PhD Position in Philosophy

University of Vienna, Austria

Updated: 5 days ago
Deadline: 2025-08-29T00:00:00Z

Job: Two 3-yr PhD Positions FWF-Project “The Ethics of Blaming and Praising Group Agents” University of Vienna


The FWF Project ‘The Ethics of Blaming and Praising Group Agents’ seeks to appoint two doctoral researchers to conduct their PhD in Philosophy at the Department of Philosophy of the University of Vienna. The Principal Investigator of the project is Dr. Niels de Haan. The project has six internationally renowned collaborators: Prof. Hans Bernhard Schmid (University of Vienna), Prof. Paulina Sliwa (University of Vienna), Assoc. Prof. Stephanie Collins (Monash University), Prof. Gunnar Björnsson (Stockholm University), Prof. Frank Hindriks (University of Groningen), and Prof. Kasper Lippert-Rasmussen (Aarhus University).


The project focuses on questions related to the moral responsibility of group agents, and lies at the intersection of social ontology, collective ethics, moral responsibility and the ethics of blame and praise. The aim of the project is first to develop a novel methodology for including moral group phenomena more prominently in the development of theories of moral agency, moral responsibility, blame and praise. And in a second step, based on this novel methodology, the project investigates how cases involving groups matter for our understanding of the nature of blame and praise, of the conditions under which an agent is morally blameworthy or praiseworthy, and when blame- or praise-interactions are appropriate. For more information about the project, see https://ethicsofblamingpraisinggroupagents.univie.ac.at/.


The project will run for three years and employ two doctoral researchers who will conduct their PhD in Philosophy within the scope of the project. The project is expected to start at November 2025. The two positions are fully funded for three years according to FWF standards (approx. 2786,- euro bruto x 14 months per year). The deadline for applications is 29 August 2025. The online interviews are expected to be held on 4 and 5 September. For more information about how to apply, see https://ethicsofblamingpraisinggroupagents.univie.ac.at/apply/. 

For any questions, please send an email to niels.de.haan@univie.ac.at. 


Kind regards,

Niels de Haan (University of Vienna)


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