You may have heard of the concept of the “dignity of work,” first developed as a part of the Catholic social tradition as early as 1891. But on February 3, the Notre Dame Institute for Ethics and the Common Good (ECG) gathered scholars and teachers in the local community to explore a lesser-known companion concept: the dignity of learning.
A group of 60 invited faculty, students, educators, and administrators gathered for dinner and conversation in the Carnegie Library in Mishawaka to discuss the meaning and purpose of education in the era of artificial intelligence. Local participants from Notre Dame, Saint Mary’s College, Holy Cross College, Trinity Academy, and Portage School of Leaders engaged with visitors from Grace College, Marian University, The Reading League, and the Indiana Department of Education, as well as two Bay Area high schools—Marin Catholic and Archbishop Mitty.
“Before we ask whether and how to incorporate technology into learning,” began Adam Kronk, DELTA Network Director, “we must be clear on the teleological question: to what end?” After framing the context of the evening, Kronk invited Lillian King Abadal, Assistant Professor of Philosophy at the University of South Florida, to offer reflections to the group about the meaning of education.
“Our students are in our classrooms—or so they may have come to believe,” said Abadal, “to consume content, to produce a degree, so they can become bigger, better consumers.”
Abadal went on to explain the shortcomings of this widespread, transactional view of education. “Emerging technologies have only exacerbated [this view]: faster consumption, faster production. Why wouldn’t that seem like an unqualified good—if that’s what human beings are?”
Counter to this narrative, Abadal explained, is the need to articulate the dignity of learning for the next generation of students. “Dignified learning is respectful of our very true and very real metaphysical biology,” said Abadal. “That we are fundamentally dependent on community, fundamentally drawn to truth, fundamentally in need of real limits and rest.”
Attendees at the DELTA Encounter ranged from philosophers and priests to education researchers and high school students. All were seated at mixed tables around the venue to address a common topic from their diverse perspectives.
“One of the big things that I took away from this dinner,” said Sean Dudley, an attorney based in Mobile, Alabama, “was the fact that we don’t learn virtues in a vacuum, and they’re not learned by osmosis either. They have to be taught, and they have to be learned in community.”
At the end of the evening, Meghan Sullivan, the Wilsey Family College Professor of Philosophy and director of ECG and the Notre Dame Ethics Initiative, gathered final reflections from the group, and collected practical insights each participant would be able to carry into their work. The evening concluded with a lively closing dessert reception as participants lingered to continue conversation.
“It is crucially important in this day and age for those committed to the common good of education to come together to sharpen their understanding of its ends and its proper means,” said Sullivan. “We couldn’t be more excited for the opportunities these gatherings will give our collaborators to reflect more deeply on what it means to be human in a world of powerful artificial intelligence."
The event kicked off a new series of DELTA Encounters, intimate gatherings of practitioners, scholars, and students focused on the continued development of DELTA. A mnemonic that stands for Dignity, Embodiment, Love, Transcendence, and Agency, DELTA is a shared, faith-based ethical framework to discern appropriate uses of AI. The next DELTA Encounters will take place in Silicon Valley and Washington D.C. in the coming months.
ECG’s work on the DELTA framework is being supported by a $50.8 million grant from Lilly Endowment Inc.
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