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Philosophy

On the Galápagos, an underwater exploration of marine life
sea lion with divers

Homepage image: The diving project is part of a larger initiative called Projecto Laboratorio para Apreciar la Vida y el Ambiente or Project LAVA, which also includes research about the effect humans are having on sea lions in the Galápagos.

On the Galápagos, an underwater exploration of marine life

In collaboration with a local dive instructor and the students he trained, researchers from Penn and Villanova are learning how human presence affects life on the seafloor around these islands.

Michele W. Berger

Two Penn seniors named 2022 Marshall Scholars
two students outside with plants behind them

Two Penn seniors in the College of Arts and Sciences, Kennedy Crowder and Chinaza Ruth Okonkwo, have been named 2022 Marshall Scholars. Established by the British government, the Marshall Scholarship funds up to three years of study for a graduate degree in any field at an institution in the United Kingdom.
 

Two Penn seniors named 2022 Marshall Scholars

Kennedy Crowder and Chinaza Ruth Okonkwo have been named 2022 Marshall Scholars, among 41 chosen in the U.S. this year. Established by the British government, the Marshall Scholarship funds up to three years of study for a graduate degree in any field at an institution in the United Kingdom.
Penn at COP26: By the numbers
The midnight sun shines across sea ice.

The midnight sun shines across sea ice along the Northwest Passage in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. (Image: AP Photo/David Goldman)

Penn at COP26: By the numbers

A look at who is representing the University at this global conference, what they’re focused on, and how it fits into the bigger picture of worldwide climate action.

Michele W. Berger

The Divine Comedy’s ‘universal message’
Woman pages through book. Many other books lie propped open on the table in front of her

Romance languages professor Eva Del Soldato pages through a volume illustrated by 19th-century French artist Gustave Doré, whose vivid illustrations popularized Dante for a new generation.

The Divine Comedy’s ‘universal message’

Seven centuries years after Dante Alighieri's death on Sept. 14, 1321, his “Divine Comedy,” a poem in which an autobiographical protagonist journeys through hell, purgatory, and paradise, is still widely influential.

Kristina García

In These Times: ‘Race and Repair’
Drawing of books, an African American student’s face, a diploma, a fist in the air.

Image: Adriana Bellet

In These Times: ‘Race and Repair’

OMNIA’s final episodes look into how institutions have perpetuated racial hierarchies, how the past reverberates through the present, and consider what justice looks like.

From Omnia

The ins and outs of research, through a yearlong practicum
Two people standing outside, with a bridge and trees blurry in the background. One, in a blue button-down shirt and khakis, stands with hands in pockets. The other, in a red dress, stands with arms crossed.

Through a yearlong practicum taught by William (Zev) Berger (left), a fellow with the Philosophy, Politics, and Economics program at Penn, rising senior Jeanica Geneus and four classmates learned how the research process works, including what to do when the results are unexpected.

The ins and outs of research, through a yearlong practicum

The course, which just completed its third iteration, takes undergrads through the process, from generating a hypothesis and creating experiments to analyzing results and writing a paper. The most recent cohort studied mentorship and educational inequality.

Michele W. Berger

‘Global Health Justice and Governance’
An image of an earth surrounded by word bubbles describing public health issues like "a lack of global strategy" and "facade of altruism"

There are multiple issues leading to fragmenting and global health inequality, according to Jennifer Prah Ruger. Global health is an issue of justice, not charity, she says. 

‘Global Health Justice and Governance’

In a special issue of the journal Global Health Governance, seven experts reflect upon Jennifer Prah Ruger’s call for a new model of global public health that prioritizes equity and cooperation between nations and agencies.

Kristina García

Morality isn’t fixed but changes around close relationships
A group of four people leaning against a wall. The one farthest on the left is wearing a bag diagonal across the chest and holding papers. The second from left has on a purse. The second from right has on a backpack and is holding a blue spiral notebook. The person all the way on the right is pointing to the others and holds a folded piece of white paper and a writing utensil. The people around in a given moment—friends versus acquaintances, for instance—affect the importance morals take on for someone, according to new research published in Nature Communications.

Morality isn’t fixed but changes around close relationships

Research from MindCORE postdoc Daniel Yudkin found that the importance people place on certain moral values shifts depending on who is around in a given moment.

Michele W. Berger

Nationalism in times of crisis
Map of the world with vials of COVID vaccine on top of the map in different countries.

Nationalism in times of crisis

A team of Penn philosophers examine whether it’s morally acceptable for the government to prioritize its own people’s interests and needs during a global pandemic.

From Omnia