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Dr Daniel Elstein

Dr Daniel Elstein

  • Position: Lecturer in Ethical and Political Philosophy
  • Areas of expertise: meta-ethics; normative ethics; ethical theory; expressivism; realism & anti-realism; distributive justice; autonomy; vagueness; modality; epistemic consequentialism; epistemic entitlement
  • Email: D.Y.Elstein@leeds.ac.uk
  • Phone: +44(0)113 343 1709
  • Location: 3.06 Botany House
  • Website: ORCID | White Rose

Profile

I re-joined the School of PRHS in 2013, having previously taught here from 2007-11, with appointments at the University of Reading and University College London in between. From 1999 to 2007 I studied Philosophy at Cambridge University, with my PhD supervised by Simon Blackburn and Hallvard Lillehammer.

Research interests

The main focus of my research is in the foundations of morality, concentrating on the nature of moral judgement and how it is possible for moral claims to be justified. My PhD dissertation focused on defending the combination of Kantian expressivism in metaethics and two-level utilitarianism in normative ethics put forward by R.M. Hare. My other research interests are connected either to other applications of the expressivist machinery involved in this project, or to the conclusions in normative ethics and political philosophy which seem to follow from it:

  • Ethics: Metaethics, Ethical Theory, Kant's Ethics
  • Metaphysics/Philosophy of Language: Realism & Anti-Realism, Modality, Vagueness
  • Political Philosophy: Distributive Justice, Autonomy, Equality
  • Epistemology: Epistemic Entitlement, Epistemic Consequentialism
<h4>Research projects</h4> <p>Some research projects I'm currently working on, or have worked on, will be listed below. Our list of all <a href="https://ahc.leeds.ac.uk/dir/research-projects">research projects</a> allows you to view and search the full list of projects in the faculty.</p>

Qualifications

  • PhD Philosophy
  • MPhil Philosophy
  • MA Philosophy

Professional memberships

  • British Society for Ethical Theory

Student education

I teach in a wide variety of areas of Philosophy, having taught modules at Leeds in Ethics, Logic, Epistemology, Metaphysics, Political Philosophy and History of Philosophy. I also teach Philosophy to students on the PPE programme.

I am happy to offer PhD supervision in any of the above research areas, and I also supervise Masters students and undergraduates doing Final Year Projects.

Research Students

Will Gamester (PhD 2017, co-supervised with Robbie Williams & Paolo Santorio)

Olof Leffler (PhD 2019, co-supervised with Pekka Väyrynen & Ulrike Heuer)

Pei-Lung Cheng (PhD 2021, co-supervised with Gerald Lang)

Aleksander Domoslawski (PhD 2022, co-supervised with Robbie Williams)

Ludovica Adamo (co-supervised with Gerald Lang & Robbie Williams)

Leonora Gunn (co-supervised with Thomas Brouwer)

Research groups and institutes

  • Centre for Aesthetic, Moral and Political Philosophy
  • Centre for Theoretical Philosophy
  • Philosophy

Current postgraduate researchers

<h4>Postgraduate research opportunities</h4> <p>We welcome enquiries from motivated and qualified applicants from all around the world who are interested in PhD study. Our <a href="https://phd.leeds.ac.uk">research opportunities</a> allow you to search for projects and scholarships.</p>