Democratic Virtues Project Area
The idea that certain civic virtues are important for the functioning of a political community dates back to Socrates. Not only has the idea resonated through the history of Western philosophy, ideas about civic virtues can be found in other traditions as well. These debates continue today, and they are aided not only by advances in philosophical understanding of the virtues but also by developments in the social sciences that shed light on what we understand virtues to be and what role they may play in support of society. This project area investigates both the science and philosophy of not simply civic but democratic virtues and asks what role they may play in the world today.
Ethics, Data and Society Project Area
The emergence of social media and big data has significantly impacted culture and politics, both in the United States and globally. The development of increasingly sophisticated forms of data collection, data mining and predictive inference has created a set of tools that can be used for both tremendous good and significant harm. Central to the project are questions of privacy and access and the ways that apparently neutral predictive methods can generate unjust biases in decision-making. The goal of the Ethics, Data and Society Project is to study these developments, understand the ethical impacts of these new forms of technology and to promote awareness of their impacts.
Health, Environment and Well-Being Project Area
Rapid advances in health-related technologies and continuing human impacts on the environment raise basic ethical questions, and this project area focuses on impacts on well-being, exploring not only what we mean by well-being, but also the ways that well-being is shaped by medicine, health technologies and environmental impacts, and the ways that policies may justly or unjustly impact well-being among different individuals or groups. The focus of this project area will initially be on outreach, providing information and learning opportunities to understand the many and varied ways that social and technological change is impacting well-being both locally and globally.