The Denison University Lilly Endowment fund is sponsoring the appearance of ethicist David Solomon to discuss "What is Medicine For? Mother Theresa and the Modern Hospital." This convocation, set for 7:30 p.m. on Thursday (Nov. 6) in Slayter Auditorium, is free and open to the public. Solomon will talk about the ways in which individualism, consumerism, medicalization and greed have diminished the health care profession.

Solomon, currently the director of the Notre Dame Center for Ethics and Culture, which he founded in 1998, earned a bachelor's degree (1964) at Baylor University and a doctorate (1972) at the University of Texas. He joined the department of philosophy at the University of Notre Dame in 1968 and has also served as a National Endowment for the Humanities Research Fellow at Oxford University (1972-73), a Milbank Research Fellow at Boston University (1975-77), a University Research Fellow at Oxford University (1982-83) and a visiting professor at Baylor University (1994-95).

Solomon is the co-author of the first study of the public policy implications of the Roe v. Wade abortion decision,Abortion and Public Policy, and a study of the philosophy of Wilfrid Sellars,The Synoptic Vision. Solomon's research interests have focused on issues in contemporary moral philosophy with a special interest in medical ethics. His articles have appeared in numerous journals and he has appeared frequently on television, including on The Firing Line and Today's Life Choices, Notre Dame's nationally syndicated PBS program for which he has served as the academic advisor

Solomon is a contributor to both theEncyclopedia of Ethicsand theEncyclopedia of Bioethicsand his videotaped lectures,Ethics in the 20th Century, are included in the Great Teacher's Series. Solomon has lectured at over 100 colleges and universities in the United States and Europe and recently gave the Founder's Day Lecture at Seton Hall University. He is currently working on a scholarly monograph on the recent revival of virtue ethics and two volumes of collected material growing out of the annual Notre Dame Conference on Medical Ethics that he has directed since 1986.

The Lilly Endowment Fund has funded a series of programs at Denison that focus on questions relating to vocation. The Lilly grant understands vocation to be a call to wholeness in one's life, a life in which spirituality, values and ethical principles are substantially integrated into an individual's decisions and life choices. The Endowment recognizes that all people need to make meaningful life choices, and that the liberal arts education is an excellent venue in which to encourage such reflection.

About Denison:

Denison University, founded in 1831, is an independent, residential liberal arts institution located in Granville, Ohio. A highly selective college enrolling 2,100 full-time undergraduate students from all 50 states and dozens of foreign countries, Denison is a place where innovative faculty and motivated students collaborate in rigorous scholarship, civic engagement and the cultivation of independent thinking.

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