The Center for Applied Ethics is housed in the Department of Philosophy, California State University, Long Beach. Its goals are: to foster interdisciplinary work in practical ethics among faculty and students on the CSULB campus, to promote community awareness of ethical issues in practical settings, and to create an expanded array of educational offerings in applied ethics at CSULB.

The Center sponsors speakers, conferences, and projects on topics in applied ethics.

The Center is funded by a generous grant from the Andre Family Foundation and by a grant from the California State University – Long Beach College of Liberal Arts.

• Conference for Spring 2009!

Conference: Ethical and Social Scientific Perspectives on Well-being
March 5, 6, 7 • The Anatol Center, CSULB
Co-sponsored by The College of Liberal Arts, The Center for Applied Ethics, the Cognitive Science Group,
the Department of Philosophy, and the Department of Psychology

The past thirty years have witnessed an explosion of theoretical and empirical research on the nature of personal well-being and related cognitive and affective states (self-assessment, desire, pleasure, happiness, and other positive and negative emotions). In philosophy, ethicists propose increasingly nuanced accounts of both happiness and human well-being, while social philosophers discuss ways of structuring institutions to better promote aggregate well-being. Economists likewise develop hypotheses about how best to structure institutions and incentives to promote aggregate well-being, as they seek valid ways to measure it. In psychology, active research programs explore the components, measurement, and promotion of subjective well-being, while cognitive neuroscientists explore its biological and neurological bases.

This conference seeks to bring together a diverse set of scholars, including ethicists, social philosophers, psychologists, neuroscientists, and economists ranging from graduate students to full professors in order to facilitate a productive and much-needed exchange of ideas. Ideally, participants will gain greater insight into the fundamental questions, methodologies, and results of one another's separate research programs, allowing each participant to better evaluate the implications of one another's research for their own work as well as for social policy.

• Recent Events

Spring 2008

Chris Heathwood (University of Colorado – Boulder):
"Personal Identity and Abortion"
2-21-2008
3:30 PM • LA4 108

Martin Gunderson (Macalester College) :
"Enhancing Human Rights:
How the Use of Human Rights Treaties to Prohibit Genetic Engineering Weakens Human Rights"
3-13-2008
3:30 PM

Fall 2007

Laurie Shrage (California Polytechnic University, Pomona):
"'Pro-Choice or No-Choice' ... and Other Alternatives"
Please e-mail Professor Shrage for the PowerPoint slides: ljshrage@csupomona.edu
11-8-2007
3:30 PM • SS/PA 204

Matt Zwolinski (University of San Diego)
"The Ethics of Price Gouging”
with comments by
Kathleen A. Lacey (CSULB, College of Business Administration)
11-14-2007
3:30 PM • SS/PA 208

2006-2007

Edward Stein (Cardozo School of Law, NYC):
"Etiology, Mutability, and the Law:
A Critique of Biological and Psychological Arguments
Concerning Lesbian and Gay Rights"
5-10-2007

Matt Zwolinski (University of San Diego):
"Good Folk Gone Bad:
The Moral Psychologyof Unethical Behavior at Work”
11-2-2006

2005-2006

Conference: "Environmental Ethics, Aesthetics, and Education"
Jen Everett (Carleton College, Minn.)
Phil Cafaro (Colorado State University)
Ted Toadvine (University of Oregon)
Brian Treanor (Loyola Marymount University)

2004-2005

J. Angelo Corlett (San Diego State University)
"Was 9/11 Morally Justified?"
3-10-2005

Amy Coplan (Cal State Fullerton)
"Caring About Characters: Four Determinants of Emotional Engagement
(Or, Why I Care More About President Bartlett than President Bush)"
4-20-2005

2003-2004

Conference: "Race, Social Justice, and the Professions."
Naomi Zack (University of Oregon)
Jorge L.A. Garcia (Boston College)
Howard McGary (Rutgers University)
David Kim (University of San Francisco)
2-19-2004

2002-2003

Conference: "The Ethics of Stem Cell Research and Human Cloning."
Carol Itatani (CSULB, Biology)
Mary Mahowald (University of Chicago)
Radhika Rao (Hastings College of Law)
Bonnie Steinbock (SUNY Albany, Philosophy)
4-5-2003

2001-2002

Conference: "Challenging Democracy: Religious Diversity and Political Institutions on a Global Scale"
M. A. Muqtedar Khan (Adrian College, Political Science),
Matthius Lutz-Bachmann (Goethe Universitat, Frankfurt),
Andrew Wallace (Sonoma State University)
3-8-2002

2000-2001

Conference: "Sequencing the Future:
Ethical, Legal and Social Issues Arising from the Human Genome Project"
Troy Duster (University of California, Berkeley)
Erik Parens (Hastings Center)
Anita Silvers (San Francisco State University)
4-21-2001

Conference: "Philosophy and Ethics in Children’s Literature"
– Co-sponsored by the California K-16 Partnership Initiative –
Gareth Matthews (UMass Amherst)
Claudia Mills (University of Colorado, Boulder)
David Shapiro (University of Washington, Northwest Center for Philosophy for Children)
Dale Turner (California Polytechnic University, Pomona)
6-21-2001

Michael Pritchard (Western Michigan University)
"Perception and Imagination in Engineering Ethics"
11-26-01

Xinyan Jiang (University of Redlands)
"Rational Beings and Moral Agency in Xunzi"
6-16-01

Ann Davis (Pomona College)
"Running Faster but Moving Slower:
Information, Technology, and the Ambiguity of Progress"
4-12-2000

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Applied Ethics Center Co-Directors:
Jason R. Raibley • jraibley@csulb.edu
Teresa Chandler • teresa_chandler@alumni.williams.edu

Past Directors:
Jeffrey Moriarty
Sara Goering