Political Philosophy Colloquium
The prevailing approach in moral theory treats good samaritanism and attendant concepts like supererogation as issues within duty-based ethics. A samaritan is someone who “goes above and beyond” what a duty of beneficence requires to aid a stranger. This essay/talk will argue that we can better understand samaritanism by treating it instead as a theory about the reasons one might have to love a stranger. I will argue for three advantages of this love-based approach. The first advantage concerns explaining the diversity of ways in which samaritanism is referenced in applied ethics. The second advantage concerns accounting for the historical basis for these concepts, in particular the ways contemporary moral theorists interpret the Parable of the Good Samaritan and the Greatest Commandment in Jewish ethics. The final advantage concerns the ways samaritanism might better inform ongoing debates about the strength and grounds for our reasons of love.
Meghan Sullivan is the Wilsey Family College Professor of Philosophy at the University of Notre Dame. She serves as director of the University-wide Ethics Initiative and is the founding director of the Institute for Ethics and the Common Good. The University’s hub for research and teaching in ethics, the Institute includes the new Rev. John I. Jenkins, C.S.C, Center for Virtue Ethics, the Notre Dame–IBM Technology Ethics Lab, a major John Templeton Foundation grant to develop the next generation of courses on human flourishing, and highly competitive fellowships and programming.
Sullivan’s books include Time Biases, published in 2018 with Oxford University Press, and The Good Life Method, co-authored with Paul Blaschko and published in 2022 with Penguin. She has received a Joyce Award for Teaching, the Provost’s All-Faculty Team Award, and South Bend’s 40 Under 40 Award. She holds degrees from the University of Virginia, Oxford, and Rutgers, and studied at Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar.
Contributions to and/or sponsorship of any event does not constitute departmental or institutional endorsement of the specific program, speakers, or views presented.
The prevailing approach in moral theory treats good samaritanism and attendant concepts like supererogation as issues within duty-based ethics. A samaritan is someone who “goes above and beyond” what a duty of beneficence requires to aid a stranger. This essay/talk will argue that we can better understand samaritanism by treating it instead as a theory about the reasons one might have to love a stranger. I will argue for three advantages of this love-based approach. The first advantage concerns explaining the diversity of ways in which samaritanism is referenced in applied ethics. The second advantage concerns accounting for the historical basis for these concepts, in particular the ways contemporary moral theorists interpret the Parable of the Good Samaritan and the Greatest Commandment in Jewish ethics. The final advantage concerns the ways samaritanism might better inform ongoing debates about the strength and grounds for our reasons of love.
Meghan Sullivan is the Wilsey Family College Professor of Philosophy at the University of Notre Dame. She serves as director of the University-wide Ethics Initiative and is the founding director of the Institute for Ethics and the Common Good. The University’s hub for research and teaching in ethics, the Institute includes the new Rev. John I. Jenkins, C.S.C, Center for Virtue Ethics, the Notre Dame–IBM Technology Ethics Lab, a major John Templeton Foundation grant to develop the next generation of courses on human flourishing, and highly competitive fellowships and programming.
Sullivan’s books include Time Biases, published in 2018 with Oxford University Press, and The Good Life Method, co-authored with Paul Blaschko and published in 2022 with Penguin. She has received a Joyce Award for Teaching, the Provost’s All-Faculty Team Award, and South Bend’s 40 Under 40 Award. She holds degrees from the University of Virginia, Oxford, and Rutgers, and studied at Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar.
Contributions to and/or sponsorship of any event does not constitute departmental or institutional endorsement of the specific program, speakers, or views presented.
Speakers
Meghan Sullivan, Nortre Dame
Sponsorship of an event does not constitute institutional endorsement of external speakers or views presented.
Date
March 27, 2025Time
4:30 p.m.Location
Corwin Hall, 127Audience
University Sponsors
University Center for Human Values
Department of Poltics