Moral Imagination and Moral Responsibility: Daniel Swartzman at TEDxUofIChicago
## Speaker Context - Speaker identity: Presenter/Speaker (teaching at the University of Illinois Chicago). - Setting: An academic talk/lecture setting. - Occasion: A talk related to Public Health ethics. - Framing: The speaker frames the discussion around the "other" and the concept of "moral imagination" as central to public health ethics. ## People - Wesley Atrey + Witness/Subject + Witnessed a white man falling into subway tracks. - Speaker's parents (Father and Mother) + Family unit + Key figures in the speaker's personal narrative. - Speaker's father + Family member + Was a Jewish businessman, worked in Odessa, Russia, was a salesperson in Shanghai, China. - Speaker's grandfather + Ancestor + Jewish businessman. - Speaker's grandmother + Ancestor + Was in Nazi-occupied Warsaw. - Speaker's brother + Family member + Electronics genius with three patents and own computer company. - Speaker's sister + Family member + Attended Brown University on a full-ride scholarship. - Janette + Person + Was the speaker's parents' boss, paid for the speaker's college education. - Ray + Person + Was the speaker's parents' boss, paid for the speaker's law school education. - Jewish organizations + Entity + Paid for the speaker's parents to come to the United States and found jobs for them. ## Organizations - University of Illinois Chicago + Educational institution + Where the speaker has been teaching for 35 years. - Public Health + Field of study + Subject matter for the discussion. - The Lung Association + Organization + Area of focus for the speaker's early environmental work. - Brown University + Educational institution + Where the speaker's sister attended on a full-ride scholarship. - IV League schools + Group of educational institutions + Places the speaker's family members sent children to. ## Places - Chicago, Illinois + Location + University setting. - Odessa, Russia + Origin location + Where the speaker's father was born. - Warsaw + City + Location where the family was forced to move after fleeing Odessa. - Lithuania + Country + Location the family found their way to after Warsaw. - Japan + Country + Location the family ended up on December 8th, 1941, in Kobe. - Shanghai, China + City + Place where the father found work. - Seattle, Washington + City + Location where the father got a job as a longshoreman. - San Francisco + City + Location where the mother and siblings were while the father worked in Seattle. - New Orleans + City + Location mentioned regarding drunken revelers. - West side of the city (Chicago) + Neighborhood area + Area mentioned where the speaker imagines a man with limited moral imagination. - Suburbs of Chicago + Location + Area mentioned where the speaker imagines a man with limited moral imagination. - New York + City + Location where a young man fell into the tracks. - Congress (U.S. Congress) + Building/Government setting + Location where new town parents went to tell stories. ## Tools, Tech & Products - Glasses + Item + A pair of glasses that three children in the speaker's family bought exactly the same pair. - Truck (big old truck) + Vehicle + Used to collect clothing and travel a thousand miles to New Orleans. ## Concepts & Definitions - Public Health + Field/Concept + Described as "a place not a profession where scientists and social movements get together for the goal of preventing death at too young an age and eliminating unnecessary suffering." - The Other + Concept + The core philosophical concept discussed, viewed through a 2x2 table. - Moral Imagination + Concept + The ability to care for others; something the speaker argues needs to be stretched. - Truly Other + Concept + A term the speaker uses to refer to the fourth cell in the "other" conceptual model (abstract and unrelated). ## Numbers & Data - 35 years + Duration + Time the speaker has been teaching at the University of Illinois Chicago. - Two (2) by two table + Structure + The conceptual framework for the "other." - 1,000 miles + Distance + Distance separating the three children who bought the same glasses. - Three (3) years old + Age + Age of the speaker's father when the incident with the Soviet soldiers occurred. - 1939 + Date/Year + Date Hitler crossed the frontier into Poland. - September 1st, 1939 + Date + Date Hitler crossed the frontier into Poland. - December 8th, 1941 + Date + Date the family ended up in Kobe, Japan. - 2,000 + Count + Number of visas written by Ciun Sugihara for the speaker's parents and other Jews. - 700 + Currency value + Amount of hairnuts the family arrived in the United States with. - 4 + Number + Number of years the speaker's sister was at Brown University. - 12 + Number + Years ago the speaker found out about his parents paying for his education. ## Claims & Theses - The goal of public health is "preventing death at too young an age and eliminating unnecessary suffering." - The motivation for being in public health is due to "our urge to care for the other." - The speaker argues that there are at least two dimensions for the other: whether the person is real to you or an abstraction, and whether you're related or unrelated. - The "real and related" are easy to care for. - The "abstract and related" requires the moral imagination to care for. - Caring for the "real but unrelated" requires significant moral imagination. - Caring for the "abstract and unrelated" is the hardest group to care for (the "truly other"). - We need to find ways to stretch people's moral imagination to find their own experiences and relationships to these more attenuated others. - Telling family stories twice, especially in landscape format, helps find the moral imagination and reveals that we are all embedded in community. - Being embedded in community ultimately allows us to generate and mobilize moral imagination. - The most libertarian of us is living in the illusion that we are all alone. ## Mechanisms & Processes - The structure of the "other" is organized into a 2 by 2 table based on two binary choices (real/abstract, related/unrelated). - The process of finding the "other" is illustrated by distinguishing between concrete, tangible people/groups (real) versus conceptual ones (abstraction). - Moral imagination operates as a required capacity to extend care beyond immediate circles. - The process of writing family histories twice (portrait then landscape) serves as a narrative mechanism