People Feature

Daniel Statman

Politics Academic Visitor
Full Professor, University of Haifa

My research spans ethics, political philosophy, and moral psychology. While my early work addressed theoretical questions, such as the nature of moral dilemmas and the problem of moral luck, my focus has shifted toward applied ethics, specifically the ethics of war and state-religion relations. I also maintain a longstanding interest in the philosophy of virtues and vices. My current project at Nuffield examines recent philosophical justifications for violence in political protests and the endorsement of 'uncivil' resistance to perceived injustices. Some of the philosophers in this area seek support from revisionist just war theory that, in some aspects, is more permissive with regard to the use of lethal force at war than traditional views. I hope to show the opposite, namely, that a proper understanding of revisionism actually reaffirms the traditional liberal commitment to civil and lawful resistance.

Daniel Statman

Publications

Here is a selection of publications that reflect the range of my philosophical interests:

 

Books

Moral Dilemmas, Rodopi 1995

Religion and Morality, Rodopi 1995 (co-authored)

War by Agreement, OUP 2019 (co-authored)

State and Religion in Israel, CUP 2019 (co-authored)

Moral Luck (ed.), SUNY, 1993

Virtue Ethics (ed.) Edinburgh 1997

 

Papers

"Modesty, Pride and Realistic Self-Assessment," Philosophical Quarterly 42 (1992).

"Hypocrisy and Self Deception," Philosophical Psychology 10 (1997).

"Humiliation, Dignity and Self-Respect," Philosophical Psychology 13 (2000).

"The Success Condition for Legitimate Self-Defense," Ethics 118 (2008).

"Ending Wars: A Contractarian View of Jus ex Bello," Ethics 125 (2015).​

"Unreliable Protection: An Experimental Study of Experts' In-Bello Proportionality Decisions," European Journal of International Law 31 (2020) (co-author).

"Can an Action Which Benefits a Person Also Discriminate Against Her? Ratio Juris 34 (2021).

“Why Disregarding Hypocritical Blame Is Appropriate,” Ratio (2023).

“Rejecting the Objectification Hypothesis,” Review of Philosophy and Psychology (2022)

“McMahan on the War Against Hamas,” Analyse & Kritik 47 (2025).

“Is Revenge Inherently Wrong?” Ethics (forthcoming).

“Territorial Rights and the Debate about the Morality of Zionism,” Philosophy & Public Affairs (forthcoming)