Social and Moral Philosophy

By longstanding tradition at the University of Helsinki, the discipline of philosophy is divided into two major areas: the practical and the theoretical. This division is not what it may seem; there is nothing impractical about theoretical philosophy, nor necessarily untheoretical about practical philosophy. Rather, the division corresponds to the idea that, whereas practical philosophy centres on human activity and pursues the moral question of how, individually and socially, we should live, theoretical philosophy centres on the question of the nature of reality as a whole and how, through individual observation and inquiry in the scientific disciplines, the world can be known.

The Faculty of Arts conducts a full-scale research programme that emphasises the publication of cutting-edge work and the preparation of students for MA and DPhil degrees in philosophy. In addition to research in philosophy proper, the discipline also hosts ongoing research groups in ethics, political philosophy, the history of philosophy and other areas.

The discipline of social and moral philosophy addresses both normative questions and the conceptual and methodological problems connected with them. A central concern of the discipline is ethics and social philosophy, including not only the study of general moral standards and basic human values, but also of applied ethics, particularly biomedical ethics, environmental ethics, development ethics and professional ethics, which involve the moral standards appropriate in journalism, law, medicine, scientific research, and other professional fields.

Connected with these subfields of ethics are social philosophy and political philosophy as well as the philosophy of law, which addresses questions as to the proper standards for institutions – whether private or governmental – and the foundations and constitutive principles of democracy. Specific to practical philosophy is the theory of action, which explores the nature of human action and the modes of explanation appropriate to it.

A very important part of the field, as currently practiced at the highest level, is the history of moral and political philosophy. Social and moral philosophy is the subject of active research, especially on English empiricism (Berkeley) and 17th century political philosophy (Hobbes). The international journal Hobbes Studies is edited in the discipline.

The discipline of social and moral philosophy is a member of the Philosophical Psychology, Morality and Politics Research Unit (PMP), which belongs to the Academy of Finland’s programme of Centres of Excellence in Research. Social and moral philosophy also houses the interdisciplinary and international research project Trends and Tensions in Intellectual Integration (TINT) sponsored by the Academy of Finland.