Postdoc Projects
Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger:
Ideas of Progress in Liberal Theory
Dr. Vanessa Rampton
Today the idea of progress, with its roots in Enlightenment optimism and respect for reason, is highly contested in academic circles. Partly because of liberalism’s historical commitment to universalism and ‘progressive’ thinking, the idea of progress has been portrayed as the prime fallacy of that tradition in particular, associated with unrealistic expectations about human beings becoming more rational through time. My research project – entitled Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger: Ideas of Progress in Liberal Theory – aims to show that the idea of progress has and continues to play a seminal role in liberal political thinking, and that this is the source of both important strengths and deep tensions within the liberal tradition itself. More specifically, I propose to analyze the major theories of progress associated with the liberal tradition, and to make the case that liberalism itself contains the philosophical resources that can help define progress as more than a collection of meliorist fantasies. Crucial for this endeavour is exploring to what extent liberalism acknowledges that progress in one field may mean costs – or even regress – in another. Such a study of liberalism and progress has practical implications that go beyond the realm of theoretical philosophy. As globalization intensifies, the climate changes, technologies advance, and historians attempt to make sense of the moral failings of the twentieth-century, the idea of progress is once again at the centre of inquiries about how to live. Attempting to disentangle the relationship between liberalism and progress sheds light both on liberal theory and policy, and on the possibility of a theory of progress suited to the twenty-first century.
‘An Apple a Day’: Modern Medicine between Technology and Human Beings
Dr. Vanessa Rampton
As a Branco Weiss fellow, Dr. Vanessa Rampton will research the complex relationship between medicine’s technological successes and its persistently human nature. Her project explores the ambivalences inherent in the application of science to medical practice, and develops a framework for thinking about the ambiguities of both medical knowledge and ethics, as well as the way those are managed in a specific cultural context.
The notion that individual beings and entire societies can be perfected through time is deeply rooted in Western culture, and powerfully shapes the expectations and actions of both ordinary people and the decision-making elite. While modern medicine is sometimes touted as the prime example of how technology can improve human lives, a debate is currently underway about to what extent technological advances imply trade-offs or costs in other fields, and can be in tension with the wishes of patients they purport to serve. At stake are patients’ expectations as well as medicine's self-identity as a progressive enterprise, in which intervention is the favoured course of action.
This project aims to shed light on the complex relationship between medicine’s technological successes and its persistently human nature. Dr. Vanessa Rampton is developing a comprehensive account of a) the ambivalences inherent in the concept of medical progress and b) the persistent tensions between general advances in medical technology, and the concrete, lived experiences of human patients. It is a working hypothesis of this project that ambiguities are inherent in both medical knowledge and ethics, as well as in the cultural values that underpin any social consensus concerning best practices. The aim of this research is to provide a more contextualized view of current debates about improvements in medical practice, to clarify the limitations of both scientific progress and human skills and knowledge, and to help answer the question of how medicine can better cope with its ambiguities.