Moral Philosophy and the Good Life

The IES’s Moral Philosophy and The Good Life research focus area conducts research on one of the most significant questions in philosophy: What constitutes a good human life? This question has been central throughout the history of philosophy and the Catholic Intellectual Tradition and remains as urgent today as ever. Our researchers pursue foundational projects in moral philosophy, and closely related areas, and seek to have their findings illuminate how we can cultivate good lives and strong communities in challenging times.

We publish research in the field of Philosophy in leading academic journals and with leading book publishers, supervise research Masters and PhD students, host events and visiting scholars that make a valuable contribution to the teaching and research life of the University of Notre Dame Australia, and collaborate with Australian and international partners in our research projects.

Research focus areas

  • Virtues & vices: Moral psychology of the virtues and vices, accounts of specific moral, intellectual, and civic virtues and vices, moral development, and practical strategies for cultivating virtuous character, including in schools and educational contexts.
  • Moral responsibility: Reactive attitudes, accountability practices, and praise and blame.
  • Epistemology & ethics: Social epistemology, the ethics and epistemology of conspiracy theories and echo chambers, epistemic blame, the epistemological dimension of our social and moral practices, and the history of epistemology, especially theories of knowledge, learning, and science in Plato and Aristotle.
  • History of ethics: Accounts of the good life throughout the history of ethics, especially in ancient Greek, Roman and 19th and 20th century European philosophy, with expertise on such figures as Aristotle, Kierkegaard and Edith Stein. In this area, we collaborate with the Centre for the History of Philosophy.

Meet our people

Associate Professor David Bronstein
Director, Institute for Ethics & Society, Co-convenor, Moral Philosophy and the Good Life

Professor John Lippitt
Professor of Philosophy, Institute for Ethics & Society

Dr Tim Smartt
Research Fellow, Institute for Ethics & Society, Co-convenor, Moral Philosophy and the Good Life

Dr Adam Piovarchy
Research Fellow, Institute for Ethics & Society

Dr Annette Pierdziwol
Head, Academic Research Development & Innovation, Office of the Pro Vice-Chancellor Research

Professor Renee Kohler-Ryan
Associate Deputy Vice Chancellor Academic, Academic Registrar

International Visiting Scholars


Professor Roger Crisp (2024)
University of Oxford

Professor Rachana Kamtekar (2024)
Cornell University

Professor Marko Malink (2023)
New York University

Professor C. Stephen Evans (2022, 2023)
Baylor University

Professor Christian B. Miller (2019)
Wake Forest University

Professor John Haldane (2018, 2016)
University of St Andrews

Professor Candace Vogler (2017)
University of Chicago

Research projects

Funded projects hosted at Notre Dame Australia

  • Virtue with Aristotle: Recovering an Ancient Ethical Theory for Our Time
    • Principal Investigator: David Bronstein
    • Funded by: Australian Research Council Future Fellowship
    • Funding: $786,404
  • Formed for Flourishing: Towards a New Measure of School Success
    • Principal Investigator: Annette Pierdziwol
    • Funded by: The Scots College, St Margaret's Berwick Grammar, Inaburra School, St Andrews Cathedral School, and Scotch College, Melbourne.
    • Funding: $25,000
  • The Honesty Project Summer Seminar (2023)
    • Funding recipients: Adam Piovarchy and Tim Smartt
    • Funded by: The John Templeton Foundation (via The Honesty Project)
    • Funding: $15,000
  • Developing Virtuous Character in Educational Institutions (2020-2021)
    • Principal Investigators: Annette Pierdziwol, Tim Smartt, and John Lippitt
    • Funded by: The Scots College
    • Funding: $20,000
  • Enriching Professional Ethics Education at University with the History of Ethics (2018–2019)
    • Principal Investigators: Annette Pierdziwol and Tim Smartt
    • Funded by: Australian Research Theology Foundation
    • Funding: $5,000
  • Fulbright Specialist World Learning Roster (2017)
    • Principal Investigators: Candace Vogler (hosted at the Institute for Ethics & Society, University of Notre Dame Australia)
    • Funded by: Australian-American Fulbright Commission
    • More information: For more information, please see “Community in the Classroom” in the November 2017 edition of the Fulbright publication Hearts and Minds (p. 46-47)

International partnerships & collaborations

  • Combatting Self-Righteousness: A Vice of the Digital Age
    • Principal Investigator: John Lippitt
    • Funded by: European Research Council-CZ Advanced Grant LL2308
    • Funding: $3,000,000 (hosted at the Centre for Ethics as Study in Human Value, University of Pardubice)
  • Conspiracy Theories in the Information Age
    • Principal Investigators: Daniel Cohnitz (Utrecht University) and Mark Colyvan (University of Sydney and LMU Munich)
    • Investigators: Brian Hedden, Johannes Korbmacher, Sebastian Sequoiah-Grayson, Tim Smartt, Tobias Stark, Erik Stei, Hannah Tierney, Stefan Werning.
    • Funded by: Sydney-Utrecht Partnership Collaboration Award
    • Funding: $30,000 (hosted at Utrecht University and the University of Sydney)
  • Tim Smartt was a network member of the AU$1.3m Mellon “Philosophy as a Way of Life” project at the University of Notre Dame USA (2019-2021).
  • The Institute for Ethics & Society was a partner institute on the $2.2m John Templeton Foundation Project “Virtue, Happiness, & the Meaning of Life” at the University of Chicago (2017-2018).

