Past Events

AI and the Future of Higher Education

Mar. 30 - Mar 31, 2026

|

All day

In Person

Higher education has been “in crisis” for decades. Some observers have sounded the alarm about skyrocketing tuition, decreasing economic return on investment, a loss of open-ended inquiry to ideological rigidity, widening socioeconomic gaps between those...

Arts and Humanities on the Edge

April 29, 2026

|

6:00PM - 8:00PM EDT

|

Harvard Hall 101

In Person

It is no secret that enrollment in arts and humanities courses is down, all across academia. Professors have been laid off, and whole departments have been eliminated in the past several years, as universities market their education as explicit career...

Belonging in the Modern World?

June 16, 2026

|

7:00PM - 9:00PM EDT

|

Thompson Room (Barker Center 110)

In Person

America, we are reliably told, is coming apart. Individuals are drifting off into isolation, or, just as bad, clinging to toxic forms of tribalism that rely on exclusion and enmity towards the other. Why is this happening? What are the deep cultural...

Do Liberals Want a Beautiful World?

March 23, 2026

|

7:00PM - 9:00PM EDT

|

Thompson Room (Barker Center 110)

In Person

Salad chains, consultant-speak, Parks & Rec. Is this really the world that liberals want? Or, is there a more beautiful vision of what kind of world we could build together, what all of this liberty is for? This question is increasingly urgent, as self...

Hope of the Intellect? Thinking and Seeking Possibilities in Politics

October 14, 2026

|

5:30PM - 7:00PM EDT

|

IPK 5th floor

In Person

Join the Institute for Public Knowledge on Wednesday, October 14 (5:30–7:00 PM) for a panel with Lisa Ruddick , Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor , and George Scialabba , moderated by Nikhil Goyal . Introduced by Daniel Wortel-London . Cosponsored by the Harvard...

How is digital technology shaping the human soul?

October 1, 2025

|

3:30PM - 5:00PM EDT

|

Thompson Room (Barker Center 110)

In Person

Digital technology is transforming how we think, write, and connect. Does it stifle creativity and wonder, or open new paths for meaning, community, and faith? Join speakers Nataliya Kos'myna, Brandon Vaidyanathan, E. Glen Weyl, and Moira Weigel as they...

Music and Philosophy, A conversation with Dean Sean Kelly and Aaron Goldberg ’96

April 9, 2026

|

4:30PM - 6:00PM EDT

|

Thompson Room (Barker Center 110)

In Person

Religion in the American Story

January 28, 2026

|

3:00PM - 5:00PM EST

|

Thompson Room (Barker Center 110)

In Person

All around us are signs of anomie, loneliness and pessimism, driven by economic, technological, cultural and political realities. America went through a similar period of upheaval and discontentment in the early 19th century, and that period gave rise to...

The Future of Humanistic Learning

October 19, 2026

|

7:00PM - 8:30PM EDT

|

Sever Hall, Room 113

In Person

Even as academic enrollments in the arts and humanities falter, there is a persistent, and even growing interest in the kinds of texts, artifacts and experiences that the arts and humanities offer. To meet this hunger, new educational initiatives are...

The Public Intellectual in American Life

February 25, 2026

|

7:00PM - 9:00PM EST

|

Harvard Hall 101

In Person

America has sometimes been described as a pragmatic, anti-intellectual society. But in fact, from the Puritans to the Founders to the New York intellectuals and the Civil Rights movement, many major movements in American life have drawn language and...

What Remains: AI, Death, and Loss

October 27, 2026

|

4:00PM - 5:30PM EDT

|

Lewis International Law Center 515

In Person

Our online lives increasingly outlast us, leaving our likeness with loved ones grappling with challenging but eternal questions of legacy, loss, and law. How does this digital afterlife change the ways we grieve, remember, and honor the wishes of those...

What Rough Beast…? On AI’s Potential to Surpass Humanity

September 14, 2026

|

4:00PM - 5:15PM EDT

|

Lewis International Law Center 515

Hybrid

The recent explosion of AI capacity, along with booming prophecies about its limitless potential, arrive at a moment of unease. Across the developed world, trust in human beings, their institutions and the future they might build is at a nadir. There is a...