PROFILE

JULIA DRIVER PHILOSOPHY

Claim to Fame: Well-known for her scholarship, Driver, 45, is a recent recipient of a National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship for work on her latest book, Consequentialism.

Coolest Class: "Topics in Applied Ethics," which examines different ethical dilemmas each semester, such as the ethics of mountain climbing. "We'll look at quandaries that arise in really extreme situations, like climbing Mt. Everest," says Driver. "People invest a lot of money to climb and may not be truly prepared. Sometimes members of expeditions become injured and the dilemma arises: cut short the climb and lose all that investment or leave the injured to die? The choice people make frequently is to let their fellow climbers die."

Defending Consequentialism: The theory that an action's value is determined by the valueof its consequences ratherthan the principle on which itis performed, consequentialism has its critics. "Peoplewrongfully think you're always engaged in instrumentalreasoning, considering thegreatest amount of happinessimpartially," says Driver, whohopes to teach an intuitive understanding of this approach.

Off-Campus: Lives in Hanover with her husband and two children, 8 and II. Enjoys collecting antique photographs— particularly those taken by women photographers in the 19th century.