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2006-2007 Other Ethics in Society Sponsored Events
Oct 13, 2006 3:15pm
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Matthew Kramer
(Cambridge University)
discusses
"Dimensions of Objectivity in Law"
Location: Bldg 90, Room 92Q
Abstract: "This paper (a chapter in a forthcoming book) delineates six main dimensions or conceptions of
objectivity that are applicable to the workings of legal systems: three ontological, two epistemic, and one
semantic. It also explores several conceptions of objectivity that are each either inapplicable to law or
subsumable under at least one of the six conceptions just mentioned. The paper aims to reveal the philosophical
complexities that lurk in questions about the objectivity of legal institutions."
Bio: Matthew Kramer is Professor of Legal & Political
Philosophy at Cambridge University, where he is also a Fellow
of Churchill College. He is the Director of the Cambridge Forum
for Legal & Political Philosophy. His three most recently published
books are The Quality of Freedom (Oxford, 2003), Where
Law and Morality Meet (Oxford, 2004), and Objectivity and the
Rule of Law (Cambridge, 2006).
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Oct 20, 2006 12:00-1:15pm --
Tom Zoellner (author)
discusses
“Ethics, Diamonds & Desire”
Location: Margaret Jacks Hall / Bldg 460, Room
426 (Terrace Room)
Bio: Zoellner is the author of The Heartless Stone: A Journey Through the World of Diamonds, Deceit and
Desire (http://www.heartlesstone.com), and co-author of An Ordinary Man, The Autobiography of
Paul Rusesabagina, whose actions during the 1994 Rwandan genocide were portrayed in the movie Hotel Rwanda.
Zoellner is also a contributing editor for Men's Health magazine and an award winning investigative journalist
with newspapers such as the San Francisco Chronicle, The Arizona Republic, and The Salt Lake Tribune.
Co-sponsored with Stanford's Center on Ethics.
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March 9, 2007 7pm --
Josh Kornbluth
performs
Love & Taxes
Location: Dinkelspiel Auditorium
Love & Taxes is a one-man show about a tax delinquent (Kornbluth) who tries his best to get out of his
obligations but by the end of the show, Kornbluth is “ready to face his responsibilities: to the woman he
loves, to his unborn child - and just as importantly - to his fellow citizens by shouldering his fair share
of the burden for maintaining the public institutions and amenities that sustain our democratic culture."
(Christopher Comte of the AISLE SAY Seattle)
Law School faculty members and tax experts Barbara Fried and Joe Bankman will participate in a post-show Q&A with
Josh Kornbluth and audience members.
This event is FREE and open to the public.
Co-sponsored with the Law School, the Center on Ethics, and the Drama Department.
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Jan 28, 2007 7pm --
Divided We Fall A powerful new feature-length documentary film about Sikhs,
Muslims, and South Asians in the U.S. after 9/11.
Location: Annenbery Auditorium
Directors: Sharat Raju and Valarie Kaur
Driven to action by the brutal murder of a man from her Sikh community, Valarie Kaur sets out across America in the
aftermath of 9/11. Camera in hand she crosses the country to discover who counts as "American" in a world divided
into "us" and "them." Whether in the streets of a still-shocked Manhattan, on the steps of the U. S. Capitol, in
the desert towns of Arizona, or with bereaved family members in Punjab, India, Valarie captures the untold stories
of 9/11. In cafes, restaurants, homes, places of business and street corners across the country, people invite her
into their lives and share their remarkable struggles with violence, fear and loss. In her journey, she confronts
the forces that divide people in times of crisis. How do we see one another? Who looks like an enemy? Who looks like
an American? Who counts as "one of us"?
SHARAT RAJU received an MFA in Directing at the American Film Institute. American Made, his thesis film,
earned both of the AFI’s top two honors in directing. The film has screened at numerous film festivals around the world,
winning 17 international awards. Among the accolades are: Tribeca Film Festival Student Visionary Award; Angelus Award
Grand Prize; San Diego Film Festival Best Short Film and British Academy of Film and Television Arts and Sciences (Los
Angeles) Excellence in Short Filmmaking Award. It has been screened on PBS television stations across the country.
