Following the death of Charlie Kirk there has been much conversation and disagreement influencing this year’s topic for the 20th annual Ethics Symposium, according to Kyle Swan, California State University, Sacramento professor of philosophy.
The 20th annual Ethics Symposium, co-sponsored by Cosumnes River College and CSUS, centers on “The Ethics of Disagreement” and will take place on Monday.
The event goes from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Redwood Room, University Union, CSUS. Students will get to hear from four professors from different universities discuss the importance of having debates and civil disagreements.
“We seek to address what we see as pressing and practically important ethical issues,” said Richard Schubert, philosophy professor and honors program coordinator.
Each year, the Ethics Symposium theme tries to connect to a current event happening in our country; this year was in connection to the death of Charlie Kirk, according to Schubert.
“Each speaker will have their own perspective on the issue of disagreement and how we should handle disagreement between people. I think ultimately students should go into it and come out of it with an open mind,” said Zahid Yasmine, CRC honors student support assistant and alumna
CRC honors program students will serve as session chairs and formal respondents at the event.
Yasmine participated in the Ethics Symposium as an honors student in 2021 and said she had a good experience. It was one of the things that made her feel confident to think about doing independent research as an undergraduate student, Yasmine said.
Schubert said he thinks there’s something special about the event, the philosophy and the opportunity of engagement that it provides.
There will be four main sessions that will be divided into two parts. The first half is when the formal presentation will take place, then there will be a response period for selected panelists according to Swan.
“Speakers will be talking about ways we can productively address the problem of moral and political polarization in the United States,” said Swan.
Students who attend will also get the opportunity to have an open Q&A session with the speakers.
Swan said students and other people in the community can react to the presentation and can attempt to tie the ideas to real-world and contemporary events. He said students can push back and offer objections to the discussions.
“I’d like to emphasize how important it is for CRC students to robustly engage with the academic opportunities that they have,” Schubert said. “It’s easy to get caught up in going to classes and doing your classwork and going home, doing that deprives you, as students, of more than half of the educational value of a college experience.”
Students who attend will be provided with a parking code to avoid having to pay for parking. For more information, contact Kyle Swan via email [email protected] or visit here.