Research area Philosophy, Practical

Stockholm University has a strong tradition in Practical Philosophy. We explore fundamental issues concerning human conduct. Some questions go back two millenia, others have surfaced recently. What is right and wrong? What does it mean to say that something is right or wrong? How ought we to act? Are there even objectively right answers to moral questions?

Practical philosophy has research expertise in ethics, including metaethics, normative and applied ethics – particularly in medical ethics. In addition, the department has a strong research standing in political philosophy and decision theory.

In political philosophy and decision theory the department excels at ethical issues raised by cutting edge research in biomedicine. Research in medical ethics is organised by the Centre for Healthcare Ethics, a research hub with participation of Stockholm University, Karolinska Institute and the Royal Institute of Technology

The department of is well-conected to other disciplines such as political science and economics, and has a rich international outreach.

 

Applied Ethics

Applied ethics examines practical moral problems and offers guidance for solving them, typically by employing concepts and arguments from ethical theory. But the traffic of ideas goes both ways: practical problems often raise questions that advance ethical thought in general. Applied ethics bridges ethical theory and our moral life.

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Decision Theory and Game Theory

Both decision theory and game theory concern the reasoning process underlying people’s choices, that is, how their desires, beliefs, and other attitudes combine in a way that make people choose one option over another.

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Metaethics

Metaethics is the philosophical study of moral judgment and moral language. Can moral judgments be true or false, and, if so, in virtue of what? Is moral truth relative to different assessors? Can we acquire moral knowledge? Are moral judgments best understood as beliefs about moral reality, or as desires that reality be in a certain way?

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Normative Ethics

Normative ethics seeks to answer the question of what is good or bad, how we should live, and how we should act, given that our decisions inevitably affect others for better or worse.

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Philosophy of the social and behavioural sciences

The philosophy of social science addresses philosophical questions raised by the social and behavioral sciences. That’s sciences dealing with human attitudes, beliefs, behaviors, practices, cultures, and institutions.

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Political Philosophy

Political philosophy explores a wide range of topics relating to the organisation of our collective and social institutions. This includes the study of different political systems, such as democracy, communism, republicanism, liberalism, libertarianism, etc. and related questions about the authority and legitimacy of governments and other state institutions.

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