Episodes

Monday Nov 17, 2025
Monday Nov 17, 2025
This episode features a thought-provoking conversation with Dr. R. Edward Freeman, the originator of stakeholder theory and one of the world’s leading voices in business ethics. Dr. Freeman joins Dr. Roxanne Ross, Professor in the JMU College of Business and Ethical Reasoning in Action’s Director, Dr. Christian Early, to explore the ethical challenges that continue to prevail and shape our lives in our current context.
Guests:
R. Edward Freeman, University Professor of Business Ethics - Darden School of Business – UVA
Roxanne Ross, Assistant Professor – JMU College of Business
Christian Early, Director – Ethical Reasoning in Action
Host: Kacey Damaty

Friday Oct 17, 2025
Friday Oct 17, 2025
In this episode, you'll meet Dr. Dan Holt, professor of psychology and the first Ethical Reasoning in Action Faculty Research Fellow here at James Madison University. With over 20 years of experience in behavioral psychology, Dan will talk about his passion for understanding the factors that contribute to the decisions we make and how ethical reasoning provides an exciting new landscape for his research.

Friday Jan 31, 2025
Friday Jan 31, 2025
Today we’re talking with Dr. Kate Brelje, an environmental philosopher and professor at James Madison University. Kate's current research is rooted in feminist philosophy and environmental ethics with a focus on care ethics and plant life.
For some of us plants aren’t the first thing that comes to mind when we’re asked about ethical decision-making or our own moral perception. Dr. Brelje’s research offers us all a chance to reconsider our relationship with the more-than-human world by considering our experiences with the plants we encounter.
If you have ever enjoyed a plant, consumed a vegetable, or walked through a forest just for fun, this episode is for you.
Read Dr. Brelje
https://www.pdcnet.org/eip/content/eip_2023_0999_5_24_16
https://www.jmu.edu/philrel/people/brelje-katherine.shtml

Friday Nov 01, 2024
Friday Nov 01, 2024
Steven David Johnson is an award winning conservation photographer and Professor of Visual and Communication Arts at EMU in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. His photography of the natural world has appeared in Wildlife Photographer of the Year, Nature Conservancy Magazine, Ranger Rick, Virginia Wildlife, Biographic, Orion, National Science Teachers Association Press books, and numerous conservation publications and journals.
Resources:
Martin Buber “I and Thou”
https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/buber/
Mammal biomass stats:
https://www.greenpeace.org/international/story/17788/how-much-of-earths-biomass-is-affected-by-humans/
On phones, social media and evolution:
Why is My Phone So Addictive?
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/your-neurochemical-self/201709/why-is-my-phone-so-addictive
Laura Marris - The Age of Loneliness
https://www.graywolfpress.org/books/age-loneliness
Ed Yong - An Immense World
https://edyong.me/an-immense-world
Robin Wall Kimmerer on the Language of Animacy
https://orionmagazine.org/article/robin-wall-kimmerer-language-animacy/
Thomas Nagel - What Is It Like to Be a Bat
https://www.sas.upenn.edu/~cavitch/pdf-library/Nagel_Bat.pdf
Photos:
Photo of hatching spotted salamander
https://www.stevendavidjohnson.com/portfolio/vernalpools?itemId=9w5tm5s1x99vvarfklmgz6n764v30c
Photos of encounters with river otters
https://www.stevendavidjohnson.com/riverine/otter
Project ceti
https://www.projectceti.org
NYU MOTH project
https://mothrights.org/
More than Human Rights: An Ecology of Law, Thought and Narrative for Earthly Flourishing
https://mothrights.org/more-than-human-rights-an-ecology-of-law-thought-and-narrative-for-earthly-flourishing/
Roger Payne whale song story found in Tom Mustill’s book - How to Speak Whale
https://www.tommustill.com/how-to-speak-whale
David Abram - The Spell of the Sensuous
https://www.davidabram.org/books
Mike Hayslett, Virginia Vernal Pools expert
https://www.virginiavernalpools.com/about-us
Steven David Johnson Conservation Photography
stevendavidjohnson.com
Conservation Photography at EMU
https://emu.edu/vaca/conservation-photography
Shenandoah Chapter of the Virginia Native Plant Society
https://vnps.org/shenandoah/
Homegrown National Park
https://homegrownnationalpark.org
Virginia Wilderness Committee and Shenandoah Mountain National Scenic Area
https://www.vawilderness.org/shenandoah-mountain.html

Monday Sep 30, 2024
Monday Sep 30, 2024
In this episode, you’ll meet the Ethical Reasoning Educators: A group of student volunteers with experience using JMU’s original ethical reasoning strategy, the Eight Key Questions.

About Ethical Reasoning in Action
Ethical Reasoning in Action is committed to the JMU mission to prepare "educated and enlightened citizens who lead productive and meaningful lives." We aim to answer this call through coordinated and enhanced curricular and co-curricular opportunities to learn the Eight Key Questions - a unique ethical reasoning strategy that can be applied in our personal, professional, and civic lives. Visit jmu.edu/ethicalreasoning to learn more.






