Alumnus Ben Schwan ’07 to deliver College of Wooster’s Phi Sigma Tau Lecture

The College of Wooster will welcome alumnus Ben Schwan ’07 as he gives the College’s annual Phi Sigma Tau Lecture. A faculty member in the Department of Bioethics at Case Western Reserve University and a clinical ethics consultant for The MetroHealth System in Cleveland, Ohio, Schwan will give a lecture titled “Autonomies and Varieties of Respect.” The lecture will take place April 18 at 7:30 p.m. in the Lean Lecture Room of Wishart Hall (303 E. University Street).  

Schwan’s research focuses on issues of agency as they arise in ethical theory and practice. At the theoretical level, his work explores implications that accounts of ability, intention, action, and control have for theories of reasons. At the practical level, he scrutinizes the role that autonomy plays in justifying certain practices in medical research and clinical care and investigates the impact that health and healthcare have on patients’ scope of responsibility. Schwan completed his bachelor’s degree in history and philosophy at The College of Wooster in 2007 before completing a doctoral degree in philosophy at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He then spent two years as a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Bioethics at the National Institutes of Health Clinical Center. 

Phi Sigma Tau is the international honor society in philosophy. Founded in 1930 and incorporated as a nonprofit corporation in 1955, the society now has a network of over 200 chapters throughout the U.S. and Canada, at both public and private institutions of higher learning. The purpose of Phi Sigma Tau is to encourage interest and activity among students and to promote ties between philosophy departments in accredited institutions. The College of Wooster’s Department of Philosophy has been a member of Phi Sigma Tau since March 1983, and new students will be inducted into the society in a private event earlier in the evening. For more information on the lecture, contact Broede Armstrong in the Department of Philosophy at 330-263-2380, or at barmstrong@wooster.edu. 

Posted in News on March 28, 2023.