What we do at CAPPE

The Centre for Philosophy, Politics and Ethics (CAPPE)'s rigorous intervention in the public arena aims to extend the practice of philosophy beyond its traditional academic boundaries.

Our critical approaches in philosophy and politics extend the bounds of academic knowledge, while engaging with a range of partners in the public, charity, private and policy sectors. Our well-attended seminars, symposia, workshops and public lectures ensure that contemporary moral and political issues are promoted through public facing engagement.

Members of CAPPE offer a supportive environment for the successful publication of research across the spectrum of philosophy, politics and ethics. 

Our research is at the cutting edge of contemporary debates. Many of our researchers have contributed the major debates of this century – decolonisation, climate change, populism and social justice are central to our work.

We welcome PhD students, visiting scholars and anyone interested in the work we do. Please see our 'Join us for study, work or visit' page.

 

Find out how to join us as a member, collaborator or visitor

Our research at the Centre for Philosophy, Politics and Ethics (CAPPE)

Our work falls into four broad areas though our many research projects all engage with these key elements of our work: 

  • Rethinking and critically engaging with the disciplines and practices of Philosophy and Politics with particular attention to the challenges we are presented with today; 
  • Understanding emerging forms of politics and the challenges they present to critique. We have a long history of engagement with a range of social movements including populist, feminist, queer, climate change and anti-racist groups;
  • Learning from and contributing to new theoretical debates in critical theory, philosophy and politics;
  • Engaging with our local and global communities to foster interesting research, collegiality and mutual support. 

CAPPE has a number of ongoing research projects that you can read more about on our blogsite. Each project develops a supportive academic focus for research, outreach, collaboration and sharing of knowledge.

Our work includes workshops, supervision of Doctoral research, publications, conference and working groups with networks of scholars around the globe.

Our annual academic conferences each tackles a theme of major philosophical and political importance. It often results in journal or book publications. 

 

 

 

Creative black and white photograph. Hands of different skin tones touch and interlock, palms forward.

Critical theory and radical politics

The populist movements of Southern Europe and Latin America, global protest movements, art activists, migrants who violate territorial borders and slum dwellers who remake global cities all intervene critically to disrupt and improve their worlds. This research group develops critical theory as a uniquely interdisciplinary response to contemporary forms of radical, and often apparently marginal, political, artistic and spatial interruptions.

The researchers in critical theory and radical politics draw on contemporary critical theoretical work, with a broadly post-foundationalist perspective.

We explore how critical theories interact with and respond to radical politics and protest. The first decades of the twenty-first century saw novel forms of political, artistic and spatial resistance to global order. Over the past decade we have hosted many of the world's leading critical theorists including Ernesto Laclau and Wendy Brown.

We welcome staff and associate members, postgraduate student critical theorists and students of radical politics, as well as events visitors with an interest in these areas of work. For further information contact Clare Woodford.

Row of seated figures, facing away in middle-eastern setting

Applied philosophy

CAPPE’s approach is interdisciplinary, collaborative and concerned to contribute both within the academy and beyond it.

We focus on philosophy’s contribution to public and political debate around political and moral issues. Examples include: the ethics of insurance; torture; terror; war photography; medical practice and complicity. As well as initiating research topics ourselves, we are open to suggestions from others, whether academic, activist or both.

 

 

A cardboard, handwritten sign on a protest march reads No jobs on a dead planet. Representing applied philosophy and ethics research.

Our impact and outreach from the Centre for Philosophy, Politics and Ethics (CAPPE)

CAPPE works with a range of universities and organisations around the world. These include Birkbeck Institute for the Humanities, UK; Hannah Arendt Centre, University of Verona, Italy; Society for Women in Philosophy (SWIP); Political Studies Association (PSA); Centre for Ethics and Value Inquiry, Ghent University, Belgium; Department of Political Science, Johns Hopkins USA; International Consortium of Critical Theory Programs hosted by University of California Berkley, USA; and the Universities of Santiago, Chile; Pelotas, Brazil; Recife, Brazil; Vienna, Austria; Helsinki, Finland; Thessaloniki, Greece; Complutense, Madrid, Spain; Roskilde, Denmark; Kyoto, Japan.

We also work closely with colleagues outside higher education. These include think tanks such as Autonomy: the theatre group, Hydrocracker, MEDACT, colleges and schools across the UK, and charities.

CAPPE colleagues engage closely with both policy and practice, aiming to have impact that changes how we live together in positive ways. We have worked with a range of political parties debating the politics of Populism, including with PODEMOS in Spain.

CAPPE welcomes the opportunity to engage with individuals and organisations outside the University. 

Our research output from the Centre for Philosophy, Politics and Ethics (CAPPE)

Details of research publications and other outputs fostered by the centre and achieved by its members, along with funded projects delivered by the centre, can be accessed on the centre's database of research. 

Visit our institutional record of research outputs and projects