Talks on radio; podcasts

'Can We Trust Our Moral Intuitions?'  The Forum (BBC World Service). Link here.

'Is Inequality Bad?' Philosophy Bites. Link here.

Alex Voorhoeve

I'm a Reader in the Department of Philosophy, Logic and Scientific Method at the LSE. During the 2012-13 academic year, I am on research leave as a Faculty Fellow in Princeton's University Center for Human Values.

I am currently pursuing two research projects:

1. Liberal Egalitarianism

I work on several questions that are central to liberal egalitarian theory:

Does it matter that some are worse off than others?

What role do people's opportunities to choose play in the justification of social arrangements?

What is a suitably neutral conception of well-being?

2. The Economy of the Soul

I am interested in what psychology reveals to us about how we actually make decisions and what rational choice theory and moral reflection tell us about how we should make decisions.

E-mail: a.e.voorhoeve [at] lse.ac.uk

Counter-Composition VI by

Theo van Doesburgh (TATE modern)

Publications  Grants  Teaching  Organisation  Education  PhD students  CV  Band

Publications

Book

Conversations on Ethics. Oxford University Press (2009). Hardback (UK) (US); Kindle (UK) (US); paperback (UK) (US).

A book of conversations on moral philosophy with leading thinkers from philosophy, psychology and evolutionary theory. With photographs by Steve Pyke. For reviews click here.

Journal articles and book chapters (English)

Vaulting Intuition: Temkin's Critique of Transitivity. Economics and Philosophy, (forthcoming).

Response to Rabin. In Adam Oliver (ed.), Essays in Behavioural Public Policy. Cambridge University Press (forthcoming).

Decide as You Would with Full Information! An Argument against ex ante Pareto. With Marc Fleurbaey. In Nir Eyal, Samia Hurst, Ole Norheim, and Dan Wikler (eds.), Measuring and Evaluating Health Inequalities. Oxford University Press (forthcoming).

Subject of a response by Johann Frick, 'Uncertainty and Justifiability to Each Person', in the same volume.

How Much Ambiguity Aversion? Finding Indifferences Between Ellsberg's Risky and Ambiguous Bets. With Ken Binmore and Lisa Stewart. Journal of Risk and Uncertainty 45 (2012): 215-38.

Egalitarianism and the Separateness of Persons. With Marc Fleurbaey. Utilitas 24 (2012): 381-98.

Reply to Crisp. With Michael Otsuka. Utilitas 23 (2011): 109-14.

Inequalities in HIV Care: Chances versus Outcomes. With Nir Eyal. The American Journal of Bioethics 11 (12) (2011): 42-4.

Why It Matters that Some Are Worse Off Than Others: An Argument Against the Priority View. With Michael Otsuka. Philosophy & Public Affairs 37 (2009): 171-99.

Subject of a one-day conference 'Problems with Priority?', November 19, 2010 at the University of Manchester.

Subject of the following responses:

Roger Crisp, In Defence of the Priority View: A Response to Otsuka and Voorhoeve, Utilitas 23 (2011): 105-8.

Andrew Williams, The Priority View Bites the Dust? Utilitas 24 (2012): 315-31.

Martin O'Neill, Priority, Preference, and Value. Utilitas 24 (2012): 332-48.

Thomas Porter, In Defence of the Priority View. Utilitas 24 (2012): 349-64.

Derek Parfit, Another Defence of the Priority View. Utilitas 24 (2012): 399-440.

Greg Bognar, Empirical and Armchair Ethics. Utilitas 24 (2012): 467-82.

Matthew Rendall, Priority and Desert. Ethical Theory and Moral Practice (forthcoming).

Heuristics and Biases in a Purported Counterexample to the Acyclicity of "Better Than". Politics, Philosophy and Economics 7 (2008): 285-99.

Subject of a response by Larry Temkin in Rethinking the Good, Oxford University Press, Section 9.3.

Scanlon on Substantive Responsibility. Journal of Political Philosophy 16 (2008): 184-200.

Subject of a response by Zofia Stemplowska, 'Harmful Choices: Scanlon and Voorhoeve on Substantive Responsibility', Journal of Moral Philosophy, forthcoming.

Preference Change and Interpersonal Comparisons of Welfare. In Serena Olsaretti (ed.)  Preferences and Well-Being. Royal Institute of Philosophy Supplement 59 (2006): 265-79.

Transitivity, the Sorites Paradox, and Similarity-Based Decision-Making. With Ken Binmore. Erkenntnis 64:1 (2006): 101-14.

Incentives and Principles for Individuals in Rawls' Theory of Justice. Ethics & Economics 3 (2005): 1-7.

