Michael Sandel Wins $1 Million Berggruen Prize for Philosophy & Culture

Sandel won $1 million from the Berggruen Institute and was named their 2025 laureate for Philosophy & Culture on Tuesday.

Dennis Thompson, Founder of the Safra Center for Ethics, Remembered as Revolutionary Thinker

Thompson, the founding director of the Harvard Edmond and Lily Safra Center for Ethics who had taught at Harvard since 1986, died March 30 in Peterborough, New Hampshire. He was 84.

Susan Wolf Delivers 2025 Mala Soloman Kamm Lecture in Ethics

Philosopher Susan Wolf delivered the 2025 Mala & Soloman Kamm Lecture in Ethics to nearly 50 Harvard affiliates on Thursday, examining the relationship between responsibility, blame, and punishment.

MIT Prof. Talks Ancient Chinese Philosophy and Global Economics at IOP

MIT professor of management and economics Kristin Forbes spoke about how Sun Tzu’s “The Art of War” can be applied to global monetary policy on Tuesday at the annual Institute of Politics Albert H. Gordon Lecture.

NYU Philosopher Juliana Bidadanure Discusses Demonization at Harvard Divinity School Lecture

Juliana U. Bidadanure, professor of philosophy at New York University, presented her theory of demonization during a talk at the Harvard Divinity School Thursday, assessing its prevalence and impact on society.

Agnes Callard Condemns ‘Politicization’ of Speech at Harvard Center for Ethics Lecture

Agnes Callard, an associate professor of philosophy at the University of Chicago, lectured on Socratic politics and freedom of speech at Harvard’s Edmond and Lily Safra Center for Ethics Thursday.

Sandel Talks Globalization and Democracy at Center for American Political Studies Panel

Government Professor Michael J. Sandel discussed the impact of finance-driven globalization on the United States and the world at a panel Tuesday evening.

Despite Decrease in Concentrators, Students and Faculty Alike Defend the Humanities

Of the 18 concentrations in the Arts and Humanities division, 10 have experienced significant decreases in numbers of concentrators, six remained relatively steady, and two saw slight increases between 2015 and 2019.

Sandel Debates The Future of Truth in Politics at IOP

Government professor Michael J. Sandel and Harvard Kennedy School Shorenstein Center Fellow Gwyneth Williams spoke about the role of truth in politics to a crowd of more than 70 at the Institute of Politics Thursday evening.

Brian Greene Talks the Physics of Free Will at Science Center Lecture

Theoretical physicist and Columbia University professor Brian R. Greene ’84 emphasized humanity’s unique place in the cosmos — despite occupying a miniscule sliver of space and time — at a Science Center talk Wednesday night.

Why I Declared 2019: Humanities

To get some perspective on concentration declaration, we asked Flyby sophomores studying the humanities why they declared.

Physicist Sean Carroll Talks Uncertainty and Advances in Quantum Mechanics at Harvard Science Book Talk

California Institute of Technology professor Sean M. Carroll discussed recent advances and unsolved questions in the field of quantum mechanics, addressing a packed lecture hall Wednesday evening.

Thomas Scanlon

Harvard philosophy professor emeritus Thomas M. Scanlon spoke with Fifteen Minutes about philosophy and the fourth and final season of NBC’s comedy TV series “The Good Place," created by Michael Schur ’97.

Harvard Embedded EthiCS Program Receives $150,000 Grant

Embedded EthiCS — an interdisciplinary initiative between the Computer Science and Philosophy departments — will receive a $150,000 grant after being named a winner in the 2019 Responsible Computer Science Challenge last week.

More Than 800 Institutions Sign Harvard Letter Calling on Brazil to Fund Philosophy, Sociology

Scholars from more than 800 institutions worldwide have signed an open letter — written by two Harvard graduate students — in response to Brazil’s plan to disinvest in philosophy and sociology at public universities.

Joint CS and Philosophy Initiative, Embedded EthiCS, Triples in Size to 12 Courses

Embedded EthiCS — an interdisciplinary initiative between the Computer Science and Philosophy departments — has expanded to a dozen courses in the Computer Science department this semester and will extend to other disciplines in the near future.

Philosophy Department

Emerson Hall in Harvard Yard is the home of the Philosophy Department.

Philosophy Department Honors Late Professor Emeritus Stanley L. Cavell

Harvard’s Philosophy Department held a tribute at Memorial Church followed by an all-day conference on Friday and Saturday.

Philosophy Department Holds Conference on Incarceration and Reentry

University Professor Danielle S. Allen, who gave opening remarks at the conference, said it is vital to canvass the topic of reentry in order to accomplish criminal justice reform.

Computer Science, Philosophy Join Forces on Ethics and Technology

CS 108 is one of six computer science courses this fall that are co-taught by either professors or teaching fellows from the Philosophy department.

Two More Harvard Affiliates Barred from U.S. After Immigration Order

Two Iranian sisters on their way to study at Harvard were denied entry to the United States this weekend.

A Conversation with Cornel West

Cornel R. West ‘74 spoke with Danielle S. Allen, Director of the Edmond J. Safra Center for Ethics, as a part of the center’s Diversity, Justice, and Democracy lecture series on Wednesday.

Photos of the Day 10.05.16

Marketing the Humanities

A number of events over Advising Fortnight fit into the larger trend of job-oriented marketing within the Arts and Humanities as many concentrations seek to attract more students and address their career concerns through an increase in job-focused advising events, alumni interactions, and published materials.

Being Alone

​Last summer, I spent a month traveling alone, and two catastrophic events took place. In Belgrade I ran out of books—except for Martin Heidegger’s easy-breezy beach-read “Being and Time”—and in Sarajevo I got food poisoning. This meant that I spent my last 72 hours in the Balkans alone in my room, vomiting garlic-soaked lamb’s head, with nothing to do but read Heidegger. This was a terrible experience. But in the weird interplay between being alone and “Being and Time,” I came to understand why it was terrible—and that it might be for a good reason.