Overview

Office Hours for Term 2 2019/20: Mondays 2 - 3 pm and Tuesdays 2-3 pm.

My original research was on the early twentieth century German philosopher Ernst Cassirer (published in January 2009 with Princeton University Press as Ernst Cassirer: The Last Philosopher of Culture) but my interests have since shifted to moral and political philosophy. I have written essays on the ethics of capitalism, the value of happiness and the philosophical importance of the history of ideas. My most recent book, co-written with my father Robert, is called How Much is Enough? Money and the Good Life. It came out in the UK with Allen Lane in June 2012 and has been translated into 15 languages worldwide. A following book, The Language of the Virtues, is forthcoming with Princeton University Press.

I also have also created a website, "Virtues of the Dead": see epigraphs.net. This is an interactive database of epitaphs from churches and cathedrals across the UK, showing how people in the past saw fit to commemorate their dear departed. You can search it by region, date, name or virtue-concept - "earnest", "benevolent", "pious" etc. - so as to uncover trends and correlations. My hope is that "Virtues of the Dead" will become a resource for all researchers interested in cultural change in modern and early-modern Britain. 

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Research

Ernst Cassirer

Virtue ethics

Ethics and economics

The history of the virtues

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Supervision

• Ernst Cassirer
• Twentieth-century German philosophy and social thought
• Art as a social practice
• Virtue ethics
• Ethics and Economics

Research students

I am currently supervising Toby Sherman, who is writing a doctoral thesis on conceptions of happiness. From 2010-2013, I co-supervised Christopher Fear, who wrote his thesis on Collingwood's theory of history. 

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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.}

| To Appear | 2024 | 2018 | 2016 | 2015 | 2014 | 2013 | 2012 | 2010 | 2009 | 2008 | 2007 | 2006 | 2003 |

To Appear

• Skidelsky EBH. The Language of the Virtues, Princeton University Press.

2024

• Skidelsky E. (2024) Economics and Three Faces of Prudence, Homo Curator: Towards the Ethics of Consumption, Springer Nature, 131-142, DOI:10.1007/978-3-031-51700-6_9.

2018

• Skidelsky E. (2018) Moral Enhancement and the Human Condition, Moral Enhancement Critical Perspectives, Cambridge University Press, 109-120.

2016

• Skidelsky EBH. (2016) Happiness, Pleasure, and Belief, Australasian Journal of Philosophy, DOI:10.1080/00048402.2016.1251477.
• Skidelsky EBH. (2016) Prostitution and Corruption, Die Philosophie des Marktes, Felix Meiner.

2015

• Skidelsky E, Skidelsky R. (2015) Restraining Insatiability, Are Markets Moral?, Springer Nature, 8-43, DOI:10.1057/9781137472748_2.
• Skidelsky E, Skidelsky R. (2015) The Meaning of Money, Are Markets Moral?, Springer Nature, 103-143, DOI:10.1057/9781137472748_5.
• Skidelsky E, Skidelsky R. (2015) The Moral Limits of Markets, Are Markets Moral?, Springer Nature, 77-102, DOI:10.1057/9781137472748_4.
• Skidelsky E, Skidelsky R. (2015) Equality and Corruption, Are Markets Moral?, Springer Nature, 44-76, DOI:10.1057/9781137472748_3.
• Skidelsky E, Skidelsky R. (2015) Introduction, Are Markets Moral?, Springer Nature, 1-7, DOI:10.1057/9781137472748_1.

2014

• Skidelsky EBH. (2014) Why Machines are not Slaves, Our Work here is Done: Visions of a Robot Economy, NESTA, 94-102.
• Skidelsky EBH. (2014) What can we learn from happiness surveys?, Journal of Practical Ethics, volume 2, no. 2, pages 20-32.
• Skidelsky EBH. (2014) Review of Simon Kirchin (ed.), Thick Concepts, The Philosophical Quarterly.

2013

• Skidelsky EBH. (2013) The Touch of Midas: Money, Markets, Morality, Ethics and International Affairs, volume 27, no. 4, pages 449-457.
• Skidelsky EBH. (2013) Review of Michael Sandel, What Money Can't Buy, Philosophy, no. 1, pages 155-158.

2012

• Skidelsky EBH. (2012) "Cassirer on Science and Religion", Philosophie der Kultur - Kultur des Philosophierens: Ernst Cassirer im 20. und 21. Jahrhundert, Felix Meiner.
• Skidelsky EBH. (2012) "The Emancipation of Avarice", Natural Law, Economics and the Common Good.

2010

• Skidelsky EBH. (2010) 'Economics and Morals', The Economic Crisis and the State of Economics, Palgrave Macmillan.
• Skidelsky EBH. (2010) 'Review of Denis Dutton, "The Art Instinct".', British Journal of Aesthetics, volume 50, no. 1, pages 109-112.

2009

• Skidelsky E. (2009) The Art Instinct, The British Journal of Aesthetics, volume 50, no. 1, pages 109-112, DOI:10.1093/aesthj/ayp056.
• Edward Skidelsky. (2009) Ernst Cassirer: the Last Philosopher of Culture, Princeton University Press.
• Skidelsky EBH. (2009) 'Capitalism and the Good Life', Profit, Prudence and Virtue: Essays in Ethics, Business and Management, Imprint Academic.

2008

• Edward Skidelsky. (2008) "Cassirer's Critique of Myth: its Relevance for Today", The Persistence of Myth as a Symbolic Form, Maney, 150-156.

2007

• Skidelsky EBH. (2007) The Strange Death of British Idealism’, Philosophy and Literature, volume 31, no. 1, pages 41-51.
• Skidelsky EBH. (2007) But is it Art? A New Look at the Institutional Theory of Art, Philosophy, volume 82, pages 255-269.

2006

• Skidelsky EBH. (2006) Philosophie und Nationalismus: Zum Niedergang des Britischen Idealismus’ (translated by Carola von Villiez), Dialektik, volume 2006, no. 2, pages 239-250.
• Skidelsky EBH. (2006) Cassirer, Warburg and the Irrational’, Cultural Studies and the Symbolic,, vol. 2, The Paths of Symbolic Knowledge, Northern Universities Press.

2003

• Skidelsky EBH. (2003) From Epistemology to Cultural Criticism: Georg Simmel and Ernst Cassirer, History of European Ideas, volume 29, no. 3, pages 365-381.

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Teaching

Modules taught

• PHL1005A - Evidence and Argument 1
• PHL1112 - Philosophy of Film
• PHL3013 - Virtues and Vices

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Biography

I first studied philosophy together with theology as an undergraduate at Oxford from 1992-95. After graduating, I worked for two years with a Moscow NGO and a further two with a London-based publisher and think-tank. I returned to Oxford from 2000-05 – the politics department this time – to do a doctorate on the late idealist philosopher of science and culture Ernst Cassirer, spending two years as a visiting student at the Humboldt University, Berlin. I speak fluent German and rusty Russian. Apart from philosophy, I enjoy looking at art and architecture, cooking and playing ping pong.

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