How to make philosophy of education useful to decision-makers

Harry Brighouse (University of Wisconsin, Madison)

PESGB Seminar Series; 30th January 2026, 16:00-17:30, Cardiff University, room 2.03 in the John Percival Building

You are all warmly invited to a Philosophy of Education Society of Great Britain (PESGB) South Wales branch seminar. Professor Harry Brighouse from the the University of Wisconsin, Madison will be joining us with the following talk:

Title

How to make philosophy of education useful to decision-makers

Abstract

It's difficult to make philosophy of education useful to practical decision-makers. Brighouse will discuss some of those difficulties, and suggest some ways to overcome them: arguing, among other things, that careful attention both to the findings of the best social science and to the practical constraints decisionmakers face is essential. 

Bio

Harry Brighouse is the Mildred Fish-Harnack Professor of Philosophy of Education, Professor of Philosophy, Carol Dickson-Bascom Professor of the Humanities, and Affiliate Professor of Educational Policy Studies at University of Wisconsin, Madison. His research interests span political philosophy, philosophy of education, and educational policy. His books include: (with Adam Swift) Family Values: the Ethics of Parent-Child Relationships (Princeton 2014); (edited with Michael McPherson) The Aims of Higher Education: Problems of Morality and Justice (Chicago, 2015), which won the 2017 Federic W Ness Award from the Association of American Colleges and Universities; and (with Helen F Ladd, Susanna Loeb, and Adam Swift) Educational Goods (Chicago, 2018). Harry is an affiliate with the Institute for Research on Poverty at UW-Madison, and the Stone Center for Research on Wealth Inequality and Social Mobility at the University of Chicago. He was elected to the American Academy for the Arts and Sciences in 2025.

The talk will also be available via zoom, here is the link: https://swanseauniversity.zoom.us/j/91550457309?pwd=xsr9mX8H1m4fa6nmfcXPru5HxWkUZ7.1

For further information, please contact Jane Gatley: [email protected]