The Coffeehouse Conversation on Practical Ethics, which are sponsored by the USC Levan Institute for Humanities & Ethics, aim to promote ethical discourse at USC by bringing together students and faculty from across the curriculum to discuss ethical issues of practical importance.

The Coffeehouse Conversations typically take place at noon on the last Friday of the month at the Ground Zero Coffeehouse (University Park Campus). 

Free lunch and open dialogue

Come share your opinions about ethical questions that matter!

 

Friday, September 25, 2009, 12-1:30pm

LIFE, LIBERTY, AND THE PURSUIT OF HEALTHINESS

Ground Zero Cafe

Co-sponsored with the Pacific Center for Health Policy and Ethics

It may be legal in the United States for medical insurance companies to deny healthcare coverage in certain situations, but is it ethical?  Is access to healthcare coverage a basic human right? And if we expect our employers and/or our government to provide coverage, do we have a responsibility to take care of our own bodies and keep them as healthy as possible? How much of the burden is ours and how much can we justifiably place on others? At the end of the day, do we have a moral right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of healthiness?

Conversation moderated by:

• Sharon Lloyd, Professor of Philosophy, Law, and Political Science

Guest Panelists:

• Alexander Capron - Professor of Law and Medicine. Scott H. Bice Chair in Healthcare Law, Policy, and Ethics (USC Gould School of Law)
• Pamela B. Schaff, MD - Assistant Dean for Curriculum. Director of the Program in Medical Humanities, Arts, and Ethics. Associate Professor of Clinical Pediatrics and Family Medicine (USC Keck School of Medicine)
• Stephen Finlay - Associate Professor (Department of Philosophy)
• Jennifer auf der Springe, Inquisitive Student (Health and Humanities Major)

For reservations click here: www.usc.edu/esvp

 

Friday, October 30, 2009, 12-1:30pm

THE ETHICS OF EATING: IS IT POSSIBLE TO EAT WITH A CLEAR CONSCIENCE?

Ground Zero Cafe

We live in a world today where our food choices are almost limitless. So much so, that there is a television network devoted entirely to food. But as our food-options multiply, so do the methods of killing, raising, transporting, preparing, and engineering food for our consumption. How can we indulge in the vast array of food options open to us but still ensure that our choices are morally responsible ones? What we choose to eat may help perpetuate the cruel or unjust treatment of animals, utilize resources that have a profound impact on others around the world, and negatively impact the environment in a myriad of ways.  Is it possible to eat with a clear conscience?

For reservations click here: www.usc.edu/esvp

 

Friday, November 20, 2009, 12-1:30pm

NOT OKAY TO PAY THIS WAY?

Ground Zero Cafe

For those who find themselves at the top of the corporate executive ladder it’s become both accepted and expected to receive a salary based on very favorable terms that can bear little resemblance to those offered other employees.  While this is perfectly legal, is it moral?  Must executive compensation depend on the standard metrics of performance, merit, or contribution?  Is there anything wrong with paying an executive a salary that dwarves that of those at the bottom of the corporate latter?  And what about payment incentive structures that lead to risky behavior that could lead (as it has in the past) to economic disaster?  When is it not okay to pay in a particular way?

For reservations click here: www.usc.edu/esvp

 

Previous coffeehouses as stand-alone lesson plans

 

After a coffeehouse, video footage from the coffeehouse conversations is edited and packaged along with learning materials, topical information, and educator instruction to be used as a stand-alone lesson plan on the subject.

SELLING BODY ORGANS February 27, 2009 (SEE LESSON PLAN) Desperately need some money? Sell yourself. Blood, sperm, eggs: Why not a kidney? It's yours after all! Shouldn't you have the right to sell your organs? In the US alone, more than 77,000 people are on the waiting list for kidney transplants. Many of them will die because the organ they need is not available. Shouldn't they have the right to purchase these organs from those willing to part with them for monetary compensation? Or is there something fundamentally immoral about treating our body parts as a commodities to be bought and sold? Would a market in body organs result in the unfair exploitation of poor people who have little else to sell? Or could we devise an international legal system that precludes exploitation?

GOOGLING HUMAN RIGHTS March 27, 2009 (SEE LESSON PLAN) When you Google for information, are you supporting Chinese political censorship? Do global information gatekeepers like Yahoo, Microsoft, and Google have a responsibility to protect and promote human rights overseas? Aren't they businesses after all? And if you want them to stop blocking democracy sites for the Chinese government, what can you do—boycott? Come on, how could we live without Google? Does morality require that much of us?

FUTURE AND DISTANT PEOPLE April 24, 2009 (SEE LESSON PLAN) Are you obligated to consider future generations of human beings? Are you responsible to people you've never met on the other side of the globe? It is so easy now to harm people without knowing we are doing it. What you eat, what you buy, what you drive profoundly affects the life prospects of other people. How do we behave ethically in such an interconnected world?