University Center for Human Values

Fostering ongoing inquiry into important ethical issues in private and public life and supporting teaching, research, and discussion of ethics and human values throughout the curriculum and across the disciplines at Princeton University. Learn more >

Kim Lane Scheppele interview with Vital Interests on autocratic legalism

Professor Kim Lane Scheppele interviewed about tracing autocratic legal innovations and their spread around the world in "The Rise of Authoritarian Democracies
COVID-19 Update

The latest updates for the University community about COVID-19 are available on the University's coronavirus website.
Philip Pettit has been elected as a Corresponding Member of l’Académie des Science Morales et Politiques, in the Philosophy Section

This French academy has five sections, each with 10 full members and ten corresponding members; places become vacant only with the death of an existing member. With four other academies in the arts and sciences, it constitutes l’Institut de France.
Tanner Lectures on Human Values Recap: Richard Tuck, "Active and Passive Citizens"

Professor Richard Tuck delivered the 2019-20 Tanner Lectures on Human Values at Princeton University on Wednesday, November 6 and Thursday, November 7.
What Are Human Rights?

Values and Public Life seminar explores the question, “What are human rights?”
Anna Stilz receives the John H. Pace, Jr. ’39 Center for Civic Engagement’s Community Engagement Award

Stilz is the director of the undergraduate certificate program in values and public life. She is also the Laurance S. Rockefeller Professor of Politics and the University Center for Human Values.
Barbara Herman Moffett Lecture Recap: "The Challenges of Beneficence: Revising the Terms"

When we think about helping others in need, the scenarios that first come to mind are likely the extreme cases we see in the news: a group of strangers forming a human chain to save a drowning person or a passerby catching a toddler falling out of a window.
Melissa Lane publishes article in Aeon

In the Aeon article "Rules or Citizens," Melissa Lane, director of the UCHV and Class of 1943 Professor of Politics, explores how Ancient Athenian and Greek practices afford us insights into how and why to maintain real accountability in public life.
10th Anniversary Edition of "The Life You Can Save" Published

The 10th anniversary edition of Peter Singer's book "The Life You Can Save" was published on Giving Tuesday. You can download a free version of the book on the book's website.