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MCC Daily Tribune

Community Discussion on Family and Moral Obligations: Tuesday, April 28, at 2:00 PM (part of Scholars' Day)

Faculty, students, and staff are invited to a Great Questions community discussion on Tuesday, April 28, at 2:00 PM, in room 12-109. This event will be hosted by philosophy professors Thomas Blake, Amy Burtner, and Robert Muhlnickel, repicients of a two-year fellowship with the Great Questions Foundation.  

Our discussion will focus on the nature of our obligations to family. Are these moral obligations or something else? Do these obligations presuppose "healthy" family dynamics? Do these obligations presuppose shared ideology? Do these obligations have limits? When should other moral commitments overpower obligations to family? By reading passages from Confucius (551–479 BCE), Mencius (371–289 BCE), and Lü Buwei (291–235 BCE) alongside an excerpt from David Kaczynski's "My Brother, The Unabomber" (2016), we will see that we have been deliberating obligation to family for over 2500 years. What makes this issue so worthy of deliberation? What might these obligations look like in our contemporary world? 

No preparation is necessary. Short excerpts will be provided, with time given to read the texts before discussing them.  

Many thanks to Scholars' Day and to the Great Questions Foundation for their support of this program.

Amy Burtner
English and Philosophy
04/27/2026