The consequences of these claims, and the weight of their responsibility, may appear overwhelming, but it is this acknowledgement of freedom that enables authentic ethical action.

A post-screening discussion features Adam Hollowell, who works with the Duke Chapel and has taught courses including Faith and Political Violence and Ethics in an Unjust World.

Co-sponsored by the Center for Documentary Studies and the Program in Arts of the Moving Image.

Free and open to the public.
Tuesday, April 3, 7pm
Griffith Film Theater, Bryan Center, Duke University (map).
Parking is available in the Bryan Center parking deck.