VALARIE KAUR began this film in fall 2001. It became part of her senior honors project at Stanford,
where she graduated in 2003 with a double major in International Relations and Religious Studies. In 2007 she will
complete a master’s degree at Harvard Divinity School, after which she will enter Yale Law School.
DIVIDED WE FALL had its world premiere in September 2006, in Phoenix, Arizona, near the home of Balbir Singh Sodhi--the first
victim of a hate murder after 9/11. Since then Valarie and Sharat have been touring with the film in many parts of the U.S., with
very strong positive responses. It was screened in the International South Asia Film Festival in San Francisco in November
and was presented in a Mumbai film festival in December.
For more details on the film and the experience of making and showing it.
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Two New Plays that Confront Biomedical Issues
Art often imitates life, but can it imitate medicine? Ethics in
Society joins The School of Medicine and the National Center for
New Plays at Stanford University to present readings of two new
plays with biomedical themes in an effort to cast a different
light on such issues as genetics, ethics and identity.
Both readings are free and open to the public, and audience members
will be seated on a first-come, first-served basis. A panel discussion
with the playwright, actors and director will follow each performance.
"It is not surprising that there is a strong association between
medicine and the humanities that is often depicted in literature,
art and theater," said Philip Pizzo, MD, dean of the medical school.
"The boundaries of medicine rise from its fundamental underpinnings
in basic science and extend to the ethereal limits of humanity
and spirituality. In that spirit, I am pleased that the School
of Medicine is partnering with the National Center for New Plays
at Stanford to host a series of exciting and thoughtful performances
for our community."
David Goldman, executive director of the National Center for New
Plays at Stanford, said the plays combine very human issues with
medical issues, which he hopes will spur the audience to consider
the subject matter from other points of view. "The plays will
pose questions in a dramatic form that make it easier for the
audience to understand and see the breakthroughs that are emerging
in medicine and science," he said.
Seth Rozin's Reinventing Eden focuses
on the topic of biotechnology, particularly genetic manipulation,
and questions he moral and political implications of such research.
"I am fascinated by how people come to believe what they believe,
and what would directly challenge or topple those beliefs," said
Rozin. "Manipulating our genes seems to be a line that most people
simply don't want to cross. It provokes visceral disgust and moral
outrage, even though tremendous good could come from this arm
of science."
The second play, Echoes of Another Man
by Mia McCullough, uses a situation involving a brain transplant
to explore the inner workings of memory and the question of whether
people have souls.
"During the development of the play, a lot of people said to me,
'It's ridiculous. It's not possible.' To me, it doesn't matter
if it's impossible," McCullough said. "When I started working
on this play, cloning was not yet a reality. But here we are,
and I no longer believe in 'impossible.' It's made me think we
should call science fiction, 'science not-yet-happened' instead."
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May 7, 2007 / 12:00-1:30 pm
/ The Case Against Perfection: Ethics
in the Age of Genetic Engineering
Location: Bldg 460, Room 426 (The Terrace Room)
Directions: Bldg 460 is on the outside of the main quad, facing the Oval. There are metered parking spaces
at the Oval, at the Cantor Art Museum, at the Landau Economics Bldg, and at Tresidder Student Union. For maps of campus, click
here.
Author
Michael Sandel (Harvard, Department of Government) discusses
his new book, The Case Against Perfection: Ethics in the Age
of Genetic Engineering.
Sandel argues that "breakthroughs
in genetics present us with a promise and a predicament. The promise
is that we may soon be able to treat and prevent a host of debilitating
diseases. The predicament is that our newfound genetic knowledge
may also enable us to manipulate our own nature—to enhance our
muscles, memories, and moods; to choose the sex, height, and other
genetic traits of our children... suppose technology improved
to the point where clones were at no greater risk than naturally
conceived offspring. Would human cloning still be objectionable?
Should our hesitation be moral as well as medical? What, exactly,
is wrong with creating a child who is a genetic twin of one parent,
or of an older sibling who has tragically died—or, for that matter,
of an admired scientist, sports star, or celebrity?" ("The Atlantic
Monthly," April 2004)
Discussants: Hank Greely
(Stanford Law / Center for Law and Biosciences) and David Magnus
(Stanford Medicine / Center for Biomedical Ethics).
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2005-2006 events.
2004-2005 and prior year's events.
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