Edmond & Lily Safra Center for Ethics at Harvard University

06/05/2026

Congratulations to Safra Center Faculty Associate Joshua Greene, Alfred and Rebecca Lin Professor of Civil Discourse, on receiving the 2026 Faculty Prize for Excellence in General Education at Harvard University!

Greene's course asks, "how can we understand the evolution of morality—from primordial soup to superintelligent machines—and how might the science of morality equip us to meet our most pressing moral challenges?"

Learn more:

The award recognizes outstanding course design and teaching that exemplifies the program’s pedagogical aims.

05/28/2026

“Future generations will view the medical neglect occurring in federal immigration detention centers as a profound ethical failure in US medicine.”

A new article in Health Affairs by former fellow Dr. Katherine Peeler and co-authors Drs. Krutika Kuppalli and Tim Lahey argues that states should take a more active role in detention center oversight, offering California as an example.

Read the article here:

Given the federal government’s failure to demonstrate responsible oversight of medical care in the nation’s rapidly expanding network of ICE detention facilities, states should take a more active role in addressing ongoing legal and ethical violations.

05/22/2026

Our pedagogy team is always working to develop new tools, resources, activities, and lesson plans that apply active learning to teach ethics-related topics in an immersive and engaging way.

This Spring, they had an idea — host a competition to create the best game or lesson plan for facilitating difficult conversations. Organized by Tomer Perry, Associate Director of Pedagogy and Maxine Gill, Pre-Doctoral Fellow, the one-day event, “Innovating Civil Discourse: An Instructional Design Hackathon,” welcomed students and scholars from the Boston area to design something ready for use in a classroom.

The winning team — all from the Harvard Graduate School of Education — Luis Gaitan, Abeeha Tahir, Raia Karmali, and Shreya Goel, created a digital decision-making simulation built around ethical dilemmas intended for Harvard College students concentrating in STEM-related fields.

Two teams tied for second place. Kelly Ding and Cristina DeOliveira created a board game to help students practice ethical reasoning involving the impacts of AI in real-world settings.

Kat Mitchell, Ashley Blazek, and Qiao Le L. created a conversation-based card game that encourages players to develop crucial conversational skills, such as active listening and perspective taking.

Thank you to the judges!
Marta McAlister, Director of Gemini for Education
Eliza O'Neil, Senior Curriculum Manager at The Constructive Dialogue Institute
Eric Beerbohm, Faculty Director of the Edmond & Lily Safra Center for Ethics

Read more about these projects below:

Gaming for Good: A One Day Instructional Design Hackathon May 22, 2026 Genevieve Wallace The pedagogy team at the Edmond & Lily Safra Center for Ethics is always working to develop new tools, resources, activities, and lesson plans that apply active learning to teach ethics-related topics in an imme...

05/21/2026

Each summer, a select group of Harvard University undergraduates are awarded Kissel Grants to support research and writing that contributes to the understanding of practical ethics.

This year’s recipients will spend the summer pursuing a diverse and engaging range of topics: the nature and extent of sympathy; the relationship between agency, reason, and love; a universal right to fun opportunities; the practical ethics of federalism; whether large language models possess a genuine introspective capacity; and the ethics of AI data centers.

Read more about the recipients and their projects: https://www.ethics.harvard.edu/news/2026/05/ethically-focused-summer-research

05/18/2026

In case you missed it, our Human Relationships in an Artificial World panel is now available on YouTube! Watch it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tAd5-X-V4JM

Artificial intelligence has the potential to make us better people, providing expert-sourced guidance to help us through difficult conversations. But the technology can also generate suspicion, leading people to question the authenticity of these interactions.

An electric discussion last week, featuring Jonathan Zittrain and Carissa Véliz, explored the impact of generative AI on human relationships. Navigating the various ways chatbots fill spaces between people, panelists considered AI in medicine, whether the platforms can be called empathetic, and their effectiveness in coaching and counseling roles.

Read the full event write up here: https://live-harvard-fas.pantheonsite.io/stories/interloper-or-interlocutor-debating-ais-impact-social-interactions

05/12/2026

At a meeting of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences on May 5, 2026, a tribute to the life and service of the late Dennis Frank Thompson was spread upon the permanent records of the Faculty.

Dennis F. Thompson, founding director of what is now the Edmond & Lily Safra Center for Ethics at Harvard University, passed away on March 30, 2025 leaving behind a legacy that has shaped generations of scholars, public servants, and students committed to pursuing ethical reflection in public life.

"Over more than 20 years as director, he built a community that brought scholars and practitioners from law, medicine, government, business, and the humanities into sustained conversation about moral questions in public life. Where others might have seen mission creep, he saw mission enrichment. It helped that John Rawls told colleagues he thought some of the most interesting discussions at the university were taking place in the Program’s seminars, which he attended regularly. The house that Thompson built has inspired similar centers at universities around the world."

Read the full tribute in The Harvard Gazette:

At a meeting of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences on May 5, 2026, the following tribute to the life and service of the late Dennis Frank Thompson was spread upon the permanent records of the Faculty.

05/04/2026

Artificial intelligence has the potential to make us better people, providing expert-sourced guidance to help us through difficult conversations. But the technology can also generate suspicion, leading people to question the authenticity of these interactions.

An electric discussion last week, featuring Jonathan Zittrain and Carissa Véliz, explored the impact of generative AI on human relationships. Navigating the various ways chatbots fill spaces between people, panelists considered AI in medicine, whether the platforms can be called empathetic, and their effectiveness in coaching and counseling roles.

Read the full event write up here: https://live-harvard-fas.pantheonsite.io/stories/interloper-or-interlocutor-debating-ais-impact-social-interactions

05/01/2026

We are delighted to welcome our 2026-2027 Fellows-in-Residence and Civil Discourse Fellows! This group brings together exemplary scholars across philosophy, law, political science, and public policy to examine how communication, institutions, and technology shape social and political life.

Read about each of them here:

https://www.ethics.harvard.edu/news/2026/04/announcing-2026-fellows-residence-civil-discourse-fellows

04/30/2026

DEADLINE EXTENDED TO MAY 15!

Do you want to engage in civil dialogues with students across the country? Are you eager to hear from people with different perspectives from your own? If so, the Intercollegiate Civil Disagreement Partnership Fellowship might be for you!

The Edmond & Lily Safra Center for Ethics, in collaboration with five other institutions, is offering a year-long hybrid experience, beginning in the summer, that develops students' abilities to engage in and lead conversations about difficult, important topics across political difference at their respective universities and beyond.

Harvard University undergraduates from all fields of study and political identities are encouraged to apply.

Learn more about the program and apply here:

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04/26/2026

Join us this Monday, April 27 at 4:30pm EST to hear Carissa Véliz in person for a panel discussion with Jonathan Zittrain. They will explore what happens to human relationships when technologies can meet us in the very forms of interaction through which those relationships have traditionally been constituted.

Free and open to the public, register below. Can't make it to Cambridge? Tune into the livestream on YouTube: https://www.ethics.harvard.edu/event/human-relationships-artificial-world

What do the story of Oedipus and your insurance premiums have in common? They are both driven by self-fulfilling prophecies. Philosopher and TED Fellow Carissa Véliz traces the hidden power of prediction, from Roman emperors who banned prophets to the AI algorithms quietly making decisions about yo...