Research profile

Chair of Philosophy and Decision Theory (Prof. Dr. Christian List)

Research at the Chair of Philosophy and Decision Theory

The Chair in Philosophy and Decision Theory is devoted to the study of foundational questions in decision and social choice theory, the philosophy of action, the philosophy of the human and social sciences, and neighbouring areas of theoretical and practical philosophy, especially the philosophy of mind, metaphysics, and normative moral and political theory.

The work of the Chair has an interdisciplinary orientation, emphasizing the exchange of ideas with researchers from neighbouring fields, including in the natural and social sciences.

The Chair's areas of research and teaching can be subdivided into three broadly defined subfields, with some overlap between them:

  1. individual decision theory, including theories of rationality, formal epistemology, and formal ethics;
  2. collective decision theory, including social choice theory, social epistemology, and related areas of social and political theory;
  3. the metaphysics of mind and action and related questions concerning the foundations of the human and social sciences.

Through its research and teaching, the Chair also seeks to contribute to the philosophical debate on some questions of public interest in relation to decision-making and human agency, such as:

  • the nature of rational choice, including in circumstances of positive and/or normative uncertainty,
  • free will and responsibility,
  • the relationship and alleged tension between "scientific" and "manifest" images of human beings (as physical organisms versus conscious intentional agents), and especially
  • the place of humans as conscious and apparently autonomous decision-makers in a world apparently governed by the laws of nature,
  • the philosophical foundations of democracy, especially against the background of pluralism and disagreement about both facts and values,
  • the scope for ethical artificial intelligence, and
  • the role of non-human (e.g., corporate and AI) decision-makers in society.