PRINTA four-week institute for twenty-five higher education faculty to engage in discussion and debate over critical issues in the field of development ethics.
Co-directors Fredrick Gifford (philosophy, Michigan State University) and Eric Palmer (philosophy, Allegheny College) lead an institute to review the first generation of scholarship in development ethics and to frame new directions in this field. A cross between social and political philosophy, development ethics arises out of reflection on the social, political, economic, and cultural implications of international development. It considers the theoretical and practical challenges that attend questions of responsibility, human rights, environmental sustainability, and global justice. To be held at Michigan State University, the institute features eight leading scholars: Thomas Pogge (Yale University), David Crocker (University of Maryland), Boaventura de Sousa Santos (University of Coimbra, Portugal), Sandra Harding (University of California, Los Angeles), Bronwyn Leebaw (University of California, Riverside), Jay Drydyk (Carleton University, Canada), Asuncion St. Clair (University of Bergen, Norway), and Nigel Dower (University of Aberdeen, UK). The guest lecturers visit in pairs and engage in critical debates with each other and hold panel discussions with participants. In addition, four faculty members from the philosophy department at Michigan State, Paul Thomson, Richard Peterson, Stephen Esquith, and Kyle Whyte, each present their work on complementary topics. Participants make presentations at workshops and develop collaborative projects. The first week of the institute surveys overarching themes of global justice and explores the capabilities approach to development. The second week considers critiques of development, from post-colonial, feminist, and epistemological perspectives. The third week considers development activity that permanently displaces populations. The fourth and final week examines the subject of sustainability and the environment, before reviewing broad issues of global ethics that pertain to development ethics. Readings include: David Crocker, Ethics of Global Development; Thomas Pogge and Adian Hollis, "The Health Impact Fund"; William Schanbacher, The Politics of Food; Boaventura de Sousa Santos (eds.), Another Knowledge is Possible; Bronwyn Leebaw, Judging State-Sponsored Violence; Mahbub Ul Haq, Reflections on Human Development; Nigel Dower, World Ethics; and Paul Harris (ed.), Ethics and Global Environmental Policy.
Faculty: Thomas Pogge, David Crocker, Boaventura de Sousa Santos, Sandra Harding, Bronwyn Leebaw, Jay Drydyk , Nigel Dower, Asuncion St. Clair