Christian Piller
Professor

Profile

Biography

I am from Styria, a region in Austria associated with the colour green. I studied at the University of Graz, the regional capital. I got jobs at Graz and then at the University of Innsbruck. Before completing a thesis on Newcomb’s Paradox, I decided to make a fresh start in the US when I received an offer from Princeton University for a PhD scholarship. It is always eye-opening to see your country from afar. When I came to York, we were eight members of academic staff, five of them recently appointed. And then I stayed till today. I held research fellowships in Jerusalem and in Budapest, I taught at the universities of Bayreuth, Salzburg and Vienna. My children grew up in York.

Departmental roles

• International Officer
• Member of the Department Research Committee

University roles

• I served on the Standing Committee on Assessment. I was Director of the School of PPE.

Research

Overview

My main areas are ethics and epistemology. I have recently published on fairness, on issues in population ethics, and on safety accounts of knowledge. I am interested in the normative aspects of epistemology and in issues in Philosophy and Economics, like the problem of interpersonal comparisons of utility and well-being.

Teaching

Undergraduate

• Ethics for first years
• Ethics and Economics
• Happiness, Utility and Well-being
• The Structure of the Good
• Epistemic Normativity

Postgraduate

• Topics in Practical Philosophy

External activities

Memberships

• European Epistemology Network
• European Normativity Network
• Formal Ethics Group

Editorial duties

• Grazer Philosophische Studien