Ethics Center announces book clubs for Spring 2025
KALAMAZOO, Mich.—The Center for the Study of Ethics in Society is presenting three book clubs during the spring semester highlighting ethical questions regarding social media, artificial intellegence (AI) and how to live a good life.
Life Worth Living: A Guide to What Matters Most by , A Life Well Lived – KalamazooKalamazoo Lyceum Director Matthew Miller teaching for Yale University’s Life Worth Living Program. It integrates a variety of philosophical, religious and cultural influences to address a set of guiding questions. These include: What constitutes a good life? What should we value most? How should we live in relation to others? What role do suffering and failure play in a meaningful life? Meetings will be at 6 p.m. Wednesdays, Jan. 22 and 29, and Feb. 5 and virtually on Feb. 12. The Ethics Center will email registrants the meeting link.
The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness by Jonathan Haidt is the next book club this semester. The discussion leader will be Margaret von Steinen, WMU Government Relations (retired) and former Project Manager for WMU We Talk. In this book, the renowned psychologist investigates the consequences of smartphone and social media use for the mental health of kids and adolescents. Do we cheat children from gaining real-world experience by allowing them to use smartphones and social media? Can and should we protect children from harmful influences in digital and online spaces? This book club provides an opportunity to explore these and other questions in advance of Haidt’s virtual visit to WMU at 5 p.m. on March 12. Meetings will be at noon Tuesdays, Feb. 4, 11, 18 and 25 in Room 3120 of Sangren Hall. Visitor parking is available in lots 68 and 69.
The series concludes with The AI Mirror: How to Reclaim our Humanity in an Age of Machine Thinking by Shannon Vallor. Jon Milgrim, Faculty Specialist in the Department of Philosophy, will lead the discussions. In this book, the award-winning philosopher who used to be Google’s AI ethicist suggests that the best way to think of AI is as a mirror, rather than a mind. When used responsibly, AI can reveal like a good mirror by finding patterns and magnifying data. But AI can also distort and deceive like a bad mirror, such as producing confident-sounding guesses based on thoughts we’ve already had, yet inviting us to think, mistakenly, that the image we see is other than a mere duplicate. Meetings will be at 5:30 p.m. Tuesdays, March 18 and 25 and April 1 in Room 4550 of Sangren Hall. Visitor parking is available in lots 68 and 69; there are no meter fees after 5 p.m.
Fill out this form to register
The first 10 sign-ups for each club get a free book. Students can earn WMU Signature credit for any book club for which they attend all scheduled meetings. All are welcome. Learn more about the Center for the Study of Ethics in Society and its book clubs.
About the Center for the Study of Ethics in Society
In August 1985, the Center for the Study of Ethics in Society was created after WMU faculty across the curriculum met to discuss their common interests in studying and teaching ethics. Each academic year, the center sponsors 15 to 20 public presentations addressing a wide range of ethical issues. Originally sponsored by WMU’s Graduate College, the center is now housed in the College of Arts and Sciences.
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