Equal Opportunity and Opportunity Dominance. With Matthias Hild. Economics and Philosophy 20 (2004): 117-45.

Defending Transitivity Against Zeno's Paradox. With Ken Binmore. Philosophy & Public Affairs 31 (2003): 272-79.

Reprinted in Recent Work on Intrinsic Value, eds. T. Ronnow-Rasmussen and M. Zimmerman, Springer (2005): 265-72 with a commentary by Erik Carlson. My Heuristics and Biases in a Purported Counterexample to the Acyclicity of "Better Than" replies to Carlson's criticism.

Journal articles (Dutch)

Prioriteit voor patienten met een lagere levenskwaliteit. (Priority for patients who are worse off.)  Filosofie & Praktijk (Philosophy & Practice) 31 (2010): 40-51.

Schuldverlichting: niet voor niets. (Debt relief: not for nothing.) With R.M. Oort. Economisch-Statistische Berichten (Economic-Statistical Letters) 85 (2000): 141-43.

Dollarisering gewenst? (Is dollarisation desirable?) Economisch-Statistische Berichten 84 (1999): 577-81.

Working papers

How Should We Aggregate Competing Claims?

Should Losses Count? A Critique of the Complaint Model. Choice Group Working Papers Vol 2 (2006).

Reviews and short contributions to books, journals, and magazines

Review of Well-Being and Fair Distribution: Beyond Cost-Benefit Analysis by Matthew W. Adler. Social Choice and Welfare (forthcoming).

Who Am I? Beyond "I Think, Therefore I Am". With Elie During, David Jopling, Timothy Wilson and Frances Kamm. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences 1234 (2011): 134-48.

Philippa Foot. The Philosophers' Magazine 52 (2011): 9.

(In Russian) Can We Trust Our Intuitions? Esquire Russia 56 (2010): 48-54. [A translation by Ivan Bogantsev of an excerpt of chapter 3 of Conversations on Ethics.]

Review of The Practice of Ethics by Hugh LaFollette. Social Choice and Welfare 34 (2010): 497-501.

(In Russian) Peter Singer Interviewed. Esquire Russia 52 (2010): 82-9. [A translation by Ivan Bogantsev of an excerpt of chapter 2 of Conversations on Ethics.]

Erasmus. The Philosophers' Magazine 48 (2010): 98-100. [Reprint of the entry in The Great Thinkers A-Z.]

Mill and Barry on the Foundations of Liberal Rights. Published in a shortened version as 'The Limits of Autonomy'. The Philosophers' Magazine 46 (2009): 78-82.

The Price of Security. With Catherine Audard, Saladin Meckled-Garcia, and Tony McWalter.  In What More Philosophers Think. Eds. J. Baggini and J. Stangroom Continuum (2007): 19-32.

In Search of the Deep Structure of Morality. An Interview with Frances Kamm. Imprints 9:2 (2006): 93-117. [A revised version appears in Conversations on Ethics.]

Is Poverty Our Problem? The Philosophers' Magazine 36 (2006): 46-9.

(In Russian) Shockwave. With Mika Velikovskiy. Political Journal 27 (2005): 48-9.

Review of Pursuing Equal Opportunities: The Theory and Practice of Egalitarian Justice by Lesley A. Jacobs. Economics and Philosophy 21 (2005): 155-61.

A Mistrustful Animal: Bernard Williams Interviewed. The Harvard Review of Philosophy XII (2004): 81-92. [A revised version appears in Conversations on Ethics.]

Erasmus and Rawls in The Great Thinkers A-Z. Eds. J. Baggini and J. Stangroom, Continuum (2004): 91-3 and 199-201.

Harry Frankfurt on the Necessity of Love. Philosophical Writings 23 (2003): 55-70. [A revised version appears in Conversations on Ethics.]

The House that Jack Built. The Philosophers' Magazine 22 (2003): 28-31.

The Grammar of Goodness. An Interview with Philippa Foot. The Harvard Review of Philosophy XI (2003): 32-44. [A revised version appears in Conversations on Ethics.]

The Good, the Right, and the Seemly. Ken Binmore Interviewed. The Philosophers' Magazine 21 (2002): 48-51. [A revised and expanded version appears in Conversations on Ethics.]

Mandeville. The Philosophers' Magazine 20 (2002): 53.

Review of The Philosophy of Science by A. Rosenberg. Philosophy Today 14 (2001): 8-9.

Kant on the Cheap. Thomas Scanlon Interviewed. The Philosophers' Magazine 16 (2001): 29-30. [A revised and expanded version appears in Conversations on Ethics.]

Research Grants

2013:- AHRC Research Grant (co-investigator, lead investigator is Richard Bradley) on 'Managing Severe Uncertainty'. GBP 725,000.

