Using reason, again and again
Philosopher Brian Hedden studies decision-making over time — and recently chose to return to alma mater MIT, where he is now connecting ethics and computing.
Department
Linguistics and Philosophy
School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences welcomes six new faculty for 2026
New professors join the Comparative Media Studies/Writing, Economics, Linguistics, and Music and Theater Arts departments.
Building a scholarly community
The SHASS Faculty Fellows Program, administered by the MIT Human Insight Collaborative, is fostering new research projects and creating space for supportive and interdisciplinary discussion.
The crucial human component in computing and AI
The MIT Ethics of Computing Research Symposium brought together experts and researchers working at the heart of ethical and social impact in technology.
MIT affiliates awarded 2026 Guggenheim Fellowships
Afreen Siddiqi, Kathleen Thelen, and Vinod Vaikuntanathan, along with alumna Kate Manne, are appointed to the 2026 class of “trail-blazing fellows.”
Improving understanding with language
MIT senior Olivia Honeycutt investigates how the ways we communicate can shape our views of the world.
Why bother with plausible deniability?
Philosopher Sam Berstler explains why we have social norms that let people engage in open deception.
A philosophy of work
As the NC Ethics of Technology Postdoctoral Fellow, Michal Masny is advancing dialogue, teaching, and research into the social and ethical dimensions of new computing technologies.
Why does wealth inequality matter?
An MIT Stone Center event examined the origins, mechanisms, and political consequences of high inequality.
QS World University Rankings rates MIT No. 1 in 12 subjects for 2026
The Institute also ranks second in seven subject areas.
Preserving Keres
Linguistics graduate student William Pacheco hopes to preserve his endangered native language, while also becoming a better learner and educator.
Times Higher Education ranks MIT No. 1 in arts and humanities, business and economics, and social sciences for 2026
Top worldwide honors span disciplines across three MIT schools for the second year in a row.
Brian Hedden named co-associate dean of Social and Ethical Responsibilities of Computing
He joins Nikos Trichakis in guiding the cross-cutting initiative of the MIT Schwarzman College of Computing.
The philosophical puzzle of rational artificial intelligence
As AI technology advances, a new interdisciplinary course seeks to equip students with foundational critical thinking skills in computing.
This new tool could tell us how consciousness works
Researchers propose a roadmap for using transcranial focused ultrasound, a noninvasive way to stimulate the brain and see how it functions.