A talk titled "Can It be Ethical for the President To Lie?" will open a conference on "Instilling Ethics," an Olmsted Symposium being presented by the program in ethics, politics and economics (EPE) on Friday-Saturday, Feb. 27-28.
Gaddis Smith, the Larned Professor of History, will present the keynote address at noon on Friday in Rm. 211 in the Hall of Graduate Studies (HGS), 320 York St. The symposium is open to the public free of charge.
"Instilling Ethics" will bring together scholars and professionals from the fields of journalism, architecture and entertainment to debate issues of historical and contemporary importance. The conference is being convened by Norma Thompson, assistant professor of political science.
"When I started planning this one year ago, I could not have predicted quite how urgent these issues were to become in February 1998," says Thompson. "My intellectual interest in seeking out scholars who confront ethical issues in a philosophically and historically grounded way just happens to have coincided with a moment when the larger public stands in need of such voices."
In addition to the keynote address, Friday's program will include sessions on "Sources of Ethics" in Aristotle, Cicero, Rousseau and Kant (1:15-3:15 p.m.); and "Discarding Foundations," on the writings of Machiavelli, Nietzsche, Darwin and contemporary theorists (3:30-5:30 p.m.).
Wider applications of ethical questions will be discussed in two roundtable sessions on Saturday. "Ethics and Expression Today" (9-11 a.m.) will explore ethical issues in computers, entertainment and architecture. "Are We Living in an Ethical Age?" (11:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m.) will consider current ethical conundrums, as well as issues raised during the course of the conference.
A brochure containing more information about "Instilling Ethics" can be obtained by stopping by the EPE office at
88 Trumbull St., or calling EPE Registrar Kellianne Farnham at 432-7739.