Jepson Senior to Present Thesis at Professional Ethics Conference

January 6, 2006

Jackie Knupp will present her senior honors thesis at a national conference of scholars in applied ethics.

She will present "How Should Physicians Be Motivated to Fulfill Social Obligations?" at the Association for Practical and Professional Ethics conference in Florida in March. It was one of the winners of their undergraduate paper competition.

Knupp, from Raleigh, N.C., was named a 2005 Truman Scholar, one of an elite group of 75 college juniors committed to making a difference through public service.

A double major in biology and leadership studies, Knupp and other Truman scholars must demonstrate outstanding leadership potential and communication skills, be in the top quarter of their class and be committed to careers in government or the not-for-profit sector. She plans to study medicine.

Based on the assumption that physicians do have social obligations, Knupp's award-winning paper traces the grounds of these social obligations by applying the writings of 18th century German philosopher Immanuel Kant. She defines social obligations as voluntary medical service outside of the contractual physician-patient relationship. She first details Kant's definition of morality based on the motivation behind an act. She then critiques Kant's view that actions are only of moral worth when performed just because it is the right thing to do. Instead, she concludes that many actions performed from other motivations do have moral worth. Some motivations she considers are self-interest, compassion and religious motivation."

Knupp's mentor on her senior honors thesis is Dr. Terry L. Price, a philosopher with grounding in politics and psychology, who focuses his teaching and research interests on applied ethics.

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