Gun Control: Contrasting Views (3/16/2017)

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The Western Civ Dialogue Series and the present:

Gun Control: Contrasting Views

Thursday, 3/16/2017
7:00:00 PM-9:00:00 PM
Hale 270
University of Colorado Boulder

Free and open to the public

This will be a presentation and discussion of two sharply contrasting views of the ethics of gun control: not the legalities but the rights and wrongs of limiting access to firearms. Dr. Hunt will argue that the right to own a gun follows from the right of self-defense, in the same way that the right to own a cell phone or an internet connection follows from the right of free speech. Coercively restricting access to arms violates the rights of all peaceful citizens but most grievously the rights of those who are most likely to be victims of physical abuse and attack. Prof. DeGrazia will argue that gun control not only promotes public safety but also protects certain individual rights, in particular the right not to be shot, the right to a reasonably safe environment, and the right of children not to be harmed by gross negligence—without violating rights to gun ownership. The two speakers therefore differ on whether moderately extensive gun control is part of a reasonable governmental policy to reduce the gun violence we see in the news every day.

Featuring:

, George Washington University
, University of Wisconsin-Madison

Lester H. Hunt and David DeGrazia are co-authors of the 2016 book (Oxford University Press).

Lester H. Hunt is Professor Emeritus of Philosophy at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. He has also taught at Carnegie-Mellon University, University of Pittsburgh, and The Johns Hopkins University. He has written extensively on ethics and political philosophy, and is the author of Nietzsche and the Origins of Virtue (1990) and Character and Culture (1998), and Anarchy, State, and Utopia: An Advanced Guide (2015). He is currently working on a book on the aesthetics of film and planning one on the theory of anarchy.

David DeGrazia is Professor of Philosophy at George Washington University, where he has been teaching since 1989. The author of over 120 professional publications, his books include Taking Animals Seriously: Mental Life and Moral Status (Cambridge UP 1996), Human Identity and Bioethics (Cambridge UP 2005), and Creation Ethics: Reproduction, Genetics, and Quality of Life (Oxford UP 2012). DeGrazia's research has been supported by major grants from the National Endowment of the Humanities, the American Council of Learned Societies, and the National Institutes of Health.

Directions and Maps

Location: http://www.colorado.edu/campusmap/map.html?bldg=HALE
Campus Parking Map: colorado.edu/pts/maps
For more information: colorado.edu/CWCTP

In order to ensure we have enough seating for this event, .

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