Like an aircraft carrier, academia moves slowly and is difficult to turn around. In the last few years, one aircraft carrier has begun to move. The concept of human flourishing (eudaimonia)—denoting predominantly objective features of human well-being—has recently come into vogue within various areas of the humanities and social sciences (philosophy, psychology, economics, health sciences, education) after only playing a marginal role since ancient times. This development is perhaps most noticeable within education where the biggest international policymaker in the field, OECD, is considering dropping its decades-old human capital theory about the aims of education and adopting a human flourishing paradigm. This keynote lecture will describe the outcomes of some of the work that Prof. Kristjánsson has been doing as a consultant for OECD in trying to synthesize various theoretical flourishing paradigms for practical education purposes. It talks about the pros and cons of each paradigm and some recent criticisms that have been aimed at all of them. While arguing for the possibility of reconciliations, Prof. Kristjánsson’s main aim is to motivate the audience to think about the credibility of a flourishing agenda, in general, and the possibility of synthesizing satisfactorily the different approaches to it, in particular.

Join Collegium Institute at 7pm on Thursday, July 25 for a keynote lecture by Kristján Kristjánsson. Prof. Kristjánsson is the Professor of Character Education and Virtue Ethics at the University of Birmingham, and Deputy Director of the Jubilee Centre for Character and Virtues. He has written widely on themes in moral education, educational psychology, and moral philosophy and is the author of over 100 articles and several books, including Virtues and Vice in Positive Psychology (2015), Flourishing as the Aim of Education (2019), and most recently, Phronesis: Retrieving Practical Wisdom in Psychology, Philosophy, and Education (2024).

Date: Thursday, July 25

Time: 7pm

Location: Amado Hall in Irvine Auditorium

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This keynote lecture is part of the 2024 Magi Conference, What is a Good Human Life? Click the button below to learn more about the conference.