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About the Northern Moral
Sciences Club
8/29/97:
Will Wilkinson lead the discussion with a paper on "Wal-Mart, Markets, and Civic Virtue." He defended market forces on moral grounds against the criticisms of communitarian political philosopher Michael Sandel. The discussion centered on the question of whether businesses have moral obligations to communities, on the relation of shared community values to meaning and well-being, and on the relation of negative rights to moral virtues.
9/11/97:
The Club discussed a paper by Notre Dame philosopher Karl Ameriks on "The Priority of the Practical in Fichte and Kant" in preparation for Professor Ameriks visit to campus.
9/25/97:
Todd Kukla lead the discussion with a paper comparing John Dewey's and Martin Heidegger's conceptions of technology. The discussion centered on the relation of thought to practical activity in Dewey and on what Heidegger might have meant by some of his statements about t.he nature of "Being" in the context of his difficult account of the essence of technology.
10/2/97:
Todd Kukla (once again) lead the discussion with a paper on Plato and Thoreau on the moral propriety of civil disobedience. The discussion led, somehow, to a debate over the comparative merits of ancient (communitarian) and modern (individualist) philosophies, and over whether the ancient/modern distinction is really well founded. We also talked about Socrates's possible motives in refusing to flee Athens.
10/16/97:
Ben George read a paper comparing notions of contract in Hegel's Philosophy
of Right and Locke's Two Treatises on Government. The discussion
focused very little on contract and centered mainly on whether Hegel-type
stories about the "end of history" could possibly make sense. Is there
a point to human history, or is it just a sequence of events with no particular
aim? Ben entertained by sharing with the Club Hegel's humorous (if you
like this sort of thing) critique of Kant's bizarre contractual conception
of marriage.
