Professor Christian List| will spend the next academic year at Princeton University, after being awarded the Laurance S Rockefeller Visiting Fellowship| at the university's Center for Human Values.
Professor List, who is a professor of political science and philosophy at LSE, will spend ten months at the centre, conducting research and participating in seminars and other activities.
Laurance S Rockefeller Visiting Fellowships are awarded to outstanding scholars interested in devoting a year in residence at Princeton writing about ethics and human values. Fellows are selected on the basis of the significance and quality of their research and 'the contribution they are likely to make to higher education in the future through teaching and writing about ethics and human values'.
Whilst at Princeton, Professor List (pictured left) will focus on the decision-theoretic foundations of democracy:
'While there is a large body of existing theoretical work on the aggregation of conflicting individual opinions into collective decisions, there is much less formal work on the mechanisms which transform opinions in democratic deliberation.
'My research seeks to contribute to filling this gap in the theory of rational choice,' he said.
Professor List was delighted with the appointment: 'It is a wonderful opportunity to be able to spend a year pursuing my research and interacting with colleagues and students in the vibrant interdisciplinary environment of the Center for Human Values.'
Professor Rodney Barker, head of the Government Department at LSE said: 'We shall be sorry to lose Christian, even if only for a year. He will add at least as much to Princeton as he gains from it, and whilst the fellowship is a great honour for him, it is a great acquisition for them to have such a distinguished political philosopher on their campus.'
Ends
26 January 2009