Welcome to The Center
A collaboration among Boston College鈥檚 Woods College of Advancing Studies, Morrissey College of Arts and Sciences, Clough School of Theology and Ministry, and Lynch School of Education and Human Development, the Center for Psychological Humanities & Ethics fosters vital conversations between the psychological sciences and disciplines such as philosophy, theology, sociology, history, literature, the arts, and political studies. The emphasis of these dialogues is on the enduring ethical questions at the heart of human existence. With a goal of enriching theory and practice, the Center organizes and develops international conferences, runs the Psychological Humanities Lecture Series, offers credit-bearing continuing education courses and practitioner-oriented professional development, oversees grant-funded projects and initiatives, develops curricula, and disseminates research through its two book series with Routledge/Taylor Francis and various academic and popular outlets. All of these activities are oriented toward exploring the rich reflections that emerge from the interplay between psychology and the humanities.
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Psychology Today: Our Human Condition
Dangerous Books and Why Vice Is a Virtue in Literature
"What good literature offers is not only moral exemplars but immoral ones; or, better, real human beings who possess all of the strengths and flaws, virtues and vices, and especially the messiness of real people in real situations."
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Conference Highlights
Attention and Flourishing
Bringing together artists, scholars, psychotherapists, and practitioners from around the world, the 2026 Attention and Flourishing Conference at the University of Navarra examined the undertheorized relationship between the virtue of attention, mental health, and the flourishing of individuals and communities.
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Publication Highlight
First-Person Knowledge and the Meanings of Madness: An Interview with Gail Hornstein
Interviewed by Program Director of Boston College's Psy.D. in Clinical Psychology program Justin Karter,聽Psychologist Gail Hornstein discusses her search for the meanings of madness, from asylum artifacts and memoirs to the contemporary peer-support groups reshaping how people understand voices and visions.
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New Book Series
Essays in Psychological Humanities Book Series
The Center is excited to announce the launch of a new book series with Routledge/Taylor and Francis. Written for academics, practitioners, and educated readers alike, the Essays in Psychological Humanities Series is home to short, timely, affordable titles authored by today鈥檚 leading thinkers on the most pressing and perennial problems we face.
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Event Highlight
The Vibrant Center: An Urgent Consciousness for Our Divided Times
Kirk J. Schneider, Ph.D. is a is a leading spokesperson for existential-humanistic and existential-integrative psychology. This talk proposed a call for what Dr. Schneider terms the 鈥渧ibrant center" of consciousness, an existentially informed consciousness that is based on three pillars of depth psychological wisdom: the cultivation of presence to self and others; the openness to experience that emerges from such presence; and the discernment that characteristically follows a personally and socially attuned engagement with the world.聽
The Center for Psychological Humanities & Ethics promotes conversation between the psychological sciences and humanities to advance our understanding of the enduring ethical questions at the heart of human existence. Our work is organized into the following tributaries, each of which reflects an essential aspect of the human condition.
Catholicism & Theology
The ethos of the Center and the questions it takes up have been greatly shaped by the fact that it is situated at a Jesuit Catholic institution. Taking seriously the Ignatian emphasis on cura personalis (care for the whole person), the Center is dedicated to examining how Catholic spirituality and Jesuit pedagogy can inform our understanding of what it means to care for human beings. The projects and initiatives that fall under this tributary engage the richness of the Catholic tradition in order to help us learn to live for and with others.
Justice & the Humanities
The Justice and the Humanities Initiative (JHI) supports and extends the work of the Boston College Prison Education Program by advancing research, dialogue, and public engagement at the intersection of justice, education, and the humanities. The Initiative fosters scholarship on incarceration, reentry, and college-in-prison; strengthens connections between the Prison Education Program and the Chestnut Hill campus; convenes impactful events; and advances efforts to sustain and expand this work.
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The Cultural Imagination
Art shapes how we think about and interpret our lives. From the books we read to the films we watch to the music we listen to and even the digital media we consume, we are constantly reimagining ourselves and the world around us in relation to the artistic expressions of others. How often do we rely upon the words of our favorite songs when attempting to articulate our deepest longings? How often do we define ourselves in relation to and even emulate fictional characters? That art has a formative influence on the human psyche is undeniable. The work that falls under this tributary is dedicated to interrogating that influence and perhaps even inspiring the cultivation of new artistic creations.
Psychology as a Moral Discourse
The discipline that has come to exert the greatest influence on moral formation in contemporary society is, without question, psychology. In our quest for meaning and purpose, as we search for self-understanding, we often look to psychology for answers. Indeed, in spite of the fact that psychology has made a concerted effort to remain objective and morally neutral, it has, unbeknownst to itself, persistently functioned with an unacknowledged moral 鈥渙ught.鈥� Therapists may employ a strictly clinical vocabulary; but, as scholars like Philip Cushman invite us to acknowledge, psychotherapy is a thoroughly moral discourse. At the end of the day, therapists teach patients what it means to live a good life鈥揳n inescapably ethical project. The work that falls under this tributary is dedicated to examining and reimagining what it means to take seriously the moral underpinnings of psychological science.
Character Education & Human Flourishing
That education plays a vital role in helping individuals to develop their virtues and thus to cultivate their character is obvious to anyone who wants to see individuals and communities flourish. From at least the time of the Greeks, though likely long before, human beings have understood that if we are to reach our full potential, both personally and collectively, we must receive 鈥渢he right education,鈥� as Plato wrote in the Republic, one geared toward character development. And yet, while many of us recognise the impact formal education has on human flourishing, we often overlook the forces at work in our society that shape our conception of the good life. Our understanding of flourishing is formed as much by the culture we live in as the classrooms we learn in. The work that falls under this tributary is dedicated to exploring the ways character is shaped through the discipline of psychology which has risen to a place of prominence in contemporary culture.
Upcoming Offerings
In Collaboration with the Hippocratic Society
Friday, October 23, 2026 at 6:00 pm
Visiting Fellow Presentation at Harvard University
Tuesday, October 27, 2026 at 5:00 pm
The Lowell Humnaities Series
Wednesday, November 4, 2026 at 7:00 pm
CPHE Research Lab Speaker
Friday, November 6, 2026 at 12:00 pm
CPHE Research Lab Speaker
Friday, November 13, 2027 at 12:00 pm
The Sheen Center for Thought & Culture, New York
Friday, December 4 鈥� Sunday, December 6, 2026
Universidad Alberto Hurtado Santiago, Chile
Friday, January 8 - Saturday, January 9, 2027
The Sheen Center for Thought & Culture, New York
Thursday, May 13 - Saturday, May 13, 2027
University of Navarra, Madrid, Spain
Thursday, June 3 鈥� Saturday, June 5, 2027
“ The argument over the question of whether or not psychology is or is not a philosophical science is, for psychology, a struggle for its very existence. ”