Michel Bourban

Welcome to my website!

I am a researcher in moral, political, and legal philosophy. I work on several fields, including climate justice and climate ethics, environmental ethics, global justice, animal ethics, intergenerational justice, the ethics of technological innovation, effective altruism, and citizenship theory. I am interested in topics such as sustainability, eco-anxiety, energy transition, citizenship, human rights, and ideal and non-ideal theory. I am also interested in the history of philosophy, especially the moral and political philosophy of Hutcheson, Rousseau, Kant, and Rawls. 

I teach political philosophy, on topics such as the philosophy of human rights, political liberalism, theories of sovereignty, political liberty, just war theories, and intergenerational justice. I also teach moral philosophy, especially global ethics, sustainability ethics, climate ethics, and big data ethics. Finally, I regularly teach the political thought of Hobbes, Locke, Rousseau, Kant, Mill, Tocqueville, Arendt, and Rawls. 

I am Assistant Professor in Environmental Ethics in the Section of Philosophy at the University of Twente. My research line, “Extending Justice and Citizenship”, aims at clarifying the demands of justice and citizenship in our aera of global environmental changes. It also investigates how these demands can guide just institutional reforms, steer responsible technological innovation, and encourage pro-environmental behavior. I am also a member of the Horizon 2020 TechEthos project, which deals with the ethics of new and emerging technologies with high socio-economic impact, and the NWO ESDiT project, which develops a comprehensive philosophical understanding of technologies that are socially and conceptually disruptive.

This website provides access to information on my (short) biography, my (existing and forthcoming) publications, my (past and upcoming) talks, my teachings, and my reviewing and outreach activities. 

If you want to get in touch with me, please send an email to m.bourban@utwente.nl