Dr Roberto Fumagalli
Senior Lecturer in Political Economy and Philosophy; MAPP Program Director; Research Associate - London School of Economics; Visiting Scholar - University of Pennsylvania
Biography
Click here to view Dr Roberto Fumagalli's website.
I am an Italian from Milan. During my studies, I have been increasingly attracted to interdisciplinary education and training, with a special focus on contemporary research at the interface between philosophy, economics and other decision sciences. I received both my BA in Economics (2004) and my MSc in Economics (2006) at Bocconi University (Milan). I then moved to the London School of Economics, where I completed my MSc in Philosophy (2007) and my PhD in Philosophy (2011), with a doctoral dissertation on the philosophical foundations of neuroeconomics. After completing my PhD, I joined the Department of Philosophy at the University of Bayreuth, where in 2012 I was appointed Junior Professor and took up responsibility for developing and teaching a wide range of BA and MA philosophy courses. In 2017, I joined the Department of Political Economy at King’s College London as Lecturer in Political Economy. Between 2018 and 2020, I served as Director of the Philosophy, Politics and Economics Program (more than 300 students enrolled), significantly contributing to the program’s expansion and consolidating the program’s performance in various strategic dimensions (e.g. top undergraduate program in the department and third-ranked program in the whole faculty in the 2019 National Student Surveys). I am currently serving as Director of the MA Public Policy Program.
Teaching
- Behavioural Political Economy
- Ethics and Public Policy
- Introduction to Political Theory
- Key Concepts of PPE
Over the last few years, I have been responsible for several courses at the undergraduate, graduate and postgraduate level across universities. Before joining King’s, I taught courses and seminars in: Philosophy of Economics, Philosophy of Science, Philosophy of Social Sciences, Philosophical Analysis, Business Ethics, Bioethics, Philosophy & Public Policy. My teaching and pastoral support have consistently received enthusiastic evaluations by my students. At the University of Bayreuth, I was awarded the Prize for Teaching Excellence 2017 for the best teaching evaluations in the Humanities Faculty. Here at King's College London, I have received multiple nominations for teaching-related Awards at the College level (e.g. nomination for Teaching Excellence Awards in Ethics, Economics and Public Policy, 2018, and in Political Theory, 2018; nomination for King’s Education Awards in 2019, 2022 and 2023). On top of these teaching-related nominations, I have also received nominations for supervision-related Awards (e.g. Dissertation Supervisor in 2019) and administration-leadership role Awards (e.g. Director of the PPE Programme in 2019).
PhD supervision
I am interested in supervising PhD students with research projects in the following areas:
- Philosophy of Economics
- Philosophy of Science
- Ethics and Economics
- Ethics and Public Policy
- Bioethics / Public Health Ethics
Interested candidates should contact me directly with a draft research proposal and their CV.
Research
Areas of Specialization
Philosophy of Economics; Philosophy of Science; Philosophy of the Social Sciences; Moral and Political Philosophy.
Areas of Competence
Philosophy of the Cognitive Sciences; Business Ethics; Bioethics; Philosophy and Public Policy; Metaphysics.
My research interests cover a wide range of areas, including philosophy of economics, philosophy of science, moral and political philosophy, philosophy and public policy. Over the last few years, I have published several articles in top-ranked international journals, including Philosophical Studies, Philosophy of Science, Economics and Philosophy, Biology and Philosophy, Erkenntnis, Theory and Decision, Social Choice and Welfare, the Journal of Social Philosophy, the Journal of Applied Philosophy, Moral Philosophy and Politics, Bioethics, Public Health Ethics, Journal of Medical Ethics, Synthese, Philosophy, Philosophy of the Social Sciences, Studia Leibnitiana, Studies in History and Philosophy of Science and the Journal of Economic Methodology. I have given more than 140 talks at conferences and workshops around the world. I am research associate at the London School of Economics (since 2011) and visiting scholar at the University of Pennsylvania (since 2013). I have also been visiting scholar at the Finnish Centre for Excellence in Helsinki (2013), the University of California San Diego (2014), the Munich Centre for Mathematical Philosophy (2015), the University of Oxford (Blackfriars Hall and Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics, both in 2021) and New York University (2024).
Selected Publications
2024. A Dissolution of the Repugnant Conclusion. Journal of Applied Philosophy, 41 (1), 85-105.
2024. Please Wear a Mask: A Systematic Case for Mask Wearing Mandates. Journal of Medical Ethics. In Press.
2024. Preferences versus Opportunities: On theConceptual Foundations of Normative Welfare Economics. Economics and Philosophy, 40 (1), 77-101.
