Popular philosophy events return to York

Posted on 7 October 2015

The University of York’s Department of Philosophy will next week host the first of a new public lecture series on morality.

Doing the Right Thing: Thinking about Morality will see Philosophy academics tackling subjects such as God and morality, ethics and the environment and learning moral lessons from fiction.

Talks include Dr Dorothea Debus on moral responsibility, ‘Reasons not to do the best you can’ by Dr Christopher Jay and Dr Johan Gustafsson debating ‘Should we aim for the greatest happiness of the greatest number?’

Dr Nick Jones, Associate Lecturer in the Department of Philosophy, said: “Doing the Right Thing is the fourth series of public lectures offered by the Department of Philosophy, with our last three series on creativity, the emotions and the self proving very popular and attracting audiences of over 100 people.

“Everyone faces ethical dilemmas in life and wonders whether there is a right or wrong way to make tricky decisions. Moral philosophy isn’t about telling people what they should do, but about the nature of morality and the different ways we might make these decisions – a topic that has relevance to everyone.”

The series starts at 6.30pm on Thursday 15 October, with Dr Richard Yetter-Chappell speaking on ‘is morality objective?’ All talks are free, open to all and will be held at The Bowland Auditorium, Berrick Saul Building, University of York.