to reveal deeper connectivity. ## Timeline & Events - 35 years + Duration + Period of teaching at UIC. - Childhood incident (glasses) + Event + All three children buying the same pair of glasses while living 1,000 miles apart. - Early career + Period + Speaker started as a lob for environmental groups. - Russian Revolution + Event + Forced the family to leave Odessa. - Journey to Warsaw + Event + Family traveled back to Warsaw. - Arrival in Poland (after Warsaw) + Event + Nazi occupied Warsaw setting; the family found shelter with Catholic friends. - Father's sickness + Event + Occurred en route to Lithuania, requiring care at a farmhouse. - Nazi inspection at farmhouse + Event + Farmer and wife risked their lives by lying to Nazis. - Ciun Sugihara's actions + Event + Wrote over 2,000 visas for the family and 2,000 other Jews. - Arrival in Kobe, Japan (December 8th, 1941) + Event + Family reached Kobe. - Move to Shanghai, China + Event + Family had to go to Shanghai because they lacked travel papers. - Sale of services/Work life + Activity + Father became a successful salesperson in Shanghai. - Moving to the US + Event + Family arrived with $700 worth of hairnuts. - Father's job in Seattle + Activity + Started loading and unloading boats as a longshoreman. - Learning English/Job in Seattle + Process + Father eventually learned enough English to become a salesperson. - Getting employed in Houston/Chicago + Activity + Jewish organizations found jobs for the family. - Speaker's education funding + Process + Parents' bosses (Ray and Janette) paid for the speaker's college and law school. ## Examples & Cases - Children buying glasses + Concrete example + Illustrates connection across distance (1,000 miles). - Clinician's patients (real and related) + Example + People you can poke and with whom you have an understood relationship. - Speaker's ethnic group (Jews) + Example + An abstraction that is related (can't poke). - Speaker's unborn children/posterity + Example + An abstraction to which the speaker feels related. - Stranded person on the side of the road / Beggar + Concrete example + People who are real but unrelated. - Wesley Atrey's action + Case study + Jumping down from a subway to cover a man as a train rolled over them (caring for real but unrelated). - Speaker's work for clean air + Example + Aimed at an unknown group (the truly other). - Drunken revelers in New Orleans + Example + People for whom the moral imagination inspires care despite not knowing them. - The suburban man limiting his moral imagination + Example + Cannot focus on infant mortality on the west side of Chicago. - Katrina aftermath in the neighborhood + Case study/Example + Man driving a truck, collecting clothing, and traveling 1,000 miles to New Orleans. - New town parents at Congress + Example + Telling stories about lost children in a public forum. - Speaker's parents' story (detailed narrative) + Detailed Case Study + Covering Odessa, Soviet soldiers, Warsaw, Nazi occupation, Lithuania, Japan, Shanghai, and arrival in the US. - The roers family job in Chicago + Example + A family that promoted the father over sons because of his work quality. - Ed's career + Example + Passing over lack of college degree and ability to speak double negatives. ## Trade-offs & Alternatives - Being in Public Health: Choice between professionalism/science vs. social movements. - Caring for Real/Related vs. Abstract/Related vs. Real/Unrelated vs. Abstract/Unrelated: The different modes of care. - The speaker's current trajectory (teaching) vs. The ideal of the American Dream (which his father exemplified). - Speaking story in Portrait vs. Speaking story in Landscape: Two ways to tell the same story, revealing more facts/connections. ## Counterarguments & Caveats - The speaker addresses the potential illusion that one is in public health for "the big bucks." - The speaker notes that it is "easy to care for the real and related." - The speaker concedes that finding the moral imagination for "real but unrelated" is harder than for the "abstract and related." - The speaker notes the initial resistance from the Japanese consulate regarding the visas. ## Methodology - Questioning students: Starting every semester by asking students, "why are they doing that? What is their motivation? Why are they in public health?" - Narrative Storytelling: Using the personal story of his parents and family journey as the central mechanism of illustration. - Comparative Analysis: Using the 2x2 table model to categorize the nature of the "other." ## References Cited - The speaker mentions The Lung Association (as an area of past work). - The speaker mentions the Holocaust Museum (as a location of reflection). ## Conclusions & Recommendations - We need to find ways to stretch people's moral imagination to find their own experiences and relationships to these more attenuated others. - We need to tell our family stories twice. - Every family story can be told in portrait and landscape. - We must find the moral imagination in the communities (geographic and historic) whose caring is the reason for our existence. - We must stimulate people's attention to moral imagination. - We can then stand and say we need to have leadership on behalf of that community that we're all embedded in. ## Implications & Consequences - If people do not stretch their moral imagination, they risk confining care to the easily manageable circles. - Failing to recognize community embedding leads to the illusion of individual autonomy (the most libertarian of us). - Successfully stimulating moral imagination leads to the ability to generate and mobilize care for complicated "others." ## Open Questions - What specific concrete actions can be taken to consistently teach/encourage the stretching of moral imagination beyond immediate circles? ## Verbatim Moments - "for the goal of um preventing death at too young an age and eliminating unnecessary suffering." - "it's easy to care for the real and related everybody cares for the real and related others in their lives" - "we have the moral imagination that says we care for these people even though we don't know who they are we're not related to them we care for these people" - "if they didn't have enough Humanity to see the humor in my father's three-year-old bravado they would have been killed" - "Every family story... can be told in portrait and landscape" - "the most Libertarian of us is living an illusion that we are all"