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The history of international conferences on ethics at St. Petersburg State University dates back to 2007.


The Conference «Theoretical and Applied Ethics: Traditions and Perspectives - 2011» (November 2011) was focused on the «Enlightenment Project» and contemporary issues of ethics. This third conference was dedicated to the following significant dates: the 300th anniversary of the birth of Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712) and the 250th anniversary of the first publication of his treatise «On the Social Contract» (1762).


The Conference «Theoretical and Applied Ethics: Traditions and Perspectives - 2012» (November 2012) was timed to coincide with two significant events: the 40th anniversary of the publication of John Rawls' seminal work «A Theory of Justice» (1971) and the five-year anniversary of the Department of Ethics of the Faculty of Philosophy, established in 2006.


The Conference«Theoretical & Applied Ethics: Traditions and Perspectives2013» on 21-23 November 2013 was primarily focused on the significant role that ethics has in science, hi-tech society and informational culture. In line with this idea the 2013 conference’s slogan is «Ethics and Knowledge: New Horizons and Landscapes».


6th International Conference «Theoretical and Applied Ethics: Traditions and Prospects — 2014» (November 20-22, 2014) was dedicated to the 10th anniversary of the start of the educational program «Applied ethics» in St. Petersburg State University. The conference key theme was «Ethics. Science. Politics». It was continuing the topic of the previous year and focused on the ethical issues of public status of science and technologies. Within the evolution of scientific knowledge and practices two independent areas – ethics and politics – begun to influence on it. The intervention of the political and ethical discourses into the structure of scientific knowledge establishes various systems of administration, control and manipulation that affects the image of science and changes its vector. Researches were invited to discuss key issues facing the today science ethos, to analyze the ethical and political foundations of the science and technology and to interlink a variety of the areas that require ethical reflection into a single problematic space.


The subtitle of the 7th International«Theoretical & Applied Ethics: Traditions and Perspectives2015» (October 29-31, 2015) was «JUSTICE. FREEDOM. RESPONSIBILITY». The content and the pragmatic sense of these concepts have to go through argumentative, logical, cultural and historical contextual assay. Otherwise they risk becoming meaningless abstract and ideological symbols. In this regard, within the framework of the conference freedom, justice and responsibility was scrutinized in the theoretical, historical, philosophical, social, political, and professional contexts.

The conference was held jointly with the University of Hokkaido (Japan) and Vytautas Magnus University (Lithuania).


The 8th International Conference«Theoretical & Applied Ethics: Traditions and Perspectives2016» (November 17-19, 2016) was a thematic events on ARISTOTLE’S LEGACY AND CONTEMPORARY ETHICS. The conference addressed the ethical foundations of modern social relations and institutions. Justice, virtue and responsibility are not only the groundwork concepts of classical ethical thought, but also the foundation of modern political practices. Tension and contradiction between these concepts shapes a field of private and public life. The conference was held to give a response to social challenges, to solve the problem of relations between public and private, natural and universal, local and global. Particularly conference was focused on professional and applied issues (ethics of law, ethics of politics, academic ethics, bioethics, etc.).


The theme of the 9th International Conference «Theoretical and Applied Ethics: Traditions and Prospects – 2017» (October 26-28, 2017) was «Ethics and Revolutions». The conference was held to review ethical aspect of possible range of revolutions: socio-political revolutions (including the anniversary of the Russian Revolution 1917), industrial, scientific and technological revolutions and their social and ethical impact, also the crucial development of applied and professional ethics, moral problems of introducing new revolutionary technologies in medicine and education, logics and reasoning in normative conflicts and conflicts of values, the formation of critical thinking as a method of comprehension the collision of tradition and innovation, etc. The participants presented and discussed the results of scientific research in the field of ethics and social sciences that addressed the issues of both moral conflicts in a revolutionary context and the moral component of a conflict within the social, political, legal, economical spheres.

Download the program of the conference «Theoretical and Applied Ethics 2017» (in Russian)


The key task of the X International Conference «Theoretical and Applied Ethics: Traditions and Prospects – 2018» (November 15-17, 2018) was to reveal the theoretical and methodological foundations of the current state of ethical thought, to define the main problems and prospects for the development of research in this field. Main topics were universal and particular in morals, traditional moral values and ethical challenges of our time, logics and reasoning in morals and law, ethical conflicts, problems of ethical education, ethical problems of revolutionary technologies in medicine. Also, round tables were organized on rethinking the theory of a just war in the face of «new» wars and terrorism, values and practices of communication of scientific communities, as well as on ethical expertise.

