The Aspen Seminar

For the second consecutive year, Aspen Italia organized The Aspen Seminar – in English and in collaboration with The Aspen Institute. A key program in the United States, The Aspen Seminar has proved successful on Italian soil as well. Discussion was led by two expert American moderators: Howard Zeiderman, Director Executive of The Aspen Institute Seminar Program and Professor of Philosophy, and Leigh Hafrey, Professor of Ethics at MIT’s Sloan School of Management. The initiative was aimed at young leaders, with various backgrounds. Through the discussion of classic and contemporary texts, participants considered grand universal values and their relationship to current affairs. Readings by authors such as Aristotle, Plato, Confucius, Rousseau, Bacon and Hayek provided the basis for an examination of innovative, methodological and conceptual approaches to real issues leaders face today. An analysis of modern thinkers such as Martin Luther King, Jr., Vaclav Havel and Paul Rusesabagina led to the consideration of society’s many challenges, and highlighted the growing interdependence of important issues in today’s global world. Participants performed a portion of Sophocles’ play Antigone at one point over the course of the seminar, and this too helped spark discussions of ethics and values.