Overview

My research and teaching interests lie in the history of political ideas and contemporary political philosophy/theory. 

I was appointed Head of the Department of Social and Political Sciences, Philosophy, and Anthropology in July 2023, having served previously as Head of Politics from 2017-2020. 

Since 2020, I have served as chair of the Britain and Ireland Association for Political Thought.

Back to top

Research

My research interests lie in the history of political ideas and contemporary political theory/philosophy.

Most of my research has focused on the intellectual tradition of modern liberalism - construed very broadly, from the seventeenth century to the present - and its central political theorists, concepts, and normative (ethical and institutional) commitments. I brought these interests together in my first book, on the political thought of Thomas Paine. In other work, I have explored philosophical understandings of various moral and political ideas (such as human rights, property, equality, freedom, and impartiality) in the writing of historical and contemporary liberal theorists, from John Locke and William Godwin to John Rawls and Richard Rorty. I have also written a bit on philosophical issues related to historical interpretation/methodology, as well as an introductory book on the concept of property in political theory.

I am currently working on a book on Richard Rorty's understanding of political hope.

Research group links

• Centre for Political Thought

Back to top

Supervision

Research students

Back to top

Publications

_{Copyright Notice: Any articles made available for download are for personal use only. Any other use requires prior permission of the author and the copyright holder.}

| 2022 | 2021 | 2019 | 2018 | 2015 | 2014 | 2013 | 2011 | 2010 | 2009 | 2007 | 2006 |

2022

• Lamb R. (2022) Richard Rorty and the Demands of Liberalism, American Political Science Review, volume 116, pages 1503-1515, DOI:10.1017/S0003055422000065.

2021

• Lamb R. (2021) Property, Polity.

2019

• Lamb R. (2019) Pragmatism, Practices, and Human Rights, Review of International Studies, volume 45, pages 550-568, DOI:10.1017/S0260210519000111. [PDF]

2018

• Lamb R. (2018) Political Philosophy and the Nature of Expertise, Critical Review of International Social and Political Philosophy, volume 23, pages 910-930, DOI:10.1080/13698230.2018.1511173.
• Lamb R. (2018) Historicising the Idea of Human Rights, Political Studies, volume 67, pages 100-115, DOI:10.1177/0032321717752516.

2015

• Lamb R. (2015) Thomas Paine and the Idea of Human Rights, Cambridge University Press.
• Lamb R. (2015) Historicism, The Routledge Handbook for Interpretive Political Science, Routledge, 72-85.

2014

• Lamb R. (2014) The Liberal Cosmopolitanism of Thomas Paine, The Journal of Politics, volume 76, no. 3, pages 636-648, DOI:10.1017/S0022381614000115. [PDF]

2013

• Lamb R. (2013) The Power to Bequeath, Law and Philosophy, volume 33, no. 5, pages 629-654, DOI:10.1007/s10982-013-9195-0. [PDF]
• Lamb R. (2013) Inheritance and Bequest in Lockean Rights Theory, Inherited Wealth, Justice and Equality, Routledge, 39-53.

2011

• Lamb R. (2011) Post-Analytic Hermeneutics: Themes from Mark Bevir's Philosophy of History, Intellectual History Review (special issue), volume 21, no. 1.
• Lamb R, Thompson B. (2011) Disinterestedness and Virtue: "Pure Love" in Fénelon, Rousseau and Godwin', History of Political Thought, volume 32, no. 5, pages 799-820.
• Lamb R. (2011) Democracy, Justice and "Ruthless Consequentialism", European Political Science, no. 10, pages 457-463, DOI:10.1057/eps.2011.53.
• Lamb R. (2011) Beliefs, Desires, Weak Intentionality and the Identity of the History of Ideas, Intellectual History Review, volume 21, no. 1, pages 85-94.

2010

• Lamb R. (2010) The Politics of Property, The British Journal of Politics and International Relations (special issue), volume 121, no. 1.
• Lamb R. (2010) Liberty, Equality, and the Boundaries of Ownership: Thomas Paine’s Theory of Property Rights, The Review of Politics, volume 72, no. 3, pages 483-511, DOI:10.1017/S0034670510000331.
• Lamb R. (2010) Locke on Ownership, Imperfect Duties and ‘the Art of Governing’, British Journal of Politics and International Relations, volume 12, no. 1, pages 126-141, DOI:10.1111/j.1467-856X.2009.00397.x.

2009

• Lamb R. (2009) For and Against Ownership: William Godwin's Theory of Property, The Review of Politics, volume 71, no. 2, pages 275-302.
• Lamb R. (2009) Quentin Skinner's revised historical contextualism: a critique, History of the Human Sciences, volume 22, no. 3, pages 51-73, DOI:10.1177/0952695109104423.
• Lamb R, Wagner C. (2009) 'The Many Lives of John Thelwall, Selected Political Writings of John Thelwall, Pickering & Chatto.
• Lamb R. (2009) Recent Developments in the Thought of Quentin Skinner and the Ambitions of Contextualism, Journal of the Philosophy of History, volume 3, no. 3, pages 246-265, DOI:10.1163/187226309X461524.
• Thelwall J. (2009) Selected Political Writings of John Thelwall, Pickering and Chatto.
• Lamb R. (2009) Labour, Contingency, Utility: Thelwall's Theory of Property, John Thelwall: Radical Romantic and Acquitted Felon, Pickering and Chatto, 51-60.
• Lamb R. (2009) Was William Godwin a Utilitarian?, Journal of the History of Ideas, volume 70, no. 1, pages 119-141, DOI:10.1353/jhi.0.0026.
• Lamb R. (2009) The Meaning of Charity in Locke's Political Thought, European Journal of Political Theory, volume 8, no. 2, pages 229-252.

2007

• Lamb R. (2007) William Godwin on the morality of freedom, History of Political Thought, volume 28, no. 4, pages 661-677.

2006

• Lamb R. (2006) The Foundations of Godwinian Impartiality, Utilitas, volume 18, no. 2, pages 134-153.

Back to top

Teaching

Modules taught

• POL2059 - Political Thought of Modernity

Back to top