The Centre’s 8th annual conference on Virtues and the Flourishing Life took place at Oriel College, Oxford, 3rd – 5th January 2020. With more than 120 delegates attending from across the world, the conference saw 48 presentations on an eclectic range of flourishing-related topics from those within a multitude of disciplines. Additionally, the four keynote presentations by Professor Kristján Kristjánsson, Dr Jennifer Frey, Professor Dan Haybron and Professor Sarah Banks, all addressed the conference theme from different angles. As the after-dinner speaker, Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport the Rt Hon. Baroness Nicky Morgan also delivered a speech on the necessity of character development in the current climate, offering an optimistic view on the potential character education holds for the development of a flourishing world. The theme for next year’s conference will be ‘Virtues and the Digital Age’; details of this conference will be announced in due course.
The conference this year also featured a book launch on Friday 3rd January 2020 which celebrated the publication of three sole-authored books by members of the Centre in 2019. Chaired by Anna Clarkson, Editorial Director at Routledge, the launch included Professor James Arthur’s The Formation of Character in Education: From Aristotle to the 21st Century for which Dr. Mark Jonas offered reflections, Professor Kristján Kristjánsson’s Flourishing as the Aim of Education: A Neo-Aristotelian View which was launched by Professor John Haldane, and Professor Andrew Peterson’s Civility and Democratic Education for which the speaker was Professor Nancy Snow.
The Rt. Hon. Nicky Morgan giving the after dinner speech on Saturday 4th January 2020
Keynote presentations by Professor Kristján Kristjánsson, Dr. Jennifer Frey, Professor Dan Haybron and Professor Sarah Banks