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Professor Gerald Lang

  • Position: Professor of Philosophy
  • Areas of expertise: Normative ethics; political philosophy; practical reason and moral psychology; applied ethics, esp. life and death issues.
  • Email: G.R.Lang@leeds.ac.uk
  • Phone: +44(0)113 343 7307
  • Location: G02 Michael Sadler Building

Profile

Normative Ethics; Applied Ethics; Political Philosophy; Moral Psychology and Practical Reason.

I obtained a BSc degree in Philosophy and Economics from the University of Bristol, and spent my graduate years at the University of Oxford, where I was awarded the degrees of BPhil and DPhil. I held lectureships at Reading and Oxford, and a research fellowship at the IDEA Centre in Leeds, before taking up a lectureship in 2006. I am now a Professor of Philosophy

My monograph Strokes of Luck: A Study in Moral and Political Philosophy was published by Oxford University Press in 2021. I am currently at work on a study of deontology, defensive theory, and war and terrorism, under the working title of Defensive Manoeuvres. After that, I will be completing some work on the ethics of rescue and various aspects of liberalism. I have standing interests in certain aspects of practical reason and metaethics, particularly metaethical quietism, and intend to write more about them in due course.

Research Interests

  • Ethics, including normative ethics, moral psychology, applied ethics, and metaethics
  • Political Philosophy, particularly theories of justice, liberty, and free speech 

Selected Publications

  • ‘Hate Speech and the Limits of Free Speech’, in Routledge Handbook of Philosophy and Media Ethics, edited by Carl Fox and Joe Saunders, London: Routledge, 2024, pp. 21-31
  • ‘Getting on to the Same Page: War, Moral Fundamentalism, and Convention’, Philosophia, Online First, August 2023
  • ‘How Resilient is the War Contract?’, Law and Philosophy 41 (2022), pp. 741-61
  • ‘Defensive Escalations’, The Journal of Ethics 26 (2022), pp. 273-94
  • ‘Forfeiture and the Right to a Fair Trial’, Criminal Law and Philosophy 14 (2020), pp. 203-13
  • Targeted Killing’, International Encyclopedia of Ethics, edited by Hugh LaFollette, 2020 edition
  • ‘Gauguin’s Lucky Escape: Moral Luck and the Morality System’, in Ethics Beyond the Limits: New Essays on Bernard Williams’ Ethics and the Limits of Philosophy, edited by Sophie-Grace Chappell and Marcel van Ackaren, London: Routledge, 2019, pp. 129-47
  • ‘Free Speech and Liberal Community’, in Media Ethics, Free Speech, and the Requirements of Democracy, edited by Carl Fox and Joe Saunders, London: Routledge, 2019, pp. 105-23
  • Review essay on One Another’s Equals, by Jeremy Waldron, Mind 128 (2018), pp. 249-60
  • 'What Follows from Defensive Non-Liability?', Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society 117 (2017): 231-52
  • 'Legitimating Torture?', Criminal Law and Philosophy 11 (2017): 331-49 
  • 'Rawlsian Incentives and the Freedom Objection’, Journal of Social Philosophy 47 (2016): 231-49
  • ‘Numbers Scepticism, Equal Chances, and Pluralism: Taurek Revisited’ (with Rob Lawlor), Politics, Philosophy, and Economics 15 (2016): 298-315
  • ‘How Interesting is the “Boring Problem” for Luck Egalitarianism?’, Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 91 (2015): 698-722
  • 'Why Not Forfeiture?', in How We Fight: Ethics in War, edited by H. Frowe and G. Lang (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014)
  • 'What Should Ivan Ilyich Be Rescued From?', Philosophy 89 (2014): 325-47
  • 'Jobs, Institutions, and Beneficial Retirement', Ratio 27 (2014): 205-21
  • 'In Defense of Batman: Reply to Bradley' (with Rob Lawlor), Journal of Ethics and Social Philosophy, 2013
  • 'Should Utilitarianism be Scalar?', Utilitas 25 (2013): 80-95
  • 'Invigilating Republican Liberty', The Philosophical Quarterly 62 (2012): 273-93
  • 'Discrimination, Partial Concern, and Arbitrariness', in Luck, Value and Commitment: Themes from the Ethics of Bernard Williams, edited by U Heuer and G. Lang (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012)
  • 'Excuses for the Moral Equality of Combatants', Analysis 71 (2011): 512-23
  • 'How Far Can You Go with Quietism?', Problema 4 (2010): 3-37
  • 'Luck Egalitarianism, Permissible Inequalities, and Moral Hazard', Journal of Moral Philosophy 2 (2009): 317-38
  • 'Nudging the Responsibility Objection', Journal of Applied Philosophy 25 (2008): 56-71
  • 'The Right Kind of Solution to the Wrong Kind of Reason Problem', Utilitas 20 (2008): 472-89
  • 'Luck Egalitarianism and the See-Saw Objection', American Philosophical Quarterly 43 (2006): 43-56
  • 'Fairness in Life and Death Cases', Erkenntnis 62 (2005): 313-43
  • 'The Rule-Following Considerations and Metaethics: Some False Moves', European Journal of Philosophy 9 (2001): 190-209

Responsibilities

  • Programme Leader: Philosophy, Politics, and Economics

Research interests

You can find out more about my research here: https://philpeople.org/profiles/gerald-lang

Qualifications

  • DPhil in Philosophy, University of Oxford, 1999
  • BPhil in Philosophy, University of Oxford, 1994
  • BSc in Philosophy and Economics, University of Bristol, 1991

Professional memberships

  • Director, British Society of Ethical Theory
  • Society of Applied Philosophy

Research groups and institutes

  • Centre for Aesthetic, Moral and Political 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>