2023. A More Liberal Public Reason Liberalism. Moral Philosophy and Politics, 10 (2), 337-366.
2022. A Reformed Division of Labor for the Science of Well-Being. Philosophy, 97 (4), 509–543.
2022. We Should Not Use Randomization Procedures to Allocate Scarce Life-Saving Resources. Public Health Ethics, 15 (1), 87–103.
2021. Rationality, Preference Satisfaction and Anomalous Intentions: Why Rational Choice Theory is not Self-Defeating. Theory and Decision, 91 (3), 337-356.
2021. Theories of Well-Being and Well-Being Policy: A View from Methodology. Journal of Economic Methodology, 28 (1), 124-133.
2020. How Thin Rational Choice Theory Explains Choices. Studies in History and Philosophy of Science, 83, 63-74.
2020. Buyer Beware: A Critique of Leading Virtue Ethics Defences of Markets. Journal of Social Philosophy, 51(3), 457-482.
2020. Markets, Morals and Virtues: Evidential and Conceptual Issues. Erasmus Journal for Philosophy and Economics, 13 (1), 30-41.
2020. On the Individuation of Choice Options. Philosophy of the Social Sciences, 50 (4), 338-365.
2020. Slipping on Slippery Slope Arguments. Bioethics, 34 (4), 412-419.
2019. (F)utility Exposed. Philosophy of Science, 86 (5), 955-966
2018. Who is Afraid of Scientific Imperialism? Synthese, 195 (9), 4125-4146.
2018. Eliminating 'Life Worth Living'. Philosophical Studies, 175 (3), 769-792.
2017. On the Neural Enrichment of Economic Models: Recasting the Challenge. Biology and Philosophy, 32 (2), 201-220.
2017. Against Neuroscience Imperialism. Invited chapter for “Scientific Imperialism: Exploring the Boundaries of Interdisciplinarity”. Uskali Mäki et al. Eds. Scientific Imperialism: Exploring the Boundaries of Interdisciplinarity Routledge.
2016. Decision Sciences and the New Case for Paternalism: Three Welfare-Related Justificatory Challenges. Social Choice & Welfare, 47 (2), 459-480.
2016. Choice Models and Realistic Ontologies: Three Challenges to Neuro-Psychological Modellers. European Journal for the Philosophy of Science, 6 (1), 145-164.
2016. Why we cannot Learn from Minimal Models. Erkenntnis, 81 (3), 433-455.
2016. Economics, Psychology and the Unity of the Decision Sciences. Philosophy of the Social Sciences, 46 (2), 103-128.
2016. Five Theses on Neuroeconomics. Journal of Economic Methodology, 23 (1), 77-96.
2015. No Learning from Minimal Models. Philosophy of Science, 82 (5), 798-809.
2014. Neural Findings and Economic Models: Why Brains have Limited Relevance for Economics. Philosophy of the Social Sciences, 44 (5), 606-629.
2013. The Futile Search for True Utility. Economics and Philosophy, 29 (3), 325-347.
2013. Invited Book Review of “Economics for Real: Uskali Mäki and the Place of Truth in Economics”. Lehtinen, A., Kuorikoski, J. and Ylikoski, P. Eds. Economics and Philosophy, 29 (2), 283-289.
2012. On the Alleged Insignificance of the Primordial Existential Question. Studia Leibnitiana, 44 (2), 212-228.
2011. On the Neural Enrichment of Economic Models: Tractability, Trade-offs and Multiple Levels of Descriptions. Biology and Philosophy, 26 (5), 617-635.
2010. The Disunity of Neuroeconomics: a Methodological Appraisal. Journal of Economic Methodology, 17 (2), 119-131.
Further Details
Research
Political Theory Research Group
The political theory group covers many topics and approaches, and affirms the central importance of political economy to political theory.
Politics, Philosophy and Economics Research Group
The PPE research group studies questions spanning the disciplines of politics, philosophy, and economics.
Social Equity and Social Welfare
The Social and Social Welfare subgroup delivers theoretically and empirically grounded research focused on gender and income inequality, social policy and social welfare, taxation, and redistribution.
Public Policy and Regulation Research Group
Public Policy and Regulation (PPR) is the home for theoretically and empirically grounded research which analyses policy and regulatory responses to important political, social and economic issues, and (individual-level) responses to these policies.
Research
Political Theory Research Group
The political theory group covers many topics and approaches, and affirms the central importance of political economy to political theory.
Politics, Philosophy and Economics Research Group
The PPE research group studies questions spanning the disciplines of politics, philosophy, and economics.
Social Equity and Social Welfare
The Social and Social Welfare subgroup delivers theoretically and empirically grounded research focused on gender and income inequality, social policy and social welfare, taxation, and redistribution.
Public Policy and Regulation Research Group
Public Policy and Regulation (PPR) is the home for theoretically and empirically grounded research which analyses policy and regulatory responses to important political, social and economic issues, and (individual-level) responses to these policies.