Character and the Moral Sense Conference Agenda
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 2014
8:15 AM Welcome
James R. Wilburn, Dean, School of Public Policy, Pepperdine
University
8:30 AM James Q. Wilson and the Continuing Search for Moral
Responsibility in Public Policy
Chair: William Kristol, Editor, Weekly Standard; former student
of James Q. Wilson
John J. DiIulio, Jr., Frederick Fox Professor of Politics,
Religion, and Civil Society, University of Pennsylvania
R. Shep Melnick, Thomas P. O' Neill, Jr. Professor of
American Politics, Boston College
Three former students of James Q. Wilson, each of whom has worked closely with him and written extensively about his life's work, will discuss the evolution of his thought and frame the larger theme of the conference, considering the importance of the moral sense in human nature as it relates to the pursuit of public policy.
10:30 AM Moral Sense: The Defining Encounter
Chair: Susan Marquis, Dean, Pardee RAND Graduate School
John J. DiIulio, Jr., Frederick Fox Professor of Politics,
Religion, and Civil Society, University of Pennsylvania
Sally Satel, Psychiatrist; Lecturer, Yale School of Medicine
Scott Soames, Director and Distinguished Professor,
Department of Philosophy, University of Southern California
A philosopher, a psychiatrist, and a political scientist explore the ways in which humans apprehend and comprehend the way the world works, especially reflecting on the most current research and deepest understanding of how we develop and understand the moral sense.
12 Noon Lunch
"Does the Public Interest Depend on Private Virtue?:
Reflections on James Q. Wilson"
Speaker: William Galston, Ezra K. Zilkha Chair, Governance Studies
Program, Brookings Institution
1:30 PM Science, Social Science, and the Humanities: Can Public
Policy Be the Nexus for the Conversation?
Chair: Ted McAllister, Edward L. Gaylord Chair and Associate
Professor of Public Policy, Pepperdine University
Mark Kleiman, Professor of Public Policy, Luskin School of
Public Affairs, University of California, Los Angeles
Harvey Mansfield, William R. Kenan, Jr. Professor of
Government, Harvard University
Against the current lively conversation about the role of natural science, the social sciences, and the humanities, each of which tends to operate in isolation in the academy, the interdisciplinary nature of schools of public policy, with their need to draw on all of these sectors, may provide a unique demonstration of their interrelatedness through interdisciplinary curricula and interdisciplinary faculty.
3:30 PM The Moral Sense Beyond the Classroom
Chair: Michael Shires, Associate Professor of Public Policy,
Pepperdine University
Angela Hawken, James Q. Wilson Fellow and Associate
Professor of Public Policy, Pepperdine University
Mark H. Moore, Hauser Professor of Nonprofit Organizations
and Faculty Chair, Hauser Center for Nonprofit Organizations,
Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University
Steven Teles, Associate Professor, Department of Political
Science, Johns Hopkins University
Three scholars deal with their work in three environments discussing how their research is enlightened by foundational insights from James Q. Wilson regarding Religion and the Institutions of Civil Society, the Response of the Judicial System to Substance Abuse, and unique insights from senior business and government executives faced with moral uncertainties and cloudy priorities.
SATURDAY, MARCH 1, 2014
8:30 AM The Moral Sense and American Exceptionalism
Chair: Colleen Graffy, Director of Global Programs and Associate
Professor of Law,London Program, Pepperdine University
Victor Davis Hanson, Martin and Illie Anderson Senior Fellow,
Hoover Institution, Stanford University; William E. Simon
Distinguished Visiting Professor, School of
Public Policy, Pepperdine University
Robert Kaufman, Professor of Public Policy, Pepperdine
University
James Piereson, President, William E. Simon Foundation
James Q. Wilson's final project at Pepperdine was the design of a course sharing the title of his book, jointly edited with Peter Schuck, Understanding America: The Anatomy of an Exceptional Nation. Although the course was to be taught by a four-faculty team, Wilson was not able to cover the final section as he had planned. His three fellow faculty members from that course at Pepperdine comprise this panel, addressing the many dimensions, moral and otherwise, of Wilson's "exceptional nation."
10:30 AM Encountering the Moral Sense in the Public Affairs Classroom:
A Response
Henry Brady, Dean, Goldman School of Public Policy, University of
California, Berkeley; Former President, American Political Science
Association
Angela Evans, Clinical Professor in Public Policy Practice, Lyndon
B. Johnson School of Public Affairs, University of Texas at Austin;
President, Association of Public Policy Analysis and Management
Jack H. Knott, Dean, Sol Price School of Public Policy, University of
Southern California; President, Network of Schools of Public Policy,
Affairs, and Administration
While the Washington Post recently headlined "Want to Govern? Skip Policy School," this panel of three presidents or recent presidents of the American Political Science Association; the Association of Public Policy and Management; and the Network of Schools of Public Policy, Affairs, and Administration will summarize the conference and discuss ways that its recommendations may strengthen and enrich the curricula of schools of public policy, public administration, and public affairs to make them more effective and relevant to today's challenges.
11:30 AM Concluding Remarks
James R. Wilburn