2012-13: Laurance S. Rockefeller Fellowship at the Center for Human Values, Princeton University. USD 55,000.

2009-10: ELSE research grant for a follow-up to 'An Experimental Test of the Hurwicz Criterion for Decision-Making Under Uncertainty' (with Ken Binmore). GBP 3,000.

2008-09: STICERD grant for the proposal 'An Experimental Test of the Hurwicz Criterion for Decision-Making Under Uncertainty' (with Ken Binmore). GBP 4,657.

2008-09: Faculty Fellowship at the Center for Ethics, Harvard University. USD 50,000.

2006-08: British Academy Small Research Grant for the proposal 'Rational Choice Theory and Moral Decision-Making' (with Ken Binmore). GBP 6,700.

Teaching

Since arriving at LSE, I have taught (part of) the following courses:

PH 103 Reason, Knowledge and Values

PH 211 Philosophy of Economics

PH 214 Morality and Values

PH 222 Philosophy and Public Policy

PH 416 Philosophy, Morals, and Politics (M.Sc. Seminar)

PH 413 Philosophy of Economics (M.Sc. Seminar)

PH 415 Philosophy and Public Policy (M.Sc. Seminar)

In 2011-12, I was awarded LSE's Teaching Excellence Prize.

Organisation

The Auguste Comte Memorial Lectures, LSE, 2006-present.

'The Economy of the Soul: Rational Choice and Moral Decision-Making,' LSE, November 21-22, 2008.

'The Power of Religion in Society'. (With Tijs Broeke; brought together Dutch and British politicians, the assistant general secretary of the Catholic Bishop's conference, and academics to debate the proper relation of Church and State.) LSE, January 24, 2008.

Conference 'World Poverty and the Duty of Assistance'. LSE, June 27, 2006. (With Catherine Audard and Nick Bunin.)

A review of this conference in Philosophy Now (Sept/Oct 2006).

Vol. 36 (2006) of The Philosophers' Magazine  is devoted to the conference.

Seminar in Philosophy and Public Policy, LSE, 2004-08. (With Luc Bovens.)

Workshop in Philosophy, Economics, and Public Policy, ECAP5, Lisbon August 27-31 2005. (With Luc Bovens and Geoffrey Brennan.)

Education

PhD in Philosophy at University College London, 2006.

M.Phil. in Philosophy at King's College, Cambridge, 2000.

Post-graduate diploma in Financial and Economic Policy from the Erasmus University Rotterdam (EUR), 1999.

M.A. in Philosophy, EUR, 1999.

M.Sc. in Economics, EUR, 1997.

Ph.D. students

Dr. Vincent Guillin: Auguste Comte and John Stuart Mill on Sexual Equality, 2006.

Winner: Prix du Maison d'Auguste Comte 2006. Now published.

2010-: Assistant Professor (tenure track), Universite de Montreal;

2007- December 2009: Assistant Professor, College de France.

Dr. Michael Moehler: A Theory of Minimal Morality, 2007.

2010-: Assistant Professor (tenure track), Virginia Tech.

2009-10: Fellowship at the Murphy Institute, Tulane.

2007-09: Visiting Assistant Professor, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.

Dr. Katherine F. King: Considering Kids: The Nature of Children's Claims to Justice, 2010.

2012-: Research Associate at the Li Ka Shing Institute at St. Michael's Hospital at the University of Toronto.

2010-12: Greenwall Fellow in Bioethics, Johns Hopkins University.

Dr. Alice Obrecht: Getting It Right: An Account of the Moral Agency of NGOs, 2011.

2011-: Researcher for the One World Trust.

Dr. Ittay Nissan: Doing the Best One Can, 2011.

A chapter of this thesis won the 2012 Mark Blaug prize for Philosophy and Economics.

2012-: Lecturer (tenure-track), Hebrew University.

2011-12: Postdoctoral Fellow, Hebrew University.

Dr. Harald Schmidt: Just Health Responsibility (primary supervision in the Department of Social Policy), 2012.

Winner of the Titmuss Prize for the best PhD thesis in Social Policy at LSE in 2012.

2011-: Lecturer at the Center for Health Incentives and Behavioural Economics, University of Pennsylvania.

Dr. Esha Senchaudhuri: A Critique of Pure Public Reason, 2012.

2012-: Part-time teaching on Medical Ethics, Harvard University.

2011-12: Temporary Lectureship, York University.

Ben Ferguson: The Paradox of Exploitation: A New Solution (awaiting viva).

2013-: Visiting Assistant Professor, University of Bayreuth.

Susanne Burri (on rights against harm and moral status, in progress).

A chapter of this thesis has won the Society for Applied Philosophy's 2013 postgraduate essay prize.