Hamish Russell

I teach ethics and political philosophy, including units for the Human Rights and Philosophy, Politics, and Economics (PPE) majors. My teaching in semester two, 2024, includes (components of):

• PPHE1001 Justice, Liberty, and the Market
• HUMR2001 Global and Environmental Justice
• HUMR1001 Human Rights in Global Perspective

I have also taught units in ethical theory, political philosophy (historical and contemporary), professional ethics, and philosophy of sexuality. I've supervised projects in political philosophy, philosophy of sexuality, and applied ethics.

In my research, I'm interested the ethics of institutions, and especially the ethics of roles in complex and imperfect institutions. How do professional roles—like lawyer or lecturer or business executive—shape our moral obligations? If the rules of our roles are unjust, are we ethically permitted, or even required, to disobedy those rules? I am inclined to take roles quite seriously: I think they can legitimately obligate us, even in ways that come apart from what we generally think is most ethical. Many of the difficult moral conflicts we face in our lives come from conflicts between what our roles require and what we ought ethically to do, were it not for the role.