Rockford College Campus Intervarsity and the Secular Student Alliance will co-sponsor a symposium presenting different perspectives on this question.

Is life purposeless or meaningless without belief in a particular God or religion?

Without God, does that mean “anything goes”?

Does belief in a particular God or religion incline one to morality?  Does it matter which religion or God?

Join the discussion on:

Tuesday, November 30th

Peterson Auditorium, STARR

4-5:30 PM

All are welcome!

Great news via Stephen Hicks’s website: the Department of Philosophy at Rockford College announced a new minor track in Ethics.

The core courses include several sponsored by CEE: Introduction to Ethics, Biomedical Ethics, Sports Ethics, Business and Economic Ethics, Ethics and Entrepreneurship, and Ethical Theory. The department will also offer occasional special topics courses with a strong value component that can count toward the minor.

Take a look at the flyer for the Ethics minor here [PDF].

We know that the entrepreneur takes on the financial risk of her venture, but Dan Pallotta at Harvard Business Review reminds us that the entrepreneur takes psychological risks as well. By seeing the world differently than others and acting on her vision — by embracing the inner misfit — the entrepreneur must be willing to make herself vulnerable. This vulnerability, says Pallotta, “is the most poignant quality in every entrepreneur I know.”

Read the rest of this excellent post at Harvard Business Review.

Dr. Douglas Rasmussen, our final guest speaker of Spring 2010, gave two lectures at Rockford College recently. Dr. Rasmussen is professor of philosophy at St. John’s University in New York and is coauthor (with Douglas J. Den Uyl) of Norms of Liberty: A Perfectionist Basis for Non-Perfectionist Politics (2005). Here, Dr. Stephen Hicks interviews Dr. Rasmussen about his talk on Philippa Foot’s book Natural Goodness, given to Professor Klein’s Ethical Theory class:

The Center for Ethics and Entrepreneurship has invited three interesting guest speakers to Rockford College this semester:

William Kline: David Hume and Ethics

March 17

Dr. William Kline is Assistant Professor of Liberal Studies at University of Illinois, Springfield. He received his Ph.D. in Philosophy from Bowling Green State University in Ohio. He has published in the Journal of Value Inquiry and the Journal of Business Ethics.

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Jeffrey P. Orduno: Property Rights and the Law

March 30

Jeffrey Orduno is an associate in the law firm of McGreevy Williams. He is a Rockford College alum and received his JD from John Marshall Law School. His practice includes business litigation and transactions, as well as matters related to land use and construction.

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Douglas B. Rasmussen: Aristotle and Contemporary Ethics

April  23 & 26

Dr. Douglas Rasmussen is professor of philosophy at St. John’s University in New York. He received his Ph.D. in Philosophy at Marquette University. Dr. Rasmussen has authored numerous articles in a variety of journals and is coauthor (with Douglas J. Den Uyl) of Norms of Liberty: A Perfectionist Basis for Non-Perfectionist Politics (2005).

All who are interested may attend. We hope to see you there!

Also, view the PDF of our flyer.

Locations and exact times forthcoming.

For more information, contact CEE [at] Rockford.edu

Dr. Stephen Hicks was invited to speak at three conferences over the past few months. In September, he was a special guest speaker at the Fiserv Connect Forum in Orlando, Florida, where he discussed “Innovation, Ethics, and ‘Creative Destruction.’” In July, he delivered two lectures on “Capitalism and Art in Contemporary America” at The Atlas Society’s summer seminar in Portland, Oregon. And in June he gave a talk on “The Role of Outside Donors in the College Curriculum,” at the International Association for Business and Society’s 2008 conference in Tampere, Finland.

Rockford College, the Department of Philosophy, and The Center for Ethics and Entrepreneurship are proud to welcome our new professor of philosophy, Shawn Klein.

Professor Klein received his Bachelor’s degree from Tufts University in Massachusetts in 1995, obtained his Master’s in Philosophy from Arizona State University in 2001, and he is completing his Ph.D. at Arizona State.

Professor Klein’s specialty is normative ethics. In addition to his various publications, he is the coeditor of Harry Potter and Philosophy: If Aristotle Ran Hogwarts, published by Open Court in 2004.

For more information about professor Klein and the courses he will be teaching, view the announcement in PDF format.