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Quassim Cassam

University of Warwick, Philosophy, Faculty Member

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I'm Professor of Philosophy at Warwick University, UK, an Honorary Fellow of Keble College, Oxford, and a Fellow of the British Academy. I was previously Knightbridge Professor of Philosophy at Cambridge, Professor of Philosophy at UCL, and, for 18 years, Fellow and Tutor in Philosophy at Wadham College, Oxford.
In the early part of my career, I worked mainly on epistemology, philosophy of mind, and Kant. More recently, my work has been more applied, and includes books and papers on extremism, terrorism, and conspiracy theories. I'm also interested in philosophical questions about medicine and the nature of biography. I've published seven books so far, Self and World (Oxford 1997), The Possibility of Knowledge (Oxford 2007), Self-Knowledge for Humans (2014), Berkeley's Puzzle: What Does Experience Teach Us? (co-authored with John Campbell Oxford 2014), Vices of the Mind: From the Intellectual to the Political (Oxford 2019), Conspiracy Theories (Polity 2019), and Extremism: A Philosophical Analysis (Routledge 2022). My next book, co-authored with Richard English and due to be published in 2025, will be on the philosophy of terrorism.
Supervisors: P. F. Strawson
Address: Department of Philosophy
University of Warwick
Coventry CV4 7AL
United Kingdom

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Papers by Quassim Cassam

Foreign Interference in the National Security Act 2023

Epistemic Insouciance

Journal of Philosophical Research, 2018

Self and World Revisited

Analytic Philosophy

The Possibility of Knowledge: Reply to Denis Bühler, Daniel Dohrn, David Lüthi, Bernhard Ritter and Simon Sauter

Liberation Philosophy

This is the text of my Inaugural Address given at the 2024 Joint Session of the Aristotelian Soci... more

How to Survive a Crisis

Society, 2024

Can terrorism ever be morally justified?

This paper provides a framework to make moral sense of terrorism. The framework consists in a tes... more This paper provides a framework to make moral sense of terrorism. The framework consists in a test, referred to as the MODAL test, which is an acronym standing for five tests or principles for determining the moral defensibility or indefensibility of terrorism. The five principles concern the motives for terrorism, its objectives, destructiveness, availability of alternatives, and likelihood of success. This approach makes it conceivable but highly unlikely in practice that a terrorist act is morally justified. The MODAL test does not claim to be an exhaustive framework for analysing the moral legitimacy or illegitimacy of terrorism but rather a practical analytical tool aimed at securing a reliable grasp of the tricky question of the relation between morality and terrorism.

What's the Use of Philosophy?

Emancipatory Epistemology

Roughly three decades ago, Louise Antony claimed that ‘what unites philosophers who choose to cha... more Roughly three decades ago, Louise Antony claimed that ‘what unites philosophers who choose to characterize their own work as “feminist” is the conviction that philosophy ought to matter – that it should make a positive contribution to the construction of a more just, humane, and nurturing world than the one we currently inhabit’ (1993: 145). A philosophy that is capable of making such a contribution would have a strong claim to be regarded as emancipatory or as liberatory. According to Antony, it is not just philosophy that is capable being emancipatory but analytic philosophy. In her paper, which is entitled ‘Quine as Feminist: The Radical Import of Naturalized Epistemology’, she identifies W. V. O. Quine as a philosopher in the analytic tradition whose naturalistic approach to the study of knowledge ‘promises enormous aid and comfort’ to those ‘attempting to expose and dismantle the oppressive intellectual ideology of a patriarchal, racist, class-stratified society’ (1993: 113).
To suppose that philosophy can make the contribution that Antony describes is to suppose that it can contribute to social or political change. It is one thing to believe that social or political philosophy can do this, but theoretical philosophy is in a rather different position. How can the abstract theorizing of epistemologists or metaphysicians or philosophers of mind contribute to making the world a better place in the senses that Antony has in mind?

Professional Virtues in Modern Medicine

Philosophical Virtues (published version)

Metaphilosophy, 2023

It has been suggested that philosophers should adopt a methodology largely inspired by mathematic... more It has been suggested that philosophers should adopt a methodology largely inspired by mathematics and that the "mathematical" virtues of rigor, clarity, and precision are also fundamental philosophical virtues. In reply, this paper argues that some excellent philosophy lacks these virtues and that too much emphasis on the mathematical virtues excludes potentially valuable forms of philosophical discourse and makes the profession less diverse than it should be. Unduly restrictive conceptions of philosoph ical argumentation should be avoided. On a contributory conception, philosophy should try to make a positive contribution to human emancipation where possible. The paper argues that it is possible and desirable for epistemology to contribute in this way and that the mathematical virtues are less significant in this context than the emancipatory virtues of what one might call "liberation philosophy." These include irony, reflectiveness, imagination, contrarianism, and worldliness.

Reductionism and first-person thinking

Conspiracy Theories

Society, 2023

Current thinking about conspiracy theories is dominated by epistemological and psychological appr... more Current thinking about conspiracy theories is dominated by epistemological and psychological approaches. The former see the study of conspiracy theories as a branch of epistemology and insist that each theory should be judged on its evidential merits. On this account, a conspiracy theory is an explanation of an event which cites a conspiracy as a salient cause. Psychological approaches explain belief in conspiracy theories by reference to individual personality traits and generic cognitive biases. Despite their popularity, both epistemological and psychological approaches are flawed. After identifying their flaws, a case is made for a different perspective which focuses on the political function of conspiracy theories. A conspiracy theory is not just an explanation of an event which cites a conspiracy as a salient cause. Conspiracy theories have a range of additional features which distinguish them from ordinary theories about conspiracies and make them unlikely to be true. The political approach sees many conspiracy theories as forms of political propaganda and is especially mindful of the role of conspiracy theories in promoting extremist ideologies.

