Moral, Political & Legal Philosophy

image of gavelMoral, Political, and Legal Philosophy at Western is a research area spanning contemporary and historical normative and applied ethics, political philosophy, and the philosophy of law. Faculty in the Field have expertise in a wide range of topics including but not limited to consent and capacity, criminal responsibility, moral responsibility in collective contexts, trust and trustworthiness, moral justification, the ethics of clinical medicine and medical research, the foundation and limits of property rights, and the nature of wellbeing. Faculty also specialize in the work of such historical figures as Aristotle, Grotius, Hobbes, Locke, Kant, Mill, Sidgwick, Moore and Ross.

Our work in moral, political, and legal philosophy is enhanced by strong connections with the Fields of Feminist Philosophy and History of Philosophy within the Department of Philosophy and with the Faculties of Law and Medicine, the Departments of Gender, Sexuality, and Women's Studies and Political Science, the Rotman Institute of Philosophy, and the Brain and Mind Institute.

Core Faculty
Dennis Klimchuk (Philosophy of Law, History of Political Philosophy)
Tracy Isaacs (Action Theory, Moral Responsibility in Collective Contexts, Ethics, Feminist Ethics)
Carolyn McLeod (Bioethics especially Reproductive Ethics, Moral Psychology, and Feminist Philosophy)
Michael Milde (Social and Political Thought)
Anthony Skelton (Normative Ethics, History of Ethics, Bioethics)
Charles Weijer (Bioethics)

Affiliated Graduate Faculty
Charles Jones (Political Philosophy, Global Justice, Human Rights)
Richard Vernon (History and Theory of Liberalism, Toleration, Global Justice, Justice between Generations)
Max Smith (Bioethics)

Emeritus Faculty
Richard Bronaugh
Barry Hoffmaster

Faculty with Related Interests
Corey Dyck
Devin Henry
Ben Hill

Research Groups
AI (artificial intelligence) and Ethics Reading Group
Well-being Reading Group