Dr Wouter Peeters

Dr Wouter Peeters

Department of Philosophy
Associate Professor in Global Ethics

Contact details

I am an Associate Professor of Global Ethics. My main interests are in climate change, environmental sustainability, social justice, moral theory and bioethics. I also dabble in intersubjective ethics and recognition theory.

  • Please also visit  for more information
  • I am a member of the UoB’s Rainbow Network.

Feedback and office hours

Office hours:

  • Thursday 15:00 - 17:00

Qualifications

  • PhD in Philosophy and Moral Sciences (Brussels). Dissertation: Freedom and responsibility in the face of climate change. How the capabilities approach and common-sense morality (ought to) respond to global environmental problems
  • MA in Philosophy and Moral Sciences (summa cum laude, Brussels)
  • BA in Educational Sciences (Ghent)

Biography

I obtained my PhD in Philosophy and Moral Sciences in December 2014 from Vrije Universiteit Brussels. In 2015-2016, I was a Visiting Professor in Social and Political Philosophy at Ghent University. Since 1 September 2016, I am a Lecturer in Global Ethics at the University 麻豆精选.

Teaching

  • Reasoning, Propaganda and the Public Discourse
  • The Ethics and Politics of Climate Change
  • Global Bioethics
  • Global Ethics Placement

Postgraduate supervision

I am happy to supervise students working on political philosophy, global (bio)ethics, climate change, environmental sustainability and intersubjective ethics.


Find out more - our PhD Philosophy  page has information about doctoral research at the University 麻豆精选.

Research

My PhD dissertation examined the challenges climate change and other problems of environmental sustainability pose to our conceptions of individual freedom (the capabilities approach in particular) and responsibility (more specifically, common-sense morality).

Building on this, my current research focuses on the perspective of duty-bearers on issues of global justice. Alleviating human rights deficits such as poverty and climate change will not only depend on action undertaken by collective agents (such as states and international institutions), but also by individuals. However, this suggestion is met with several objections: individual duty-bearers have worries and concerns regarding their responsibilities of global justice. These concerns merit ethical attention since they might impede action.

Examples include but are not limited to the objection that the actions necessary to protect human rights would demand too much of agents (the over-demandingness objection) and the concern that nothing individuals can do will make any difference (the problem of ineffectiveness). Another important question might concern the relationship with other duty-bearers, including institutions, other individuals, companies and NGOs. People also have a legitimate interest in being treated fairly, so they would object to an unfair distribution of the burdens involved in for example poverty alleviation or climate change abatement.聽

My aim is to investigate these and other concerns in order to develop a novel account of the duties and responsibilities for realising human rights that accommodates the legitimate concerns of duty-bearers and persuasively debunks their misconceptions.

My contributions to the Justice Everywhere Blog can be read at:聽

Publications

Recent publications

Book

Peeters, W, De Smet, A, Diependaele, L & Sterckx, S 2015, . Palgrave Macmillan.

Article

Peeters, W 2024, '', Journal of Global Ethics, vol. 19, no. 3, pp. 253-262.

Bell, D, Swaffield, J & Peeters, W 2019, '', Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Ethics, vol. 32, no. 4, pp. 611-632.

Peeters, W, Bell, D & Swaffield, J 2019, '', Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Ethics, vol. 32, no. 4, pp. 505-526.

Peeters, W, Diependaele, L & Sterckx, S 2019, '', Ethical Theory and Moral Practice, vol. 22, no. 2, pp. 425-447.

Dirix, J, Peeters, W & Sterckx, S 2016, '', Ethics, Policy and Environment, vol. 19, no. 1, pp. 60-75.

Dirix, J, Peeters, W & Sterckx, S 2016, '', Environment, Development and Sustainability, vol. 18, no. 3, pp. 839-855.

De Smet, A, Peeters, W & Sterckx, S 2016, '', Ethics and Global Politics, vol. 9, pp. 1-21.

Dirix, J, Peeters, W & Sterckx, S 2015, '', New Political Economy, vol. 20, no. 5, pp. 702-724.

Peeters, W, Dirix, J & Sterckx, S 2015, '', Environmental Values, vol. 24, no. 3, pp. 367-389.

Peeters, W, Dirix, J & Sterckx, S 2015, '', Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Ethics, vol. 28, pp. 479-496.

Chapter

Peeters, W 2017, . in I Mu帽oz, M Blondet & G Gamio (eds), 脡tica, Agencia, y Desarrollo Humano: V Conferencia de la Asociaci贸n Latinoamericana y del Caribe para el Desarrollo Humano y el Enfoque de Capacidades. Fondo Editorial - Pontificia Universidad Cat贸lica del Per煤, Lima, pp. 127-147.

De Smet, A, Peeters, W & Sterckx, S 2014, . in D McBain (ed.), Power, Justice and Citizenship: The Relationships of Power. Inter-Disciplinary Press, Oxford, Oxford, pp. 123-133.

Conference contribution

Dirix, J, Peeters, W & Sterckx, S 2014, . in G Collste & L Reuter (eds), Proceedings from the 50th Societas Ethica Annual Conference 2013.: Climate change, sustainability, and an ethics of an open future. August 22-25; 2013; Soesterberg; The Netherlands. vol. 098, Link枚ping University Electronic Press, pp. 63-78. <>

Other contribution

Peeters, W 2019, .. <>

Expertise

  • Climate change
  • Environmental sustainability
  • Social justice
  • Bioethics