Download the program of the conference «Theoretical and Applied Ethics 2018» (in Russian)


The XI International Conference «Theoretical and Applied Ethics: Traditions and Prospects – 2019: (November 21-23, 2019) The Coming of Digital Society: A Venture in Ethic Forecasting» (100 Daniel Bell’s anniversary 1919-2019)». The analysis of the progress and the social changes because of it, was the main theme of our conference in 2019. The discourse of informational, postindustrial or digital society is not new. One hundred years is passed since D. Bell discussed the issues of implementation the progress and its impact on the society, to specify the changes in moral. The certain tradition of analysis and prognosis is formed these years. However, each new trend of the progress demands fresh reception. In 2019, the conference aimed to analyze the ethical aspect of the extension of the postindustrial, digital society as a society of scientific meritocracy (the knowledge society, the expert society, post-truth and pseudoscience etc.). The development of data and digital technologies causes significant social conversions. These conversions produce transformation of traditional values and stimulate the reversal of individual regulation of intercommunication in social environment.

Download the program of the conference «Theoretical and Applied Ethics 2019» (in Russian)


The XII International Conference «Theoretical and Applied Ethics: Traditions and Prospects – 2020; PHILOSOPHY. ETHICS. PRACTICS» (November 19-21, 2020) was held on the 80th anniversary of the Institute of Philosophy, Saint-Petersburg University, Russia. The Institute is the one of most important centers of philosophy in Russia. Several scholar schools have been formed within the walls of the Institute and the Saint-Petersburg ethical school is one of them. The thematic areas of the conference were: Current comprehension of classical moral question. Logic and argumentation in morality. Applied ethics and challenges of modern society. Ethical issues of emerging technologies. Corporate and social responsibility in business. Value conflicts and their potential in the moral progress. Ethical education: problems and prospects.

Download the program of the conference «Theoretical and Applied Ethics 2020» (in Russian)


The mission of the XIII International Conference«Theoretical and Applied Ethics: Traditions and Prospects – 2021»(November 18-20, 2021) was the historical analysis of ethical categories as well as the research of the most important moral phenomena of present-day society and current issues of practical philosophy and applied ethics. We turned to a difficult issue of the place and role of ethics at the beginning of the XXI century: Whether so-called «classical» ethics has lost its relevance? Could we enounce that the dramatic changes in the status and role of ethical thought have taken place at the turn of the centuries? What is applied ethics? Whether morality is squeezed out the public life? If the professional study of ethics is necessary or possible? It is clear that the new moral questions have emerged in today’s context (e.g. ethics of artificial intelligence). However, some old problems grow worse, as the problem violence, discrimination etc. We find it challenging to detect the frame for the ethical discourse to be used in solving abovementioned problems both in the public space and in professional activity.

The subtitle of the Conference was «ETHICS AS RESEARCH AND PROFESSION».

The conference was held on the eve of the celebration of the 300th anniversary of St. Petersburg State University.

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The key task of the XIV international conference«Theoretical and Applied Ethics: Traditions and Prospects – 2022: On the 100th Anniversary of the ‘Philosophers' ships’» (November 17-19, 2022) was to identify the theoretical and methodological foundations of the current state of ethical science, to identify the main problems and prospects for the development of scientific research in the field of theoretical and applied ethics. History has repeatedly confronted humans with the limit situations, as well as today's world issues new challenges for us. Thus, the value strategies, the choice that everyone makes in such conditions should be the direct subject of ethical research. The practice of philosophical understanding of economic, political and civil shocks in Russia has formed the tradition of ethical and philosophical reflection in the context of the transformation of reality.

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XV International Conference “Theoretical and Applied Ethics: Traditions and Prospects – 2023: RATIONALITY. PRACTICABILITY.HUMANITY”. Saint-Petersburg University, Russia. November 16-18, 2023.

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The first international conference under the name of "Theoretical and Applied Ethics: Traditions and Perspectives" was launched 15 years ago. Over the years of work, strong academic ties have formed among the participants, allowing us to think about the most complicated and fundamental issues that have never lost their relevance. The problems of today's world forces ethics to explore these new issues. An intense discussion on the opportunities of artificial intelligence is currently taking place. The problems of hostility, discrimination, violence, and injustice also need to be thoroughly examined. In contemporary reality, the role and the mission of the ethics itself is challenged. To discuss these matters, we invite the academic community to participate in our conference.

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