Research interests

Applied ethics, basic income, paternalism, political neutrality, pluralism, predistribution, property-owning democracy, republicanism.

Education

2003-2008: Ph.D. in Political Philosophy at Centre Raymond Aron, EHESS (Paris) on “Political neutrality and value pluralism” (summa cum laude).

Supervisors: Monique Canto-Sperber (EHESS-ENS) and Daniel Weinstock (McGill University)

2001: MA in Philosophy, Sorbonne-Paris1 University

1999: BA in Philosophy (DEUG, Licence, Maîtrise), Sorbonne-Paris1 University

Appointments

2017: Invited researcher at Centro de Estudos Sociais, University of Coimbra

2017: Invited professor at ISCTE, Instituto Universitário de Lisboa (professor of contemporary political philosophy - MA in Public Policies)

2016: Invited professor at Institut d’Études Politiques, Sciences-Po Grenoble

2014: Researcher at IFILNOVA, New University of Lisbon

2013: Hoover Fellow, Hoover Chair of the Catholic University of Louvain

2011: Invited researcher at Harvard University Program in Ethics and Health (Harvard Medical School)

2006 - 2007: Invited researcher at CRÉ, University of Montreal

Biographical statement

I teach moral and political philosophy at the University of Minho, where I do research at the Centre for Ethics, Politics and Society. I'm also an associate researcher at CEVIPOF (Sciences Po-Paris). My research interests include liberal neutrality and value pluralism, egalitarian theories of justice, applied ethics, and the relationship between art and morality. Recently I published (with António Baptista) a special issue on property-owning democracy. My last co-edited book (with Daniel Weinstock) was on Political Neutrality: a Re-evaluation (Palgrave Macmillan, 2014; reviews by P.Vandamme for Ethical Perspectives, and by Laurent de Briey for Philosophiques).Before that, I published two volumes (one of them with Vincent Bourdeau) on neo-republicanism and one special issue on libertarianism. I've also published a book (with João Cardoso Rosas) on the ethical evaluation of controversial technologies in citizens’ conferences. My interest on aesthetic moralism led me to edit a special issue on art and morality.

Selected publications

2017: “Democracia de proprietários, pré-distribuição, e rendimento básico incondicional”, Revista Portuguesa de Filosofia, Vol. 73 (1): 303-316.

2017: “El acceso a los comunes y la renta básica como formas complementares de justicia predistributiva”, in Zalakain, J. & Barragué, B. (coords.) (2017). Repensar las políticas sociales: predistribución e inversión social. Madrid: Editorial Grupo 5, pp. 229-236.

2017: “Ronald Dworkin et la neutralité de l’État”, in Alain Policar (ed), Ronald Dworkin, L’empire des valeurs, Paris, Classiques Garnier, pp. 99-123.

2014: “L’amour comme émotion morale ? Partialité parentale et égalité des chances”, Raison Publique, Vol.19, pp. 177-196.

2014: (with Daniel Weinstock) Political neutrality: a Re-evaluation, Palgrave Macmillan.

Projects

Currently I’m preparing a volume on predistribution and social justice and a book on basic income.

Contact

* E-mail roberto.merrill@ilch.uminho.pt

* Personal website: https://sites.google.com/site/nrbmerrill/