Locke and Kant on the Identity of Consciousness

A paper I wrote in the early 1990s but never submitted for publication.

Some Vices of Vice Epistemology

The actual or potential epistemic vices of a given discipline or field of study are its disciplin... more

HUBRIS, OVERREACH, AND STRATEGIC DISASTER A review of Craig Whitlock's The Afghanistan Papers

Epistemology and ideology

Truth and post-truth

Review of Chums: How a Tiny Caste of Oxford Tories Took Over the UK

Philosophical virtues

Foreign Interference in the National Security Act 2023

Epistemic Insouciance

Journal of Philosophical Research, 2018

Self and World Revisited

Analytic Philosophy

The Possibility of Knowledge: Reply to Denis Bühler, Daniel Dohrn, David Lüthi, Bernhard Ritter and Simon Sauter

Liberation Philosophy

This is the text of my Inaugural Address given at the 2024 Joint Session of the Aristotelian Soci... more

How to Survive a Crisis

Society, 2024

Can terrorism ever be morally justified?

This paper provides a framework to make moral sense of terrorism. The framework consists in a tes... more This paper provides a framework to make moral sense of terrorism. The framework consists in a test, referred to as the MODAL test, which is an acronym standing for five tests or principles for determining the moral defensibility or indefensibility of terrorism. The five principles concern the motives for terrorism, its objectives, destructiveness, availability of alternatives, and likelihood of success. This approach makes it conceivable but highly unlikely in practice that a terrorist act is morally justified. The MODAL test does not claim to be an exhaustive framework for analysing the moral legitimacy or illegitimacy of terrorism but rather a practical analytical tool aimed at securing a reliable grasp of the tricky question of the relation between morality and terrorism.

What's the Use of Philosophy?

Emancipatory Epistemology

Roughly three decades ago, Louise Antony claimed that ‘what unites philosophers who choose to cha... more Roughly three decades ago, Louise Antony claimed that ‘what unites philosophers who choose to characterize their own work as “feminist” is the conviction that philosophy ought to matter – that it should make a positive contribution to the construction of a more just, humane, and nurturing world than the one we currently inhabit’ (1993: 145). A philosophy that is capable of making such a contribution would have a strong claim to be regarded as emancipatory or as liberatory. According to Antony, it is not just philosophy that is capable being emancipatory but analytic philosophy. In her paper, which is entitled ‘Quine as Feminist: The Radical Import of Naturalized Epistemology’, she identifies W. V. O. Quine as a philosopher in the analytic tradition whose naturalistic approach to the study of knowledge ‘promises enormous aid and comfort’ to those ‘attempting to expose and dismantle the oppressive intellectual ideology of a patriarchal, racist, class-stratified society’ (1993: 113).
To suppose that philosophy can make the contribution that Antony describes is to suppose that it can contribute to social or political change. It is one thing to believe that social or political philosophy can do this, but theoretical philosophy is in a rather different position. How can the abstract theorizing of epistemologists or metaphysicians or philosophers of mind contribute to making the world a better place in the senses that Antony has in mind?

Professional Virtues in Modern Medicine

Philosophical Virtues (published version)

Metaphilosophy, 2023

It has been suggested that philosophers should adopt a methodology largely inspired by mathematic... more It has been suggested that philosophers should adopt a methodology largely inspired by mathematics and that the "mathematical" virtues of rigor, clarity, and precision are also fundamental philosophical virtues. In reply, this paper argues that some excellent philosophy lacks these virtues and that too much emphasis on the mathematical virtues excludes potentially valuable forms of philosophical discourse and makes the profession less diverse than it should be. Unduly restrictive conceptions of philosoph ical argumentation should be avoided. On a contributory conception, philosophy should try to make a positive contribution to human emancipation where possible. The paper argues that it is possible and desirable for epistemology to contribute in this way and that the mathematical virtues are less significant in this context than the emancipatory virtues of what one might call "liberation philosophy." These include irony, reflectiveness, imagination, contrarianism, and worldliness.

Reductionism and first-person thinking

Conspiracy Theories

Society, 2023

Current thinking about conspiracy theories is dominated by epistemological and psychological appr... more Current thinking about conspiracy theories is dominated by epistemological and psychological approaches. The former see the study of conspiracy theories as a branch of epistemology and insist that each theory should be judged on its evidential merits. On this account, a conspiracy theory is an explanation of an event which cites a conspiracy as a salient cause. Psychological approaches explain belief in conspiracy theories by reference to individual personality traits and generic cognitive biases. Despite their popularity, both epistemological and psychological approaches are flawed. After identifying their flaws, a case is made for a different perspective which focuses on the political function of conspiracy theories. A conspiracy theory is not just an explanation of an event which cites a conspiracy as a salient cause. Conspiracy theories have a range of additional features which distinguish them from ordinary theories about conspiracies and make them unlikely to be true. The political approach sees many conspiracy theories as forms of political propaganda and is especially mindful of the role of conspiracy theories in promoting extremist ideologies.

Locke and Kant on the Identity of Consciousness

A paper I wrote in the early 1990s but never submitted for publication.

Some Vices of Vice Epistemology

The actual or potential epistemic vices of a given discipline or field of study are its disciplin... more

HUBRIS, OVERREACH, AND STRATEGIC DISASTER A review of Craig Whitlock's The Afghanistan Papers

Epistemology and ideology

Truth and post-truth

Review of Chums: How a Tiny Caste of Oxford Tories Took Over the UK

Philosophical virtues

Memorial Address for Robert Currie

Warwick Mesmerized! 5-12 May 2017

by Fabio Camilletti, alessandra aloisi, Cecilia Muratori, Paola Cori, Elsa Richardson, Quassim Cassam, Alessandra Diazzi, and Liz Turner