The series features current research by Philosophy and Religion faculty and occasional guest speakers. Dr. Timothy Gutman will kick off the fall series with presentation titled, "Examined Lives: Education in Theory and Politics in Imperial China."

With the ideals of meritocracy and the realities of inequality at the forefront of public debate, the role of standardized testing is as controversial as ever. The popular and scholarly image of China as an empire of exams would seem to present limited perspective to modern ideals of public education. However, if we attend to the philosophy and educational theory of Zhu Xi 朱熹 (1130-1200), which is often thought of as the bedrock of the exam system, we can find moral and political theory as concerned with self-cultivation and independent-mindedness as civil order and peace. More broadly, when we examine the literati culture, as well as the imperial service, that drew inspiration from Master Zhu we can think more comparatively about learning, discipline, and freedom.