Andreas T Schmidt | Philosophy

I work in ethics, political philosophy, and the philosophy of public policy.

On the more theoretical side, I have worked on freedom, domination, consequentialism, rationality, and egalitarianism. In my writings on freedom, for example, I develop a new measure of freedom, discuss how to distribute freedom across lives and persons, and how to apply freedom as a value in institutional design.

I am currently working on some pieces on egalitarianism. Among other things, I argue that, compared with distributive egalitarianism, relational egalitarianism offers a more plausible view on personal responsibility and intergenerational inequalities.

I have also written on various issues in public policy and applied ethics. I have explored issues such as health behaviour change, behavioural policies and nudging, non-human animals, tobacco control, mindfulness-based interventions, gun control, and euthanasia. Some of my theoretical themes – such as freedom, paternalism, and consequentialism – also run through my applied work.

In a new research project, I focus on ‘political philosophy for the long term’. I want to explore what normative institutional principles we should endorse when extending the time horizon from the short to the medium to the long-term future. I am here engaging with longtermism, an idea loosely associated with the effective altruism community, according to which the value of the long-term future often trumps the short and medium term. I am exploring whether familiar values and principles in political philosophy – such as equality, growth, freedom, and democracy – should be endorsed, modified, or rejected under longtermism. In the context of this project, I also want to see how far I can get defending consequentialism in political philosophy.

You can find my articles in the “Publications section” of this website. If you would like to read my work in progress, do send me an email.