Muhlenberg Announces Fall 2020 Center for Ethics Program Schedule
This year’s program, “Engaging in Speech and Action,” will debut with a series of virtual events.Monday, September 7, 2020 01:22 PM
The 2020-2021 Center for Ethics series begins on Friday, September 11 with a series of monthly faculty discussions about The Human Condition by Hannah Arendt and guest speaker videos related to the dilemmas of engaging in speech and action. It continues with a faculty panel discussion and a live webinar on Mohsin Hamid's novel Exit West on September 18 and 25, respectively. November 12 and 13 bring a virtual campus visit and live webinar guest lecture by Teng Biao, a former lecturer at the University of Politics and Law in Beijing, China and recent Grove Human Rights Scholar at Hunter College. All programs are available virtually to the Muhlenberg community and the public unless otherwise noted.
For full event details and opportunities to participate, visit the Center for Ethics website.
Event Schedule
Faculty Reading Group - Vita Activa, Engaging Arendt on Speech and Action
Over the course of the College's academic year, faculty will engage as a cohort with The Human Condition by Hannah Arendt. While the reading group is for Muhlenberg faculty only and is currently full, the entire College community and the public are encouraged to complete the readings. Following each guest speaker's talk, public links to the presentation videos will be available on the Center for Ethics Current Program webpage. The Center will also host a virtual mini-conference in April 2021 to share their reflections and discoveries.
- "Discussions of "Contradictions on Free Speech" by Inside Higher Ed writer Greta Anderson and video presentation by Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò, assistant professor of philosophy at Georgetown University and philosopher on the histories of activism and activist thinkers, the Black radical tradition, and the relationship between power and education, working also in the domain of public philosophy.
September 11, 2020, at 2 p.m.
- Discussion of Chapter 1 of The Human Condition by Hannah Arendt and a video presentation by Luvell Anderson, associate professor of philosophy and affiliate faculty member in African American Studies and Women’s & Gender Studies at Syracuse University.
October 9, 2020, at 2 p.m.
- Discussion of Chapter 5 of The Human Condition by Hannah Arendt and a video presentation by Ashley Farmer, author of Remaking Black Power: How Black Women Transformed an Era and assistant professor of history and African and African Diaspora Studies at the University of Texas-Austin.
November 20, 2020, at 2 p.m.
- Discussion of Chapter 6 of The Human Condition by Hannah Arendt and a video presentation by Paula Austin, a US historian with a focus on African American history, particularly interested in broadening the narrow definitions of intellectual history. She is assistant professor of history and African American studies at Boston University.
December 11, 2020, at 2 p.m.
Opening Panel - Exit West as a Form of Speech and Action
Panel Video Release - Sept. 18, 2020 (View video on the Center for Ethics Current Program webpage or video.muhlenberg.edu.)
Live Webinar Discussion - Sept. 25, 2020 - Common Hour (Zoom link available 48 Hours prior to event; sign up here.)
Faculty Panelists:
| Emanuela Kucik, English and Africana Studies |
| Mohsin Hashim, Political Science |
| Dawn Lonsinger, English |
| Leticia Robles-Moreno, Theatre and Dance |
| Mark Stein, History |
Virtual Campus Visit - November 12-13
Live Webinar Public Lecture - November 13 at 2 p.m. (Zoom link available 48 Hours prior to event; sign up here.)
“From 1989 to 1984: The Formation of China’s High-Tech Totalitarianism,” a Scholars-at-Risk Guest Lecture with Teng Biao, human rights activist, academic lawyer and former lecturer at the University of Politics and Law in Beijing, China.
Following Biao's public lecture, Muhlenberg's Assistant Professor of Anthropology Casey Miller and Professor of Media & Communication Jeff Pooley will lead an open discussion and a guided Q&A session.
"Engaging in Speech and Action" will continue into the Spring 2021 semester with group discussions of chapters from Kathryn Sophie Belle’s (formerly Kathryn Gines) monograph, Hannah Arendt and the Negro Question, and additional contemporary scholarship on engaging speech and action.
About "Engaging in Speech and Action"
Hannah Arendt, following Aristotle, argued that the capacity to speak and act in the world constitutes distinctly human capabilities. Increasingly our moment, and our campus, is defined by growing concern about ways we impose on others and on ourselves limits to our capacity to speak and to act. In order to foster the capacity to speak and act in a time of increasing polarization, technological complexity and political uncertainty, this Center for Ethics program will support programs designed to engage the community in a series of events and development workshops that explicitly seek to build and foster speech and action.
About the Center for Ethics
Through thematic lectures and events, the Center for Ethics serves the teaching and study of the liberal arts at Muhlenberg College by providing opportunities for intensive conversation and thinking about the ethical dimensions of contemporary philosophical, political, economic, social, cultural, and scientific issues. In service to its mission, the Center for Ethics hosts special events and programs, provides faculty development opportunities, and provides support for student programming. The Center for Ethics and thematic programs are directed by full-time faculty members.
Brian Mello, associate professor of political science, serves as Center for Ethics director. Marcia Morgan, associate professor of philosophy, serves as this year's program director.
About Muhlenberg College
Founded in 1848, Muhlenberg is a highly selective, private liberal arts college offering baccalaureate and graduate programs. With an enrollment of nearly 2,000 students, Muhlenberg College is dedicated to shaping creative, compassionate, collaborative leaders through rigorous academic programs in the arts, humanities, natural sciences and social sciences; selected preprofessional programs, including accounting, business, education and public health; and progressive workforce-focused post-baccalaureate certificates and master’s degrees. Located in Allentown, Pennsylvania, approximately 90 miles west of New York City, Muhlenberg is a member of the Centennial Conference, competing in 23 varsity sports. Muhlenberg is affiliated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.
