Department Blog

The Epistemology of Peace

17 November 2023|

We are happy to share a very special blog post by Ariana Razavi, winner of our LSE Philosophy Peace Prize 2023.

Introduction by Professor Jonathan Birch: It’s a pleasure to introduce winner of the LSE Philosophy Peace Prize, Ariana Razavi. The aim of the competition was to encourage students to reflect, in the form of a blog post, on […]

Should the House of Lords be more democratic?

10 November 2023|

One of the key arguments in favour of an elected second chamber is that it would make the UK’s political system more democratic overall. However, an examination of the principles of representative democracy suggests that this is neither a necessary nor desirable reform for the House of Lords to fulfil its purpose, argues LSE Philosophy Fellow Adam Lovett.

What Ought to Be Our Response to Moral Uncertainty?

21 August 2023|

Rational agents can be uncertain about what is objectively valuable. Former CPNSS visitor Luca Zanetti shows how the debate on model uncertainty in science is relevant to the debate on moral uncertainty in normative ethics. This offers new ways of managing moral uncertainty.

We can be uncertain not only about natural and social phenomena, or because our […]

Invertebrate Sentience, Welfare, & Policy

24 July 2023|

If an animal is sentient, we have an ethical obligation to consider its welfare. But, when it comes to invertebrate animals, there is no consensus about whether they are sentient. What can the scientific evidence tell us? And what does it mean for animal welfare policy? Andrew Crump discusses the implications of animal sentience on policy making.

The Significance […]

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    Happy to be a woman. Just don’t need to attend to it so much.

Happy to be a woman. Just don’t need to attend to it so much.

3 July 2023|

A common complaint from those who are minoritised in certain domains of life, such as work, feel that their minoritised identity receives too much emphasis. Philosophers who are women might complain that they are seen as women before they are seen as philosophers. Artists who are Black might object to being called ‘Black artists’ in reviews of their […]

Daniel Ellsberg: Real Life Decision Theory

27 June 2023|

The world recently lost Daniel Ellsberg, famous for leaking the Pentagon Papers in 1971. Ellsberg will be remembered within philosophy for a paradox in decision theory. Nikhil Venkatesh explores the connection between this paradox and his momentous decision to leak the Papers.

Ellsberg’s Life

Many philosophers have put themselves on the wrong side of the authorities. At the birth of […]

AI, invertebrates, and the risk of living absurdly

27 March 2023|

In our latest blog article Jonathan Birch talks about his life as a researcher and reflects on the questions: What can we do to reduce the risk of living absurdly? And should we want to?

I. Absurdity

Imagine you’re the UK Health Secretary during the worst pandemic in a century, signing your name under the most restrictive public health rules […]

What’s the Point of Protest? A Reply to Parry

9 March 2023|

Last month, we published the blog article ‘What’s the Point of Protest’ by Jonathan Parry. His work didn’t go unnoticed.

In a recent post my friend Jonathan Parry considers the question of whether political protest can be valuable, even when it is ineffective at changing government policy. He offers the example of the 2003 London demonstration against the […]

What’s the Point of Protest?

15 February 2023|

What is the point of protest? What makes a protest successful? Jonathan Parry explains the value of protesting.

Today marks the 20th anniversary of the anti-war protests against the invasion of Iraq. The centrepiece demonstration involved an estimated 1.5million people marching through the heart of London, with parallel protests across the country (and […]

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    Social norms, contractualism and public policy: How gender affects epidemiology

Social norms, contractualism and public policy: How gender affects epidemiology

29 March 2022|

How do social norms influence the effectiveness of public policy, and what are the moral, political and philosophical implications of taking social norms seriously? Elsa Kugelberg looks at the effect of gender norms on health policy.