Fall 2025
Pre-Term Seminar
Technology, Ethics, and Human Nature
Monday 8/25 | Elm Library
A pre-term seminar on exploring the ideas of some of the most historically influential thinkers on the subject of technology, as well as some of the most profound modern voices in debates about the way new technologies have changed our relationship to the world and each other. More info…
Reading & Discussion Groups
The Philosophy of Everyday Life
Thursdays | 6.00–7.30pm | Elm Library
A series of discussions about the deep questions that underlie everyday human experiences and activities, from sharing meals and playing games, to making friendships and pursuing professional and personal success. The topics discussed this semester include hospitality, craftsmanship, writing, and apologies and forgiveness. Led by Peter Wicks. More info…
Democracy & Virtue in the American Tradition
Thursdays | 2.30–3.45pm | Elm Library
A reading group examining arguments that the the egalitarian logic of American democracy requires a new conception of the virtues and their role in public life as well as the influence of classical republicanism on American political thought. Led by Justin Hawkins. More info…
Thomistic Philosophy
Fridays | 9.30–11.00am | Elm Library
A reading group on philosophical themes in the work of Thomas Aquinas. Led by Patrick Hough. More info…
Seminar
Themes in Natural Law Jurisprudence
October 3–4 | Elm Library
A seminar for law students on current debates in American jurisprudence about the relationship between moral reasoning and the positive law. Led by Sherif Girgis. More info…
Liberal Education and the Modern University
Wednesdays | 12.00–1.15pm | Elm Library
A reading group about the purpose of liberal education and how the experience of liberal education has been changed in the context of the modern university. Led by Peter Wicks. More info…
Robert Nisbet’s Quest for Community
Wednesdays | 4.00–6.15pm | Elm Library
A reading group on Robert Nisbet’s communitarian classic The Quest for Community. Led by Greg Collins. More info…
Friday Speaker Series
(For full details of events in this series click here)
The Moral Status of AI: Might God Make a Difference?
9/19 John Pittard (Yale University)
Is Forgiveness Possible in a Digital World?
10/10 John Durham Peters (Yale University)
What Is Modernity? A Phenomenological Approach to a Contested Concept
10/24 David Kretz (Yale University)
Trust Science?
10/31 Jeffrey McDonough (Harvard University)
Complicity in the Practice of Medicine: The Case of the Nazi Doctors
11/7 Matthew Morrison (Yale University)
AI & the Ethics of Outsourcing Intimacy
11/14 Max Lewis (Yale University)