Dr. Jeroen Hopster

Universitair docent
Ethiek Instituut
Filosofie
j.k.g.hopster@uu.nl

I am Assistant Professor of Ethics at the Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies of Utrecht University. I do research in the fields of technology ethics and climate ethics, specifically on the role of technology in moral and conceptual change, the ethical significance of social disruption, and the nature of just transitions. I also have research interests in evolutionary ethics and animal ethics. I regularly publish philosophy books, essays, and give presentations for a broader audience.

I am currently principal investigator of the VENI-project "Lost in Transition: The Moral Significance of Frustrated Expectations in Europe’s Climate Transition" (2024-2028) and senior researcher in the NWO gravitation programme "Ethics of Socially Disruptive Technologies" (ESDiT, 2020-2029). Within the Ethics Institute, I coordinate the research and impact theme "Sustainable Futures". I am also involved in the theme "Autonomous Agency and Technology" and its project “Digiwork” (2024-2026). 

I obtained my PhD in Philosophy in the NWO-project “Evolutionary Ethics” at Utrecht University (2019) with the dissertation Moral Objectivity: Origins and Foundations. Subsequently, I have been a Rubicon-fellow at the University of Graz and a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Twente. I have had visiting fellowships at Harvard University, the Jagiellonian University (Kraków), UniSR (Milan), and the University of Graz.

As ‘outreach coordinator’ of the Ethics Institute I organise monthly philosophical café's and co-organise the yearly 'Utrechtse Nacht van de Filosofie.' I write a monthly contribution for Filosofie Magazine and am editor of Wijsgerig Perspectief. I have authored Dutch trade books on ‘Chance’, ‘What If History’, ‘Informal Fallacies’, and ‘Buddhist Philosophy’, among others. Further information on my work in public philosophy can be found here.

Since 2024 I have been a member of the Utrecht Young Academy