Events

  • 2024

    • Reading Group on Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics (February-November 2024).
    • Becoming Good: Virtue and Moral Development in Ancient Ethics (1-2 August 2024). Speakers: Roger Crisp (Oxford), Antonio Ferro (Heidelberg), Margaret Hampson (St. Andrews), Sukaina Hirji (Penn), Marta Jimenez (Emory), Rachana Kamtekar (Cornell), Patricia Marechal (UC San Diego), and Rachel Singpurwalla (Maryland).
    • Notre Dame Winter School on Aristotle’s Ethics (5-7 August 2024).
      Masterclass instructors: David Bronstein (UNDA), Roger Crisp (Oxford), Antonio Ferro (Heidelberg), Margaret Hampson (St. Andrews), Sukaina Hirji (Penn), Emily Hulme (Sydney), Marta Jimenez (Emory), Rachana Kamtekar (Cornell), Patricia Marechal (UC San Diego), and Rachel Singpurwalla (Maryland).
    • Moral Philosophy & Ethics Education Annual Lecture (1 August 2024). “On Becoming Good: From Aristotle, through Hume and Sidgwick, and Back Again." Delivered by Roger Crisp (Oxford).
    • Workshop on Epistemic Accountability (14-15 August 2024). Speakers: Mark Alfano (Macquarie), Cameron Boult (Brandon/ Johannesburg), Kendra Chilson (UC Riverside), Beba Cibralic (Cambridge), Mark Colyvan (Sydney/LMU Munich), Roman Heil (Goethe University Frankfurt), Michael Hannon (Nottingham), Adam Piovarchy (UNDA), Tim Smartt (UNDA), Hannah Tierney (UC Davis), and Elise Woodard (KCL).

  • 2023

    • Masterclass in Aristotelian Logic (8 & 15 May 2023). Instructor: Marko Malink (NYU).
    • Knowledge & Virtue in Ancient Philosophy (17-18 May 2023). Speakers: Marko Malink (NYU), Joshua Mendelsohn (Loyola Chicago), Melissa Merritt (UNSW), Tyler Paytas (ACU), Emily Hulme (Sydney), David Bronstein (UNDA), Jacob Klein (Colgate), Angus Brook (UNDA).
    • Notre Dame School of Virtue & Character | Character & Moral Responsibility (3-12 October 2024). Speakers: David A. Pizarro (Cornell), Stephanie Collins (Monash), Robert Weston Siscoe (Notre Dame USA), Anne Jeffrey (Baylor), Rachana Kamtekar (Cornell), and Adam Piovarchy (UNDA).

  • 2022

    • Putting Accountability at work: How Accountability contributes to human flourishing, Thursday 3 November. There is a great deal of talk about accountability in the contemporary world, but usually in the sense of holding someone accountable for bad behaviour through punishment or sanctions. However, those who embrace and welcome being accountable exhibit a virtue, an excellent and admirable quality that enhances human life in many ways. Though there has been little discussion of this, the evidence lies in plain sight in many areas: the business world, healthy churches with small group programs, 12-step groups, and even the criminal justice system. This public lecture will explore some of the ways accountability as a virtue contributes to human flourishing.
    • Professorial Research Fellow C. Stephen Evans Events, October - November 2022. The IES is thrilled to host Professorial Research Fellow C. Stephen Evans​ who will be presenting at a number of events throughout October and November. These include the Notre Dame School for Virtue and Character, The 2022 Moral Philosophy & Ethics Education Annual Public Lecture on how accountability contributes to human flourishing, and a week-long Masterclass in Moral Philosophy on 'Accountability as a Virtue'.
    • Notre Dame School of Virtue and Character (Good Feelings: Virtues, Vices & the Emotions), 4-13 October 2022. Held over two weeks, the third NDSVC allows selected participants to engage with new research on the topic of cultivating good character. NDSVC features six keynote sessions, each running for 1.5 hours. The sessions are structured around a pre-read paper and provide participants with the opportunity to engage directly with the speakers in a rigorous but friendly discussion of their work.
    • Living Accountably Masterclass in Moral Philosophy, 7-10 November 2022. Keynote Speaker: Professor C. Stephen Evans. This class will primarily consist in discussing readings from Professor Evans’ forthcoming monograph Living Accountably: Accountability as a Virtue (Oxford University Press).

  • 2021

  • 2020

  • 2019

  • 2018

Recent books and journal articles

Aristotle on Knowledge and Learning by David Bronstein

  • Edited academic journals

    • Topical Collection on “Responsible Beliefs: Accountability Practices in Epistemology”, edited by Tim Smartt and Adam Piovarchy. Synthese (Forthcoming). Call for Papers (closes December 1, 2025).
    • Special Issue on “Kierkegaard, Virtues and Vices”, edited by John Lippitt and C. Stephen Evans. Religions vol. 15 (2024).

Contact us

Contact us today if you need support or want to learn more about Moral Philosophy and the Good Life. Reach out via email to either Associate Professor David Bronstein (david.bronstein@nd.edu.au) or Dr Tim Smartt (tim.smartt@nd.edu.au).