RSVP & EVENTS

An Overview of Classical Ethics; On Navigating the Paradoxical Space Between “Can” and “Should”

How do we know the difference between what we can do and what we should do? How do we decide what is the right thing to do, and where do we go in our own minds and souls to answer such questions?

For most of us raised in or educated in, or even just influenced by, what we might call “The West,” there are four classical philosophical ethical systems that combine, in various ways, to influence what we see as ethical or moral in any situation. We might not knowingly identify as Aristotelians, but we all, to varying degrees, are! 

What can be very personally and professionally revealing is to attempt to name and divide up how each of these systems influence us, both consciously and unconsciously, as a grid for thinking about and deciding what is right or wrong, or fair, or equal, or even just acceptable in our own personal and business ethical systems. Nicole will guide us through an identification of these four systems, and present a few thought experiments with which we can test and understand ourselves and our frameworks. 

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Dr. Nicole Callahan holds her Ph.D. in English Education from Columbia University. Her research and publication focuses on the history of the essay, on pedagogies and methodologies of “writing to learn” and “writing to think,” and on the history and future of education in the “Liberal Arts," particularly in broadening access to high quality education in the humanities. Her work can be found in Public Books and Europe Now. 

At Columbia, Nicole taught a core course called Contemporary Civilization, a year-long history of philosophy and ethics seminar, which celebrated its centennial in 2019. In 2016 she was awarded the Core Preceptor Award for excellence in teaching Columbia University, and taught as the TOMS Core Faculty Fellow and Lecturer for Contemporary Civilization at Columbia University from 2017-2021. 

She also helped found, administer, and teach a Columbia course called Humanities Texts Critical Skills, as part of the Justice-in-Education Initiative, combining undergraduates from Columbia with the Justice Scholars, men and women who have recently come home from prison. The goal of the course is to create a community of interpreters, and then together to encounter and make meaning with texts that range in date from the 8th/7th c. BCE to the late 20th century CE, focusing on reading through a lens of issues of justice, incarceration, and reintegration.

Dr. Callahan was also an instructor in English Education at Teachers College, Columbia University, a fellow of the National Writing Project at UCLA, and former program coordinator for the INSTEP Master’s Program in English Education at Columbia University Teachers College. She also served as the ELA Curriculum and Professional Development Coordinator for the NYS Transition Course Initiative, CUNY Collaborative Programs. 

Nicole currently serves on the board of State Street Ballet, and does teaching and educational access and justice work for Santa Barbara’s Mission Scholars.