Pearl Lectures

The Pearl Lectures in Philosophy and Public Affairs bring distinguished scholars and practitioners to Suffolk University to discuss some of the most controversial moral and political questions of the day.

We have recently hosted:

  • Alice MacLachlan, "The Philosophical Debate about Forgiveness
  • John Baden, "Wildlands and Wounded Warriors"
  • Linda Meyer, Quinnipiac University School of Law, “Is Mercy Unjust?”
  • Joseph Prabhu, Department of Philosophy, Cal State LA, “Gandhi’s Religious Ethics”
  • David Roochnik, Department of Philosophy, Boston University, “In Defense of the Local: Aristotelian Reflections on a Politics of Place”
  • Steven Esposito, Department of Classics, Boston University, “Sophocles and Thucydides on the Limits of the Human City"
  • Nadav Tamir, Consul General of Israel to New England, “Recent Developments in the Middle East – an Israeli Perspective”
  • Eric Blumenson, Suffolk University, "Killing in Good Conscience: What's Wrong with the Lesser Evil Argument for Capital Punishment, Torture, and Other Human Rights Violations?"
  • Igor Ovchinnikov and Ivan Timofeev, Founders of Golubka Conflict Resolution NGO in Moscow, “Training NGOs in Conflict Resolution in Russia and Beyond: Tales from the Front Lines”
  • Major (res.) Rami Kaplan, Co-Founder of Courage to Refuse, “ Conscientious Objection in the IDF”
  • John McCumber, UCLA, and Joseph Prabhu, Cal State LA, “Philosophy after 9/11”
  • Glenn Loury, Brown University, “Are Black Americans A People?”
  • David Lyons, Boston University, “Duty and Disobedience: Thoreau, Gandhi and King"
  • Sally Haslanger, MIT, “Gender and Race: Natural Kinds, Social Categories or Entrenched Illusions?”
  • Thomas Pogge, Columbia University, “Global Poverty”