The Milan Seminar in the History of Modern Moral Philosophy
The Milan Seminar in the History of Modern Moral Philosophy is a regular event series covering topics in the history of moral philosophy from the 17th to the 19th centuries, with a special focus on the 18th century.
The Seminar is a part of the ERC-funded project 18ETHICS: Ethics and Moral Life in the Eighteenth Century, led by Stefano Bacin and hosted by the Department of Philosophy at the University of Milan.
Fall 2026 CALENDAR
October 2: Melissa Merritt (UNSW): Kant and Stoic Cosmopolitanism *11am–1pm CEST
October 16: Elizabeth Radcliffe (William and Mary): Hume and the Platonist: Human Virtue versus Becoming Like God
November 6: Julia Jorati (UMass Amherst): Eighteenth-Century Debates about Slavery and their Implications for Ethics
November 13: BOOK LAUNCH: Francis Hutcheson’s A System of Moral Philosophy (Liberty Fund, 2025) – Discussion with editors Knud Haakonssen and Christian Maurer, and brief commentary by Colin Heydt.
December 11: Michael Gill (Edinburgh): Title TBA
Information
The Seminar’s events take place online via Microsoft Teams on Fridays from 15:00–17:00 (CEST/CET), unless otherwise noted. To participate, please contact the organizers to receive the Teams link at 18ethics@unimi.it.
Organized by Stefano Bacin and Michael Walschots
Call for Papers
While the majority of speakers are invited, individuals interested in presenting a paper as part of the seminar should contact the organizers at 18ethics@unimi.it with an abstract for an approx. 45-minute-long talk, as well as a brief bio.
We especially encourage PhD students and early career researchers to submit.
*Videos of previous talks are available on our YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@18ETHICS
2025/26 Calendar
October 3, 2025: Stephen Darwall (Yale): “Modern Moral Philosophy” and Modern Moral Philosophy.
November 14, 2025: Jacqueline Taylor (San Francisco): Hume on Modesty, Esteem and Self-Esteem, with some insights from Wollstonecraft.
December 5, 2025: Ryan Patrick Hanley (Boston College): Love and Disinterestedness in Hutcheson’s Inquiry.
January 16, 2026: Ruth Boeker (University College Dublin): Education and Moral Development in Women’s Philosophical Writings of the Eighteenth Century.
February 20, 2026: Paul Guyer (Brown): A Supposed Right to Lie: Kant and Hutcheson.
March 20, 2026: Thomas Ahnert (Edinburgh): Conflict, Sociality, and the State in Pufendorf’s Theory of Natural Law
April 10, 2026: Aaron Garrett (Boston): Modern Moral Philosophy: A Book Project
May 15, 2026: Lauren Kopajtic (Fordham): From Sentiment to Sentimentality: The Contentious Relationship between Philosophical and Popular Sentimentalism