Ethics Research Group

Welcome to the Ethics Research Group's webpage!

 Bilderesultat for painting raft

The Ethics Research Group (ERG) is hosted by the Philosophy Department at UiT and consists of philosophers at UiT, as well as a network of external collaborators and affiliated members. The group is led by accosiate professor Heine A. Holmen (chair) and associate professor Ivar R. Labukt (vice-chair).

Also see Members.

We devote ourselves to some of the most fundamental and vexing issues in ethics, moral philosophy and meta-ethics by battling with questions like: How should we live our life? Why should we be moral or ethically virtuous? Is morality/ethics objective and universal? Or is it a human construction or some cultural artefact? Are there any true moral principles or universal virtues? How can we justify them? How can we come to know what they are? Must self-interest be subdued by morality? Does evil exist and can we hold genuine evil-doers morally responsible? How does morality fit in with the rest of science and what else we know about the world? Does ethical responsibility require free will? Are there other valid normative parameters or reasons than ethical or moral ones, such as meaningfulness, prudential reasons, or aesthetic concerns? How do they relate to ethics/morality? What motivates moral action? What justifies moral action? What makes for a good life?

See Research Profile for further information.

As a part of this work, we organize conferences and workshops on a frequent basis here in Tromsø where both internationally acclaimed and local philosophers and researchers contribute. We also organize reading and writing groups. In addtion, there are also Ph.D. and Post Doc fellowships, whose projects and appointments are associated with the group.

We encourage all those who are interested to contact us, subsribe to our mailing list, participate to our events, as well as vouch to join our research network.

See Contact us for more information.