Loving Strangers: A Philosophical Guide

Sponsored by the University of Oxford, the Wilde Lectures are aimed at a public as well as specialist audience. They have been given by some of the world's most distinguished philosophers and scholars of religion. Past lecturers include Richard Swinburne: 'The Existence of God' (1974-76); Friedhelm Hardy: 'Power, Love and Wisdom: Cultural Contexts of Indian Religions’ (1984-5); Alvin Plantinga: 'Our Knowledge of God' (1987-88); Robert Adams: 'Religion and the Foundations of Ethics' (1988-89); and Peter van Inwagen: ‘Evil and Superfluity: Two Arguments Against the Existence of God’ (1999-2000).

This year's Wilde Lectures, titled Loving Strangers: A Philosophical Guide, will be delivered by Meghan Sullivan (University of Notre Dame), and will comprise four lectures, taking place in Weeks 2 and 3 of Trinity Term, as follows:

Monday 4 May

Lecture One: The Road to Jericho – The Moral Significance of Attention

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Register at: https://tinyurl.com/wildelectures1
Following the first lecture, there will be a reception in the Schwarzman Centre.

Friday 8 May

Lecture Two: The Samaritan – Taking Responsibility for Our Inner Lives

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Register at: https://tinyurl.com/wildelectures2

Monday 11 May

Lecture Three: The Priest – Navigating Moral Burnout

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Register at: https://tinyurl.com/wildelectures3

Wednesday 13 May

Lecture Four: The Levite – Practicing Affective Altruism

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Register at: https://tinyurl.com/wildelectures4

Each lecture will run from 17:15 to 18:45 in the Cinema Auditorium, Ground Floor, Schwarzman Centre.

All are welcome to attend the lectures, but please register for the lectures using the links above.

Series Abstract:

We are living in an era defined by loneliness, resentment, and moral exhaustion. The former Surgeon General has warned that social disconnection poses as grave a public health risk as smoking. Meanwhile, social media platforms have found ways to monetize ridicule and outrage, and our political discourse feeds on grievance. Against this backdrop, the love ethic seeks to recover an alternative moral framework rooted in a straightforward but demanding vision: love is a virtue we are wired to develop, mere human dignity is the only rational basis for love, and our flourishing depends upon expanding this skill even to strangers and adversaries. These Wilde Lectures are based on a book I am completing – Loving Strangers – which lays out a philosophical (rather than theological) defense of the love ethic, while exposing readers to the rich historical sources and contemporary applications for this approach.

The ethical theory will be developed through a close reading of the Parable of the Good Samaritan in Luke 10, treating it as a philosophical thought experiment with significant implications for major debates in contemporary moral theory. I’ll defend a methodology for reading the parables as philosophical texts. The substance of the lectures will focus on four interconnected themes. First, I’ll consider the connection between our moral lives and our capacity for various forms of attention. I’ll revisit the famous Darley and Batson “good Samaritan" study in social psychology and develop a theory of the various forms of attention which are crucial to the love ethic, engaging with Weil, Levinas, and Murdoch along the way. Second, I’ll offer a philosophical account of what characterizes Samaritan love, comparing and contrasting it with the more common Aristotelian love ethic. We’ll consider how that parable fits in the broader tradition of virtue ethics. Third, I’ll consider one of the most significant objections to the Samaritan love ethic, namely that it will inevitably lead to moral burnout on the part of its adherents. We’ll consider the theoretical and practical problems that accompany demandiness and consider the extent to which moral theory must provide a “way of life” for adherents. I’ll argue that we have misunderstood the concept of supererogation which the parable introduced to ethical theory. Finally, we’ll consider how the love ethic compares to rationalist approaches to philanthropy. I’ll offer a defense of the love ethic against pressing recent criticisms from the Effective Altruism movement.