Featured News
Philosophy Department Hosts The Ethics Cup
PhD Studentships: KantianDESERT
International News
Al Jazeera published the video podcast of the Doha Debate ’What if we could cheat death?’, in which Michael Hauskeller discusses ageing and radical life extension with Natasha Vita-More, Thalia Arawi, and Alaa Murabit. The full version can be found here. Since its publication in mid-January, it has been viewed almost 700,000 times. The shorter version, which can be found here, has been viewed by 2.7 million.
Robin McKenna contributed to two academic events in South Africa. As a Senior Research Associate, he participated in the official launch of the African Institute for Epistemology and Philosophy of Science at the University of Johannesburg. He also presented his paper ‘Science Communication as Propaganda’ at the Philosophy Society of Southern Africa's annual conference (PSSA2026) in Cape Town.
Rachael Wiseman gave the final lecture for the Göttingen public lecture series ‘Die Realität des Guten’. The series of five talks focused on the philosophy of the Wartime Quartet. Rachael's lecture was titled 'How to be a Metaphysical Animal: Reflections on Doing Philosophy as Friends'
Other news
On 22 January, Sorin Baiasu led a Continuing Professional Training event at the Manchester NHS Therapy Hub. He met with the Complex Emotional and Relational Needs (CERN) Team to discuss philosophical topics relevant to psychological interventions. The event, organised by Luke Jordan (Clinical Lead for the Later Life CERN Pathway), was attended by 12 members of the CERN Team. It will be followed by several sessions focusing on specific philosophical themes of relevance for psychotherapy sessions. This is part of a larger project on philosophical counselling that includes several colleagues in the department as well externals and is running under the aegis of the LOSAK Research Centre. Aspects of this larger project are also linked with the KantianDESERT grant.
On 24-25 January, Sorin Baiasu also participated to a workshop on 'Kant and Degrees of Goodness' at the University of Bristol. The workshop (organised by Martin Sticker and Poppy Markowitz) is part of Markowitz's ERC Starting Grant on 'Expressing Value in Language' [EVIL] (2025-30). Sorin’s paper, 'Kant's Highest Good and Degrees of Goodness' focused on Kant's complex notion of the highest good, distinguished between various aspects of the highest good, as well as various types of highest good, and identified distinct ways in which we can talk about degrees of goodness in the realisation of these values.
Rachel Handley’s short story, The Sound, (Possible Worlds and Other Stories, 2022) was part of, and inspired, a project on inclusive pedagogy in politics. An article about the project was recently published by Dr Melissa Fitzmaurice (Lancaster University). The Sound explores climate change from the perspective of adults, children, as well as nature itself. You can read the article here, and The Sound (which was longlisted by the British Science Fiction Association for Best Short Fiction in 2022, and runner-up in Sonder Magazine’s Panorama Flash Fiction Competition) can be read here.
Publications
Sorin Baiasu’s paper 'Kant's Right as Normatively Independent: One Strategy Considered and Rejected' has been published in Law and Morality in Kant, a volume edited by Martin Brewer and Philipp-Alexander Hirsch, and published by Cambridge University Press. In this paper, Sorin consider the connection between politics and ethics in Kant, in particular as illustrated by the relation between the Categorical Imperative and the Universal Principle of Right. On both textual and philosophical grounds, he argues against a strategy that supports a relation of independence between the two and defends indirectly a position of complex dependence that he introduced elsewhere. The volume is open-access and available here.
Forthcoming events
On 10th February, Jon Bebb, co-chair of the Philosophy in Prison advisory board, will guide participants through a philosophical discussion on the nature of freedom, alongside colleagues from the charity. This online event is hosted by Thoughtful, the society for philosophical inquiry, and is inspired by the new BBC drama Waiting for the Out, based on the memoir of Andy West, who will also speak about his experience teaching philosophy in prisons. To take part, sign up here