The Prindle Institute for Ethics

Untangling Gun Violence from Mental Illness (Atlantic) by Julie Beck “Unfortunately, a consistent and dangerous narrative has emerged—an explanation all-too-readily at hand when a mass shooting or other violent tragedy occurs: The perpetrator must have been mentally ill. ‘We have a strong responsibility as researchers who study mental illness to try to debunk that myth,’ … Continue reading "What We’re Reading: June 9, 2016"

The Donald Trump dove myth: why he’s actually a bigger hawk than Hillary Clinton (Vox) by Zack Beauchamp “Trump isn’t a leftist, nor is he a pacifist. In fact, Trump is an ardent militarist, who has been proposing actual colonial wars of conquest for years. It’s a kind of nationalist hawkishness that we haven’t seen … Continue reading "What We’re Reading: June 2, 2016"

Machine Bias (ProPublica) by Julia Angwin, Jeff Larson, Surya Mattu and Lauren Kirchner “Yet something odd happened when Borden and Prater were booked into jail: A computer program spat out a score predicting the likelihood of each committing a future crime. Borden — who is black — was rated a high risk. Prater — who … Continue reading "What We’re Reading: May 26, 2016"

Harvard to ban members of single-sex clubs from student leadership roles (Guardian) by Alan Yuhas “Harvard University will bar members of single-sex clubs, fraternities and sororities from fellowships and leadership roles on campus, college president Drew Gilpin Faust announced on Friday, in an effort to prevent sexual discrimination.” Should We Really Be Keeping Cats And … Continue reading "What We’re Reading: May 12, 2016"

When in drought: the California farmers who don’t water their crops (Guardian) by Charlotte Simmonds “Is it possible to grow healthy grapes without watering them? Actually, if conditions are right, he says, it’s possible to grow even better ones. Less water means smaller, more intensely flavoured grapes with a higher skin-to-fruit ratio.” What Fiorina Has … Continue reading "What We’re Reading: May 5, 2016"

Obama administration urges states to curb use of solitary confinement (Guardian) by Ed Pilkington “This year Barack Obama announced far-reaching reforms that would dramatically reduce the use of solitary, or ‘restrictive housing’, within the federal prison system. He said the practice of placing inmates in tiny cells with virtually no human contact was overused and … Continue reading "What We’re Reading: April 28, 2016"

The Shocking Sexualization of Female Politicians in Porn (The Establishment) by Soraya Chemaly “Arguably, these sexist words and images are part of a long history of political satire employing sexualization. However, while male politicians have been and are sometimes skewered in similar ways, it happens relatively rarely and with very different outcomes in terms of … Continue reading "What We’re Reading: April 7, 2016"

An Ethicist Reads The Art of the Deal (Atlantic) by John Paul Rollert “If you’re a few dozen deep on the waitlist at the local library for The Art of the Deal and don’t have $11.95 to shell out for the Kindle edition, I can save you some trouble: The answer to all of your … Continue reading "What We’re Reading: March 31, 2016"

CDC: 1 in 2 black gay men in US will be diagnosed with HIV (AP) by Mike Stobbe “New HIV infections have been falling in the United States, to about 40,000 annually. A disproportionately large share — about 10,000 cases — has been in gay and bisexual black men. That number has been holding steady … Continue reading "What We’re Reading: March 17, 2016"

J.J. Abrams created a hiring system that considers women and minorities in proportion to the US population (Quartz) by Adam Epstein “Star Wars: The Force Awakens had a relatively diverse cast, and now director J.J. Abrams has enacted a new hiring system that will ensure all of his future films will be equally, if not … Continue reading "What We’re Reading: March 10, 2016"

Everything You Make Is an Engine (lindaholmes.tumblr) by Linda Holmes “What I mean by that is that anything you make – a podcast, a book, a TV show, a business, really any endeavor that you undertake – is not just the thing it is, but it’s also an engine that powers, directly or indirectly, other … Continue reading "What We’re Reading: March 3, 2016"

A Black Police Officer’s Fight Against the NYPD (New York Times) by Saki Knafo “Over the last two years, Raymond has recorded almost a dozen officials up and down the chain of command in what he says is an attempt to change the daily practices of the New York Police Department.” When Parents and Surrogates … Continue reading "What We’re Reading: February 25, 2016"

Stop Bernie-Splaining to Black Voters (New York Times) by Charles M. Blow “It is not black folks who need to come to a new understanding, but those whose privileged gaze prevents them from seeing that black thought and consciousness is informed by a bitter history, a mountain of disappointment and an ocean of tears.” If … Continue reading "What We’re Reading: February 18, 2016"

Ai Weiwei’s Photo Reenacting a Child Refugee’s Death Should Not Exist (Hyperallergic) by Nitasha Dhillon “Why was this image created, and why is it circulating?” What happens next in Aleppo will shape Europe’s future (Guardian) Natalie Nougayrède “It is hardly a coincidence that the bombardment of Aleppo, a symbol of the 2011 anti-Assad revolution, started … Continue reading "What We’re Reading: February 11, 2016"

Letter of Recommendation: Cracker Barrel (New York Times Magazine) by Jia Tolentino “Based on my recent investigations, it’s possible to spend an hour, as an adult of middlingly sound mind, enthralled by the offerings of the Cracker Barrel Old Country Store, the soul of the Cracker Barrel experience, a buffet of slightly cranky kitsch.” Why … Continue reading "What We’re Reading: February 4, 2016"

We’ll be taking a short break for the holidays, but we’ll return the first week in January with more engaging ethics content. Until we see you again, take a look at our list of popular posts and catch up on articles you might have missed this year. “Resilience, an ideal that hurts more than it … Continue reading "The Prindle Post’s Greatest Hits 2015"

Focus Fracas (Chronicle of Higher Education) by Frank Furedi “Serious reading, I’m told, has become a lost art. Indeed, the precarious status of people’s attention has acquired the status of conventional truth.” The Necessary Recklessness of Campus Protests (Atlantic) by Nshira Turkson “Over the past few weeks, college students in the U.S. and abroad have … Continue reading "What We’re Reading: December 17, 2015"

29 Scholarly Societies’ Statement on ‘Campus Carry’ (Inside Higher Ed) “Twenty-nine scholarly societies on Monday issued a joint statement opposing the Texas “campus carry” law that will significantly expand the right to carry arms on public university campuses.” How Mark Zuckerberg’s Altruism Helps Himself (New York Times) by Jesse Eisinger [PRO PUBLICA] “Mark Zuckerberg did … Continue reading "What We’re Reading: December 10, 2015"

This infographic was produced by Logikcull and Ghergich &Co.

When Free Speech Becomes a Political Weapon (Chronicle of Higher Education) by Kate Manne and Jason Stanley “The notion of freedom of speech tends to be ambiguous. It is used to refer to both the political right it enshrines, and the ethical ideal it embodies.” Did the media ignore the Beirut bombings? Or did readers? … Continue reading "What We’re Reading: November 19, 2015"