Business (Audio)

This program aims to recover Plato’s idea of craft or art, Greek technê, in the expansive sense which includes not only the handicrafts but skilled practices from housebuilding to navigation. Rachel Barney, professor of philosophy at the University of Toronto, examines Plato and other Greek thinkers who were fascinated by the craft model: the idea that both the moral virtue of the good person and the political widom of the expert ruler are — or could be made into — skilled practices as reliable as shoemaking or carpentry. Similar ideas appear in classical Chinese philosophy, developed in very different ways by Daoist and Confucian thinkers. In our time, craft is in a bad way: marginalized in theory and everywhere endangered in practice. Ancient thinkers can help us to see what remains valuable and urgent about craft today, and what a reinvigorated understanding of it might contribute to our ethical and political thought. Crafts to be considered include carpentry, medicine, drawing, film editing, the ‘multicraft’ of the restaurant, tennis, and traditional Polynesian navigation. Philosophical points of reference, in addition to Plato, Aristotle, Zhuangzi, and Xunzi, include Murdoch, MacIntyre, Korsgaard, and the Hart-Fuller debate, as well as literary reflections from Kazuo Ishiguro and Cormac McCarthy. Barney is joined by Adam Gopnik, Rachana Kamtekar, Christine Korsgaard, and Alexander Nehamas to discuss the topic of craft. Series: "Tanner Lectures on Human Values" [Humanities] [Business] [Show ID: 39865]

Especially when practiced as a line of work — as a job or métier — craft sets norms for its practitioners. On the whole, a shoemaker should try to be a good shoemaker, and the good person who is a shoemaker routinely does just that. But what kind of ‘should’ is this, and what could connect these two kinds of goodness? Rachel Barney, professor of philosophy at the University of Toronto, examines prominent philosophical conceptions of craft, ancient and modern, offer wildly various explanations of its normative authority. The picture is complicated by the way in which craft-as-work is paradigmatic both for successful practical reason and for social roles or practical identities in general. But the most fundamental source of craft’s normativity is the one which Plato and Aristotle bring out: the fact that, when practised as a job or métier, practicing your craft can be a way to realize the human good. And so thinking about craft turns out to be a way of thinking about Utopia: a society in which a just distribution of work could secure both the flourishing of the worker and the common good. Barney is joined by Christine Korsgaard and Alexander Nehamas for commentary on the topic of craft. Series: "Tanner Lectures on Human Values" [Humanities] [Business] [Show ID: 39864]

Pedro Manrique discusses the evolving landscape of work, emphasizing the importance of asynchronous collaboration across time zones and the integration of AI as a tool to enhance productivity. He highlights the need to embrace disruption and technology while maintaining a human-centric approach. Manrique envisions a future where traditional retirement fades, replaced by dynamic career paths and diverse revenue streams. He encourages viewing jobs as portfolios of revenue, advocating for continuous learning, emotional intelligence, and high cultural awareness. Manrique’s insights offer a roadmap for navigating the future of work with adaptability and innovation. Series: "Career Channel" [Business] [Show ID: 39671]

The dramatic housing shortage in California affects millions of residents and leads thousands to homelessness. The 2024 Arthur N. Rupe Great Debate addresses this issue by asking, “Is Housing a Human Right?” If so, our state faces a massive undertaking. Experts with diverse specialties and experiences wrestle with some of our biggest challenges. How, for example, can we build low and moderate income housing when construction costs are high and community opposition is often present? How can people experiencing homelessness be moved to shelter and housing? [Public Affairs] [Business] [Show ID: 39667]

Thinking about changing careers and have an interest in brewing? Have you considered getting into the brewing industry? Kelly Nielsen, Ph.D, discusses the expanding field of brewing, the pathways into a career in the brewing industry, and the skills you will need to be successful. Series: "Career Channel" [Business] [Show ID: 39082]

What's the root cause of poverty in America? And how do we fix it? In this discussion, Matthew Desmond, renowned Princeton sociologist and author of "Poverty, by America," talks about why poverty persists in the U.S. with Marc-Andreas Muendler, economic professor at UC San Diego. Desmond argues we can end poverty through grassroots activism and a willingness to target systems that perpetuate it, like local zoning laws. Desmond was catapulted into the national spotlight as a leading authority on modern American poverty when his Pulitzer Prize-winning masterpiece, “Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City,” made its debut in 2016. His work has been supported by the Gates, Horowitz, Ford, JBP, MacArthur, and National Science, Russell Sage, and W.T. Grant Foundations, as well as the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative. Series: "Helen Edison Lecture Series" [Public Affairs] [Business] [Show ID: 39385]

Children’s chances of earning more than their parents have fallen from 90% to 50% over the past half century in America. How can we restore the American Dream of upward mobility for all children? In this talk, Raj Chetty, director of Opportunity Insights and professor of public economics at Harvard University, shows how big data from varied sources ranging from anonymized tax records to Facebook social network data is helping us uncover the science of economic opportunity. Among other topics, Chetty discusses how and why children’s chances of climbing the income ladder vary across neighborhoods, the drivers of racial disparities in economic mobility, and the role of social capital as a driver of upward mobility. He presents data on the state of economic opportunity in California in particular to provide a local context to these national patterns. Series: "UC Berkeley Graduate Lectures" [Public Affairs] [Business] [Show ID: 39238]