It has been a long time since Awake to the World was an active blog, and I'm glad to know that it will soon be resuscitated in earnest.  This semester, the students of PHI 390: The Limits of Morality are taking over the blog.

During the first half of the semester, we will survey a number of ethical theories and perspectives, so you can expect conversations about the relative merits of consequentialism, deontology, and virtue ethics, among other things.

In the second half of the semester, we will read two contemporary books, each of which poses a threat to some conventional understandings of ethical discourse and moral action.  In Robert Wright's The Moral Animal we will confront the idea that much of our moral action can be explained with reference to evolutionary adaptations, and we will consider what room such an account leaves for moral autonomy and integrity.

In William Easterly's The White Man's Burden, we will take up the question of how well ethical thinking "scales."  That is, we will consider whether ethical theories which generate moral action in individuals can undermine moral action when translated into public policy or collective action.

We hope you'll join us in this important conversation.  All are welcome!