Professor Debra Satz will receive an honorary doctorate on recommendation of the Erasmus Initiative “Dynamics of Inclusive Prosperity”

Honorary doctorate

Debra Satz will receive the honorary doctorate because of here crucial contributions to many areas in philosophy, in particular social and political philosophy, feminist philosophy, and economic ethics. Professor Martin de Jong, Scientific Director of the Erasmus Initiative "Dynamics of Inclusive Prosperity” says: "We are proud of Debra Satz being the honorary doctor of the research initiative. Her work embodies the kind of excellent and interdisciplinary scholarship that we want to engage with and further ourselves."

Satz is best known for her book "The Moral Limits of Markets", published in 2010, which has already become a classic reading in the field. The book focuses on transactions in areas that we may want to protect from market forces (e.g. political influence and intimate personal relationships). She also analyzes specific harmful markets, for example in reproduction, sexual services, and organ donations, in a profound, penetrating, and empirically well-informed way.

Professor Jack Vromen, who is the honorary promotor, says: "What I find very appealing in Debra Satz’s work is that it combines several merits. It deeply engages with pressing societal issues, it is accessible to a larger audience while at the same time meeting the highest academic standards. In informing her pervasive philosophical analysis by social scientific insights in causal mechanisms her work is also profoundly interdisciplinary. Satz surely is a role model for the contemporary public intellectual."

Events

To celebrate Debra Satzs work, the Erasmus Initiative “Dynamics of Inclusive Prosperity” and the Erasmus School of Philosophy organize multiple events.

• Lunch reception on November 8, 2018
  Before the ceremony, students and alumni are invited for a lunch reception with Professor Satz at 12.00 in the Erasmus Paviljon. For more details and registration see the event-page below.
• Dies Natalis on November 8, 2018
  Erasmus University Rotterdam celebrates the university’s 105th anniversary. ‘Advancing Science, Impacting Society’ is the theme of the Dies Natalis, which is also part of the 21st lustrum celebrations. During this ceremony, Debra Satz will receive the honorary doctorate. For more details and registration see the event-page below.
• Conference "Ethics and Economics: Themes from Debra Satz" and Erasmus Philosophy Lecture on November 9, 2018
  Debra Satz’s work is celebrated with the conference: "Ethics and Economics: Themes from Debra Satz" and the Erasmus Philosophy Lecture. The conference focuses on themes from ethics and economics and social and political philosophy, explored by two leading Dutch ethicists and Debra Satz herself. More information about the conference, speakers and registration, please see the event page below.

Debra Satz

Debra Satz studied philosophy at City College, New York and completed her PhD at MIT in 1987. Since 1988, Satz has been affiliated with Stanford University, where she is now Martha Sutton Weeks Professor of Ethics in Society and Vernon R. & Lysbeth Warren Anderson Dean of the School of Humanities & Sciences. Satz has received numerous prestigious awards, fellowships and research grants, including visiting fellowships at Princeton and Oxford, and the Environmental Ventures Program Award "Quantitative Natural Research Ethics" awarded to Satz in 2006 together with Nobel Prize winner Kenneth Arrow and Josh Cohen. Between 2013 and 2016 she was Elected President of the American Society for Political and Legal Philosophy. Satz is also the Editor of the prestigious journal Philosophy & Public Affairs. She has been elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Interview with Debra Satz in EJPE

More information about her work can be found in an interview with Satz in the Erasmus Journal for Philosophy and Economics: https://www.ejpe.org/journal/article/view/40/37

Erasmus Initiative Dynamics of Inclusive Prosperity

The Erasmus Initiative ‘Dynamics of Inclusive Prosperity’ focuses on enabling as many people as possible to benefit from increasing prosperity, whilst minimising the negative consequences. Increased prosperity requires constant coordination of the changing needs and values of governments, businesses, citizens and entrepreneurs. In order to chart this dynamic field, scholars from Erasmus School of Law, Rotterdam School of Management and the Erasmus School of Philosophy are entering into a multidisciplinary partnership.