Rutger Claassen is Professor of Political Philosophy and Economic Ethics at the Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies of Utrecht ľ¹Ï¸£ÀûÓ°ÊÓ. His research is at the intersection of politics, economics and ethics, focusing on theoretical and normative questions about democracy, freedom, markets, and justice.
He currently is the principal investigator of a research project on , funded by the European Research Council (ERC-Consolidator Grant), which investigates the societal role and legitimacy of business corporations (2020-2025). He was the principal investigator of a research project funded by the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO) on in Liberal-Democratic Societies (2017-2022). This project focused on the social/political power coming with accumulated private property holdings, and how to render these consistent with ideals of democratic accountability.
In his monograph (Cambridge ľ¹Ï¸£ÀûÓ°ÊÓ Press, 2018) he argues for a capability approach centered on a notion of autonomous agency. He has published in journals such as Economic & Philosophy, Inquiry, Law & Philosophy, Journal of Social Philosophy and Politics, Philosophy & Economics.
Rutger Claassen obtained his PhD in 2008 from Utrecht ľ¹Ï¸£ÀûÓ°ÊÓ for a dissertation about the moral limits of markets. He was assistant professor at Leiden ľ¹Ï¸£ÀûÓ°ÊÓ and a visiting scholar at the ľ¹Ï¸£ÀûÓ°ÊÓ of Michigan in Ann Arbour and Humboldt Universität in Berlin. At Utrecht ľ¹Ï¸£ÀûÓ°ÊÓ, Rutger Claassen was the first Program Director of the new BA-program in Philosophy, Politics & Economics (PPE), which started in September 2018. He also regularly publishes articles and books in Dutch, and gives lectures and interviews so as to bring philosophy to a broader audience. For years, he was the co-organizer of a monthly Philosophical Café in Utrecht.
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