Edmond & Lily Safra Center for Ethics at Harvard University

10/06/2026

Are different moral temperaments essential to a healthy moral world?

Join us for our annual Mala & Solomon Kamm Lecture in Ethics with C. Thi Nguyen, Associate Professor of Philosophy at The University of Utah, where he will explore the case for moral diversity and its implications.

Thursday, October 22, 5:00pm EST in Cambridge or via YouTube livestream.

This event is free and open to all. Registration required for in-person attendance:
https://www.ethics.harvard.edu/event/mala-and-solomon-kamm-lecture-ethics-c-thi-nguyen

10/02/2026

The Edmond & Lily Safra Center for Ethics celebrates its 40th anniversary this year! We are proud to reflect on 40 years of inquiry and impact, teaching and learning, and hosting a wide range of high-quality, dynamic public events. Thank you for being part of our history and community!

To mark this milestone, we present a new video for you to learn more about the Center's work featuring some of those who have helped shape it.

In the coming months, we will also share clips from our event archives including Kwame Anthony Appiah, Martha Nussbaum, Derek Parfit, and Amélie Rorty, among others!

Watch the video here:

Watch this short introduction to the work of the Edmond & Lily Safr...

09/29/2026

Still considering whether to apply for a Center fellowship? Former Fellow-in-Residence Katherine Peeler, MD, MA, pediatric critical care physician at Boston Children’s Hospital, shared her experience entering the program without a background in philosophy.

Applications are open now until November 15 for the Fellow-in-Residence program. Learn more about all our open opportunities: https://www.ethics.harvard.edu/opportunities

09/28/2026

The Center is pleased to announce our new blog: Center Stage! By bringing together researchers, students, educators, and civic leaders, we test new ideas, share what we're learning, and turn big questions about civil discourse into practical tools anyone can use. Whether you're interested in bridging divides, improving dialogue, or simply having better conversations, Center Stage offers fresh insights for a more connected world.

Visit our website or the comment below to read the first post!

09/23/2026

What does the “art of listening” amount to in different settings of our public life: social and traditional media, court trials, the classroom, citizens’ assemblies, the internet, the street? How is listening shaped by its different ends, including understanding, empathy, judgment, and/or policy recommendations?

Listening in the Public Sphere: Challenges and Possibilities, a symposium convened in 2025 by then Fellows-in-Residence Adriana Alfaro Altamirano and Sonali Chakravarti asked panelists to respond to these timely questions. Their answers are now available as essays in the latest issue of Polity, including “Listening to Protesters” by current Fellow-in-Residence Candice Delmas, who participated in the symposium.

Read the collection here: https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/toc/pol/current

09/22/2026

What does it take to help people navigate disagreement and develop the confidence to participate in civic life?

In a recent episode of the National Constitution Center’s podcast, Kelly Siegel-Stechler, Director of Research & Strategic Initiatives at the Edmond & Lily Safra Center for Ethics, speaks with Julie Silverbrook about civic formation: how children develop a sense of agency, belonging, and responsibility to others.

Their conversation explores how everyday experiences like making decisions together and working through disappointment, can help children understand that their voices matter and that they have something meaningful to contribute to their communities.

This work connects closely to Kelly’s role leading the Safra Center’s Research & Design Studio, which conducts research and develops tool to explore how we can strengthen civil discourse and better navigate disagreement across differences.

And there's more to come! Next week, the Safra Center will launch Center Stage, a new blog exploring the work of our Research & Design Studio, and what it takes to navigate disagreement in everyday life.

Exploring the important role parents play in developing a child’s sense of agency, belonging, and responsibility to others

09/14/2026

Calling all Chicago-based Harvard University alums and Harvard Club of Chicago members! Our Faculty Director, Eric Beerbohm, will discuss civil discourse at Harvard and beyond this Wednesday, September 16 at 5:00pm CDT.

Advanced registration is required. Learn more and register here:

Changing Cultures in Higher Education: Civil Discourse at Harvard and Beyond

09/08/2026

2027-28 Fellowship Applications are now open!

We are currently accepting fellowship applications from undergraduates, graduate students, researchers, and practitioners - learn more about all of our opportunities and join our vibrant intellectual community!

Opportunities If you have an opportunity that you would like to share with the Center's community through our website or newsletter, please contact us at [email protected]. About Aboutexpand_more About the Center About the Centerexpand_more Timeline Support the Center Benefac...

09/02/2026

How are generative AI systems impacting our human relationships? Join us in Cambridge, MA (or YouTube) on 9/24 at 5pm EST as we bring together a panel of leading voices in law, tech, economics, and more to explore how to navigate disagreement in the digital age.

Register now for this free event! https://www.ethics.harvard.edu/event/ethics-real-life-disagreement-age-ai

08/20/2026

As AI systems increasingly appear to demonstrate characteristics like friendship and empathy, how do human beings articulate what is valuable about our own, often flawed and limited, companionship?

Two Harvard University-affiliated researchers, including former Center Fellow-in-Residence Jason D'Cruz, took up the question this summer with singer-songwriter Sean Ono Lennon, who recently released a concept album threaded with AI skepticism. The three met at the Harvard Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study for a taping of the Sing For Science podcast, which regularly convenes scientists and musicians for conversations on overlapping interests. The episode, hosted by New York musician and Sing for Science creator Matt Whyte, is available now.

Read the full story in the FAS Current:

AI chatbots appear to be perfectly friendly and empathetic. Where does that leave the value of bona fide human companionship, with all its limitations and flaws? The singer-songwriter, who recently released a concept album threaded with AI skepticism, appeared on the Singing for Science podcast to t...