Modern critiques of religion, particularly of Christianity, have arguably dislodged the privileged position of religious ethics in intellectual discourse. Yet it is clear that we remain in need of a reimagined ethics that takes seriously our modern predicaments without disregarding wisdom from the past. This reading group aims to ponder over the question of how ethics ought to be understood after this movement of severe critique. While a purely historical intellectual exercise aims to “tell the story as it is,” our aim here is both historical and constructive, as we ask and respect the thinkers we study to aid us in our moral quandaries. 

We begin by delineating the concept of ethics in a way that incorporates multiple traditions without universalizing any one particular expression. Yet, this is not a subjectivist rejection of “Truth” but rather an invitation to understand how ostensibly disparate traditions may be read together in affinity. Through this, we consider how ethics as field of study emerges and develops across varying traditions, with an eye out for resonances and differences. 

The strength of this reading group comes from its openness to read together works of ethics that are often not read together. We mainly consider the Abrahamic religious tradition and the broader Greek-Perso ethical tradition, but this is not an exercise in disciplinary comparative religious ethics, where one might be tempted to put works from different traditions parallel to one another to derive some conclusion about their respective explanatory power or their moral productivity. Rather, this is an exploratory exercise where we remain open to the questions that emerge from these distinctive texts. The task is to answer the broader question of “how one thinks ethically” without it becoming an abstract or decontextualized intellectual exercise. For that purpose, most of our texts are “religious” in one sense or another for their emphasis on the relationship between knowledge and action, and their persistent invitation for internal and external reformation of self and society. 

Some of our thinkers, more than others, will operate with strong sentiments about the universality of their ethical dispositions. Rather than dismissing these claims to universality as mere biases, we aim to honestly ask what good/s, in a technical sense, we can receive from our thinkers. Then, despite their major divergences, we view them as collaborators within a broader genealogy of seekers on an ethical path with an eye for how they yet may speak to us as moderns. The interdisciplinary nature of this exercise is evident for ethics is not restricted to any particular discipline but rather benefits from different perspectival attunements, whether they be historical, philosophical, or anthropological, among others. 

The tentative reading list engages different methodological approaches and disciplinary boundaries. 

Fall and Spring Schedule:

The reading group will meet once a month for the AY 2024-25 (9 meetings). 

September 26
October 24
November 20
December 16