Over the past few years, the humanities and social sciences have been marked by repeated and polarizing controversies over what kinds of views should and shouldn’t be debated by scholars. Recent examples include Peter Singer’s views on disability and Kathleen Stock’s views on gender. Many scholars hold that some positions should not be defended or engaged with in print or at conferences. Others believe that, in academic inquiry, anything should be up for debate, such that we need to leave room for the offensive and the outrageous. 

Over the past few years, the humanities and social sciences have been marked by repeated and polarizing controversies over what kinds of views should and shouldn’t be debated by scholars. Recent examples include Peter Singer’s views on disability and Kathleen Stock’s views on gender. Many scholars hold that some positions should not be defended or engaged with in print or at conferences. Others believe that, in academic inquiry, anything should be up for debate, such that we need to leave room for the offensive and the outrageous. 

Each semester The Murphy Institute sponsors a series of seminars organized by the Tulane Department of Economics that provides an opportunity for faculty, researchers, and practitioners to present their latest research and pressing issues related to topics in political economy. Research presented covers all aspects of contemporary economics and political science.

James Poterba is the Mitsui Professor of Economics at MIT and the President of the National Bureau of Economic Research, a non-profit research organization with more than 1700 affiliated economists. 

Each semester, the Center for Ethics invites distinguished academics to present their current work at the Center for Ethics Public Lecture. Since 2001, the Center for Ethics has hosted more than 200 guest speakers. The Center for Ethics public lectures are free and open to all members of the Tulane community as well as the general public. 

2025 Senior Awards Dinner celebrating the graduating cohort in Political Economy. Hosted by Dr. John Louis Howard, Associate Director of The Murphy Institute and Undergraduate Program in Political Economy.

Benjamin Ferguson is a Professor of Philosophy at the University of Warwick, Director of the University’s PPE program, and a 2024-2025 Faculty Fellow at the Center for Ethics.

Rachel Zuckert is an American philosopher and Professor of Philosophy at Northwestern University. Their research focuses on Kant and his philosophical context, broadly understood: both his eighteenth-century contemporaries, and post-Kantian, nineteenth-century philosophy. 

Gina Schouten received her PhD in 2013 from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and prior to joining Harvard as Assistant Professor of Philosophy in 2016, occupied the same position for three years at Illinois State University. Her research interests include gender justice, educational justice, and political legitimacy. 

Alexander Schaefer is an Assistant Professor of Philosophy at The University at Buffalo. Their research focuses on social complexity, institutional evolution, and the social contract within the subfield of Philosophy, Politics, and Economics (PPE).