Email Guy

Professor Guy Kahane

Fellow and Tutor in Philosophy, Professor of Moral Philosophy

I work in moral philosophy. The philosophical questions that interest me all have an ethical component: in one way or another, they are about what matters, what is good or bad, or what we ought to do, want or feel. But my research covers a very wide range of topics and some of it links to other areas such as philosophy of religion, psychology and neuroscience, and medicine.

One strand of my research is concerned with grand existential questions. For example, is it possible that nothing matters and, if that’s so, would *that* matter? Does the vastness of the cosmos mean that humanity is cosmically insignificant? Should we hope that God exists or should we perhaps wish that He doesn’t? How should we feel about the terrible tragedies of human history once we recognize that we, and pretty much everyone now around, wouldn’t have existed if these past tragedies were avoided?

I also work on much more concrete, practical questions in applied ethics. Much of this research is linked to my longstanding connection to Oxford’s Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics, a world famous research centre devoted to applying ethics to real-life dilemmas. Questions I have written on in this area include: Can you harm someone just by bringing them into existence? Would it be wrong to use biotechnology or neural interventions to enhance core human capacities—by, for example, making people smarter or happier or even more moral? How should we conceptualize disability or harm? What ethical principles should guide the programming of driverless cars?

A third key area of my research is what is sometimes called ‘moral psychology’—the interdisciplinary project of trying to understand the psychological, neural and evolutionary basis of human morality. My work in this area often involves heavy collaboration with researchers from other disciplines, such as social and developmental psychologists and neuroscientists. For example, we have used techniques such as functional MRI, pharmacological interventions and large-scale data collection via the internet to study the processes that underlie people’s responses to moral dilemmas such as the famous ‘trolley’ scenarios, the psychology of racial bias, and the factors that shape people’s thinking about the moral status of animals.

I have been at Pembroke since 2010—first as a Research Fellow, while I was completing a Wellcome Trust funded project, and then as Fellow and Tutor in Philosophy. One of the nice things in Pembroke is that we teach philosophy in combination with a wide range of other subjects—ranging from physics to PPE, theology and modern languages—which makes for an especially diverse and vibrant student body. A lot of my teaching at Pembroke is unsurprisingly related to ethics. I regularly teach the first year introductory course on Moral Philosophy, as well as Finalist courses in Ethics and Practical Ethics. I also teach Philosophy of Mind, Philosophy of Cognitive Science, and Wittgenstein. In addition, I am the course director of Oxford’s MSt in Practical Ethics, a part-time graduate course—and many of its students are also at Pembroke.

Professor Guy Kahane

Fellow and Tutor in Philosophy, Professor of Moral Philosophy
Email Guy

I work in moral philosophy. The philosophical questions that interest me all have an ethical component: in one way or another, they are about what matters, what is good or bad, or what we ought to do, want or feel. But my research covers a very wide range of topics and some of it links to other areas such as philosophy of religion, psychology and neuroscience, and medicine.

One strand of my research is concerned with grand existential questions. For example, is it possible that nothing matters and, if that’s so, would *that* matter? Does the vastness of the cosmos mean that humanity is cosmically insignificant? Should we hope that God exists or should we perhaps wish that He doesn’t? How should we feel about the terrible tragedies of human history once we recognize that we, and pretty much everyone now around, wouldn’t have existed if these past tragedies were avoided?

I also work on much more concrete, practical questions in applied ethics. Much of this research is linked to my longstanding connection to Oxford’s Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics, a world famous research centre devoted to applying ethics to real-life dilemmas. Questions I have written on in this area include: Can you harm someone just by bringing them into existence? Would it be wrong to use biotechnology or neural interventions to enhance core human capacities—by, for example, making people smarter or happier or even more moral? How should we conceptualize disability or harm? What ethical principles should guide the programming of driverless cars?

A third key area of my research is what is sometimes called ‘moral psychology’—the interdisciplinary project of trying to understand the psychological, neural and evolutionary basis of human morality. My work in this area often involves heavy collaboration with researchers from other disciplines, such as social and developmental psychologists and neuroscientists. For example, we have used techniques such as functional MRI, pharmacological interventions and large-scale data collection via the internet to study the processes that underlie people’s responses to moral dilemmas such as the famous ‘trolley’ scenarios, the psychology of racial bias, and the factors that shape people’s thinking about the moral status of animals.

I have been at Pembroke since 2010—first as a Research Fellow, while I was completing a Wellcome Trust funded project, and then as Fellow and Tutor in Philosophy. One of the nice things in Pembroke is that we teach philosophy in combination with a wide range of other subjects—ranging from physics to PPE, theology and modern languages—which makes for an especially diverse and vibrant student body. A lot of my teaching at Pembroke is unsurprisingly related to ethics. I regularly teach the first year introductory course on Moral Philosophy, as well as Finalist courses in Ethics and Practical Ethics. I also teach Philosophy of Mind, Philosophy of Cognitive Science, and Wittgenstein. In addition, I am the course director of Oxford’s MSt in Practical Ethics, a part-time graduate course—and many of its students are also at Pembroke.