I am associate professor of practical philosophy at the Department of Philosophy, Classics, History of Art and Ideas (IFIKK), Faculty of Humanities, University of Oslo. My current research is focused mainly on two areas. On the one hand, I have recently published a book based on the topic of my Ph.D. dissertation, entitled The Right of Necessity: Moral Cosmopolitanism and Global Poverty (London: Rowman & Littlefield International). There, in brief, I present the right of necessity as a concrete expression of the basic right to subsistence. I study this concept in the thought of early modern natural law theorists, specifically Hugo Grotius and Samuel Pufendorf, and then go on to ask whether this right has a place in the contemporary discourse of global poverty and moral cosmopolitanism. Assuming it does, I then look at the practical implications of accepting its exercise (you can read a blog post about it here). On the other hand, I am leading a three-year project funded by the Polar Research Programme of the Research Council of Norway, entitled Political Philosophy Looks to Antarctica: Sovereignty, Resource Rights and Legitimacy in the Antarctic Treaty System. Its objective is to look at the justifications offered for territorial and resource rights in Antarctica, as well as the sources of legitimacy of the Antarctic Treaty System, to then try and build up a normative framework with which to evaluate present and future claims in the White Continent.
An interview about my book, The Right of Necessity, is now available in the New Books Network.
