Dr Edward Hall
Department of Politics and International Relations
Senior Lecturer in Political Theory
+44 114 222 1709
Full contact details
Department of Politics and International Relations
G60
Elmfield Building
Northumberland Road
Sheffield
S10 2TU
- Profile
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I joined the department in September 2014. I took an undergraduate degree in Philosophy and Politics at the University of Durham before moving to the University of Oxford to study for an MPhil in Political Theory. I then moved to the Government Department at the London School of Economics and Political Science to write a PhD on the political thought of Bernard Williams. I was employed as a Fellow in the Government Department at the LSE from September 2012 until September 2014.
Supported by a Leverhulme Trust Research Fellowship (October 2021 – March 2023), I am currently writing a book on the contemporary significance of Judith Shklar’s liberalism of fear. The book, which is under contract with Oxford University Press, is tentatively entitled Power and Powerlessness: The Liberalism of Fear in the Twenty-First Century.
My previous work has addressed the nature of moral and political conflict, the realist revival in political theory, and a number of topics in political ethics.
In 2020, my monograph Value, Conflict, and Order: Berlin, Hampshire, Williams, and the Realist Revival in Political Theory was published by the University of Chicago Press.
In 2022, Princeton University Press will publish Political Ethics: A Handbook, which I am co-editing with Professor Andrew Sabl (University of Toronto).
- Research interests
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Realist Political Theory
Political Ethics
British moral and political thought since World War Two
- Publications
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Books
- Value, Conflict, and Order : Berlin, Hampshire, Williams, and the Realist Revival in Political Theory. Chicago, IL: The University of Chicago Press.
Journal articles
- Political compromise and dirty hands. The Review of Politics. View this article in WRRO
- Human rights, legitimacy, political judgement. Res Publica, 27(2), 171-185. View this article in WRRO
- Integrity in democratic politics. The British Journal of Politics and International Relations, 20(2), 395-408. View this article in WRRO
- How to do realistic political theory (and why you might want to). European Journal of Political Theory, 16(3), 283-303. View this article in WRRO
- Ethics, morality and the case for realist political theory. Critical Review of International Social and Political Philosophy, 20(3), 276-290. View this article in WRRO
- Skepticism about unconstrained utopianism. Social Philosophy and Policy, 33(1-2), 76-95. View this article in WRRO
- Bernard Williams and the Basic Legitimation Demand: A Defence. Political Studies, 63(2), 466-480.
- The limits of Bernard Williams's critique of political moralism. Ethical Perspectives, 20(2), 217-243.
- Political Realism and fact-sensitivity. Res Publica.
- Hobbes's Liberty and Skinner's Discontent. Politics, 30(1), 11-17.
- Contingency, Confidence, and Liberalism in the Political Thought of Bernard Williams. Social Theory and Practice, 40(4), 545-569.
Book reviews
- Raymond Geuss, Who Needs a World View?. Society, 59(1), 93-95.
- Why not. European Journal of Political Theory, 17(1), 109-117.
- Book Review: The Political Is Political: Conformity and the Illusion of Dissent in Contemporary Political Philosophy, by Lorna Finlayson. Political Theory, 46(2), 322-327.
- Book Review: Michael Foley, Political Leadership: Themes, Contexts and Critiques. Political Studies Review, 15(1), 90-90.
- Pietro Maffettone, International Toleration: A Theory (Oxford: Routledge, 2020), pp. 186. Res Publica.
- Suet puddings and red pillarboxes: A review of Marc Stears’ Out of the Ordinary. European Journal of Political Theory, 147488512110401-147488512110401.
- Value, Conflict, and Order : Berlin, Hampshire, Williams, and the Realist Revival in Political Theory. Chicago, IL: The University of Chicago Press.
- Research group
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I would be happy to supervise research in the following broad areas:
- Contemporary political theory
- Realist political thought
- History of modern political theory
- Political ethics
- Teaching activities
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I am not teaching for the duration of my Leverhulme Trust Research Fellowship.
- Professional activities
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- Co-convenor: 2017 Association for Social and Political Philosophy conference on ‘Political Ethics’, University of Sheffield, 27-29/06/2017
- Examiner: Introduction to Modern Political Thought and Contemporary Political Theory papers, University of London External Study Programme, 2012-2014
- Convenor: ‘Realism and Twentieth Century British Political Thought’ panel. MANCEPT Workshops in Political Theory, Ninth Annual Conference: 5th – 7th September 2012
- Founding committee member: Graduate/early career seminar in the history of political ideas. Institute of Historical Research (IHR), Senate House, University of London.
Recent invited papers and keynote lectures
- ‘All determination is negation: Stuart Hampshire and the vitality of conflict’, Political Theory and Cultural Values Seminar, University of Leeds, 08/03/2017
- ‘Skepticism about unconstrained utopianism’, Political Theory Seminar, University of York, 12/01/2016
- ‘Skepticism about unconstrained utopianism’, Social Philosophy and Policy conference, University of Arizona, 04/12/2015
- ‘Integrity in Politics’, Association for Social and Political Philosophy Conference, University of Amsterdam, 25/06/2015
- ‘How to do realistic political theory (and why you might want to)’, RIPPLE Seminar, KU Leuven, 02/04/2015
- ‘Realism as anti-moralism’, Conference on Political Realism, National University of Singapore, 09/01/2015
- ‘Political Theory and its Audience: A Realist Perspective’, Association of Legal and Social Philosophy Annual Conference, University of Leeds, 02/07/2014
- ‘Philp on Political Conduct: An Evaluation’, A celebration and critical evaluation of the work of Mark Philp, University of Oxford, 22/04/2014
- ‘Political Theory and its Audience: A Realist Perspective’, Doing Realist Political Theory: Beyond Critique Conference, University of Sheffield, 09/12/2013
- ‘Contingency, Confidence, and Liberalism in the Political Thought of Bernard Williams’, Realist Legitimacy Panel: MANCEPT Workshops in Political Theory, 06/09/2013
- ‘Williams, Dunn and the Realism Constraint’, Realism and Twentieth Century British Political Thought Panel, MANCEPT Workshops in Political Theory, 05/09/2012
- ‘The Limits of Bernard Williams’s Critique of Political Moralism’, Realism in Political Theory Conference, University of York, 16/11/2011
- ‘Facts, Principles and Political Philosophy’, Nordic Network on Political Ethics (NNPE) Conference on Normative Political Philosophy, Vejle, Denmark, 31/05/2011