Facing up to our moral responsibilities

Professor Garrett Cullity with his book The Moral Demands of Affluence.
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Monday, 7 September 2009

How much should morals come into play in your everyday decision making?

That's the question award-winning philosopher Professor Garrett Cullity will pose to his Research Tuesday audience tomorrow (Tuesday 8 September) at the University of Adelaide.

Professor Cullity from the University's School of Humanities will discuss the ethical issues individuals face each day, including their moral responsibilities towards the environment and climate change; donating to charities; and investing ethically.

In his seminar titled "Ethics for Everyone", the 2008 Eureka Prize winner for Ethics Research will challenge the audience to consider the implications of their choices.

"Am I morally required to restrict my personal energy consumption, or to join consumer boycotts against products that are unethically produced? Am I morally required to help the needy and what responsibilities do I bear as an investor? These are all decision that we face as individuals and groups," Professor Cullity says.

"The aim of the lecture will be to give people some tools to use in thinking about these things and many other related moral questions we face as members of groups."

As part of his presentation Professor Cullity will also discuss whether personal actions make any significant difference to a group and what determines whether joining in the actions of a group is right or wrong.

Professor Cullity is Hughes Professor of Philosophy at the University of Adelaide. He is the author of The Moral Demands of Affluence, for which he was awarded the Australian Museum ACA Eureka Prize in Ethics in 2008.

He has a First Class Honours degree in Philosophy and English from the University of Western Australia, where he was awarded the Most Outstanding Graduand in 1986.

Professor Cullity obtained his PhD in Philosophy from the University of Oxford in 1991 and taught at the University of St Andrews in Scotland before accepting a lectureship at the University of Adelaide in 2001. He was appointed Hughes Professor of Philosophy in 2007.

WHAT: Research Tuesday: `Ethics for Everyone'
WHERE: Lecture Theatre G04, Napier Building, North Terrace Campus, University of Adelaide
WHEN: 5.30pm, Tuesday 8 September
COST: Free. Please book by email: research.tuesdays@adelaide.edu.au or phone: (08) 8303 3692

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