LSE Philosophy hosted the regional Ethics Cup competition! Around 120 secondary school pupils battled it out to qualify for the final in St Andrews taking place on 23 May. LSE Philosophy was happy to host this year’s Ethics Cup, which took place on 23 February 2024. The Ethics Cup is a tournament in which teams of school students consider a range of ethical questions. The tagline is ‘For a More Civil Debate’. The tournament is designed to reward not the ability to win an argument, but rather to thoughtfully advance debates on ethical issues of public concern. Since 2020, it has grown from a si ..read more

The recording of the LSE public lecture on ‘The Politics and Philosophy of AI’ with LSE Philosopher Kate Vredenburgh is now online on the LSE YouTube channel. As artificial intelligence (AI) moves beyond the realm of science fiction, it is already having a profound impact on our economies, societies and politics. To make sense of the transformative power and disruptive potential of AI, we are joined by thinkers at the cutting edge of the technological frontier for an in-depth discussion of its multifaceted impact. Speakers: Professor Geoffrey Hinton Dr Kate Vredenburgh Chair: Dr Robin Archer L ..read more

The recording of Anna Mahtani’s Inaugural Lecture titled ‘From Probabilities to Decisions’ is now online on the LSE YouTube channel. The idea of probabilities – and in particular ‘degrees of belief’ or ‘credences’ – is prevalent. It is used by scientists, economists and political theorists, and it plays a central role in policy choice: in deciding whether to carry out a particular health-care policy for example, the process for reaching a decision will almost certainly involve a calculation of credences. In this lecture Anna Mahtani will use an insight from the philosophy of language to argue ..read more

LSE Philosophy has been ranked 2nd best in the world in the 2024 QS World University Rankings by Subject, the highest ranking of any UK-based philosophy department. We’re very pleased to announce that LSE Philosophy has been placed 2nd in 2024, climbing up from 3rd best in the world in the 2023 rankings. Link to the full ranking. The QS World University Rankings by Subject ranks the world’s top universities in individual subject areas, covering 51 subjects. Published annually since 2011, the rankings by subject are based on academic reputation, employer reputation and research impact, using da ..read more

Bryan Roberts and Jonathan Parry have both been promoted. We congratulate Jonathan Parry on his promotion to Associate Professor, and Bryan Roberts on his promotion to Professor in recognition of their outstanding research, teaching and contributions to the Department, School and discipline. Bryan W. Roberts is a philosopher of physics in the Department of Philosophy, Logic and Scientific Method. Much of his work has been about asymmetry, especially the arrow of time, and the observable, especially in quantum mechanics. The latter includes studies on how we measure time in physi ..read more

We’re pleased to welcome three new staff members at LSE Philosophy! Xinhe Wu and Weng Kin San will join the Department as Assistant Professors. Further, we are happy that Nadia Blackshaw will join us as LSE Fellow for the next two years. Xinhe Wu will join the Department in September 2024. Prior to joining LSE, Xinhe was an Assistant Professor of Philosophy at North Carolina State University. Before that, she was a Research Associate on the ERC project “Truth and Semantics” at the University of Bristol. Xinhe earned her PhD in philosophy from MIT. She is also an associate editor for Erkenntnis ..read more

Bryan Roberts and Jonathan Parry have been promoted to Professor in recognition of their outstanding research, teaching and contributions to the Department, School and discipline. Bryan W. Roberts is a philosopher of physics in the Department of Philosophy, Logic and Scientific Method. Much of his work has been about asymmetry, especially the arrow of time, and the observable, especially in quantum mechanics. The latter includes studies on how we measure time in physics, and the impact of a general mathematical limitation known as Pauli’s theorem. Jonathan Parry is a moral ..read more

LSE Philosophy Professor Jonathan Birch has been appointed to the Animals in Science Committee. The Animals in Science Committee has appointed 9 new members and reappointed its Chair and 5 of its existing members. The role of the Animals in Science Committee is to advise the Secretary of State on all matters concerning the use of animals in scientific procedures and advise animal welfare ethical review bodies on sharing best practice within the UK. List of all appointments ..read more

LSE Philosophy Professor Alex Voorhoeve gave one of LSE’s popular Research Showcase talks recently and discussed the important question: How can we help achieve universal health coverage? The video of the talk is now available on YouTube. About the talk: Achieving universal health coverage is one of the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals. A new World Bank report, “Open and Inclusive”, examines how fair decision processes in health financing can help make progress towards this goal. It argues that they can contribute to fairer outcomes, strengthen the legitimacy of decision processes, buil ..read more

The head of the British army, General Sir Patrick Sanders, recently raised concerns over poor recruitment in the military. But as Jonathan Parry from LSE Philosophy and Christina Easton from Warwick University argue, there are deeper, moral concerns with military recruitment. Campaigning at schools, glamourising the work of the army in advertising, and drawing largely from a pool of the socioeconomically disadvantaged young all point to the need for military reform. Amid ongoing conflicts and concerns that the British Army “continues to shrink before our very eyes”, there has been much recent ..read more