This four-week Summer Institute on Moral Psychology and Education provides participants with an intense study and research opportunity. From May 30 to June 24, 2016, participants gain the necessary background in moral psychology to examine the effectiveness of the humanities for moral development and as a crucial part of all moral education. Working from a naturalistic understanding of the mind, faculty who specialize in cognition and moral psychology, virtue development, the sentimentalist philosophers Hume and Smith, the American philosopher John Dewey, neuroscience, aesthetics, and the philosophy of education share their expertise through a mixture of traditional lectures and discussions.

Throughout the four weeks, participants engage in an in-depth and extensive analysis of the components of moral cognition. Specifically, participants will examine sympathy, emotions and affect, moral motivation, moral judgment, implicit/explicit processing, embodiment, simulation, moral imagination, perspective-taking, moral agency, dispositional traits, representations, symbols and meaning, methods of reasoning, biases and prejudice, self-identity/narrative, and goal-setting and idealization.

To frame our examination of the humanities as a vehicle for moral development, we focus on a specific illuminative case in each of the four weeks during the Institute. In the first week, we consider the role that music plays by influencing emotions and affect. In the second week, we examine the role of literature in increasing empathy, perspective-taking, moral imagination, and pro-social behaviors. In the third week, we investigate how narrative within literature and film influences sentiments, implicit processing, symbolism, representation, and moral motivation. In the final week of our Institute, we explore the role of art and how it influences embodied aesthetic experience, emotion, self-identity, and moral judgment. We expect that discussions will explore the overlap of topics from week to week. Further, we hope that participants from other humanities disciplines can share their expertise to enrich our discussion and study beyond these specific cases of music, literature, film, and art.

Participants will arrive with potential teaching and research projects. Over the four weeks, they will study and gain new educational resources and discover new areas of inquiry for theoretical work and empirical research. Currently, there is little scholarship on the connections between virtue ethics, the sentimentalists, and Dewey. This Institute provides a means for developing this area within philosophy as well as future scholarship linking moral psychology with philosophy of education, metaethics, applied ethics, and aesthetics. And while most educators believe the humanities to be important for moral education, this Institute provides an opportunity for participants to develop projects to demonstrate how and why the humanities are both so effective and crucial for moral education. Most importantly, participants can incorporate their studies from this Institute into their current teaching. To develop participants’ teaching and research projects, the directors offer Teaching and Research workshops as well as optional luncheons with Institute visiting faculty.

The Moral Psychology and Education Institute is hosted by Grand Valley State University (GVSU), one of Michigan's seven state universities, at its Pew Campus in downtown Grand Rapids. The mission of GVSU is that of a classical liberal education with a special commitment to creating "a community of diverse, committed scholars engaged in collaborative, lifelong learning to achieve acknowledged academic excellence and positive community impacts."

In keeping with this mission, we hope to create a vibrant community of scholars through (1) scheduled sessions, film screenings, and workshops; (2) optional luncheons and site visits to museums and community organizations; and (3) a variety of informal outings to civic venues/events. We timed the Institute to coincide with several local events to enhance the content of our study, such as the Grand Rapids Festival of the Arts, the Waterfront Film Festival, and the Frederick Meijer Gardens and Sculpture Park.

The Institute sessions and housing are centrally located in the downtown area, which boasts many parks, museums, restaurants, bars, performing arts centers, galleries, brew pubs, shopping, festivals, and farmers' markets—all within walking distance. Housing and campus amenities include network and library access, wifi, seminar rooms, meeting spaces, as well as a host of public gathering spaces from pubs to coffee shops and courtyards. Each participant will receive a $3,300 stipend to offset travel, book, and living expenses.

Applications are due on March 1, 2016 and no exceptions will be made for late or incomplete applications. Applicants will be selected by a committee and notified on March 31, 2016. Once accepted, applicants have until April 7, 2016 to accept the offer.

Download a flyer
Download a poster

 

 

 

There are no upcoming Events at this time

View More Events



Page last modified June 13, 2016