EthicalStL.org

Finding common ground is often easier said than done. But what if it's not as difficult as we imagine? What if the key to unity is already within our reach? Join us for an enlightening conversation with our guest speaker, Steve Ghikadis, as we explore the shared values, experiences, and aspirations that connect us all. Together, we'll uncover what unites us as partners in humanity and how we can bridge divides with understanding and empathy.

This talk will introduce one of the most arresting figures of ancient Greek philosophy, Diogenes of Sinope, the founder of Cynicism. Diogenes is the subject of some entertaining stories, which will be shared, but he is also a figure of great importance to ancient Greek and Roman culture, and a figure whose provocations retain their punch. Several provocative features of Diogenes' Cynicism will be discussed, including especially the call to live as a citizen of the world.

Life is far too weird and wonderful to be boiled down to one single note. In order to really appreciate it, you need to be willing to explore its countless instruments and hear its many melodies. In this dynamic and unforgettable presentation, you get to learn surprisingly detailed science lessons all while enjoying the incredible symphony that is biology.

Join us for a timely and grounding conversation on immigration, enforcement, and ethical responsibility. As public attention intensifies around ICE activity and immigration policy in the United States, it can be difficult to separate fear from fact. Drawing on her work supporting immigrant communities in St. Louis, Mirka will offer context on what is happening right now, how immigration enforcement impacts real families and neighborhoods, and what it means to respond with integrity rather than panic. This talk will focus on truth-seeking through lived experience, evidence, and ethical reflection. Mirka will invite us to consider how communities can act as informed and compassionate allies by centering dignity, clarity, and shared responsibility in moments of uncertainty.

A Review of long term sustainability goals, how we get there, our values and choices, and what membership means.

Magicians can perform seemingly impossible feats. Objects appear and disappear, change and transform. But how do these things happen? Zi teaches the science of how our senses really work, and how the work of magicians exposes the flaws in our perception that are normally invisible to us in everyday life.

In this powerful and timely talk, Christi Griffin, J.D., founder president of The Ethics Project, explores the quiet progression from indifference to injustice -and how the erosion of fairness in one arena inevitably seeps into all others. Drawing on decades of experience addressing systemic inequities and wrongful prosecutions, Griffin reflects on the moral and civic costs of apathy in the face of injustice. What began as the targeting of others has now reached into every corner of society -from the closing of rural hospitals and family farms to the rollback of educational opportunities and personal freedoms. Through this urgent lens, she challenges audiences to recognize the warning signs of authoritarian drift and to reclaim the courage to care, to speak, and to act before silence becomes complicity.

Sometimes we imagine truth as the result of a contest of ideas. In the "marketplace of ideas", we tell ourselves, the best truths win. But truths are not singular things like products vying for our attention, and the epistemic landscape we inhabit is not like a supermarket or online shopping portal. Rather, truth is the result of collective effort, and flourishes only in the right environment: truth grows in a garden we tend together.

Most of us have experienced a misalignment of emotion and logic when it comes to our search for truth. Maybe it's that friend who's highly educated but easily pulled into conspiracy theories. Maybe it's our own feelings of getting swept up in panic we know isn't rooted in fact. Or maybe it's the collective despair of witnessing mis- and disinformation sweep an entire nation. However it manifests, we know that this misalignment often keeps us stuck, separating us from truth. If we seek true social change, the kind that moves people and communities out of being stuck and into alignment, we must understand the relationship between logic and emotion.

We will provide an overview of Ethical Society of St Louis' history of support for humanist schools in Uganda in cooperation with the Uganda Humanist Schools Trust (UHST), then updates on progress and challenges at the schools during the past year, then finish with a call for our community to continue our support for the students and schools in the upcoming year.