The Department of Philosophy launches the Kural Lecture series this spring featuring moral philosopher Shelly Kagan of Yale University. The lecture, titled “Death and the Meaning of Life,” will take place at 4 p.m. April 27.
Kagan, the Clark Professor of Philosophy at Yale, is known for his popular courses on death and ethics. His course on death has reached a global audience through Yale’s Open Courses platform and has drawn especially strong interest in China and South Korea. His book, Death, based on the course, became a national bestseller in South Korea.
“Kagan is a philosopher who is able to bring a liveliness and intelligence to the hardest, most gut-wrenching issues in philosophy,” says Robert Howell, Yasser El-Sayed Professor of Philosophy and chair of the department. “I’m thrilled to have him as the inaugural Kural Lecturer. If you’ve never seen a talk in philosophy, or if you’ve seen hundreds, Kagan will be hard to top.”
The Kural Lecture series draws inspiration from the Tirukkural, a classical Tamil text known for its reflections on virtue, wealth and love. The work offers ethical guidance on topics ranging from charity to the moral implications of everyday choices, emphasizing a secular approach to moral reasoning.
This emphasis aligns with Rice’s strengths in both applied and theoretical moral philosophy and supports the department’s broader vision for expanding ethics-focused programming. The lecture also connects to the development of the university’s Kural Ethics Lab Initiative, which will build on these strengths in the years ahead.