Toby Ord

British Academy Postdoctoral Fellow
Department of Philosophy
University of Oxford


Welcome to my academic site. Here, I have drawn together some materials regarding my research for those who have asked and others who may find it useful.

I am very interested in ethics, both practically and theoretically. On the theoretical front, I am currently focusing on consequentialist moral theories (those theories that assess actions solely in terms of their outcomes), their connection to practical decision making, and their relationship to other ethical theories. In addition, I am looking at the moral status of the human embryo and at techniques to identify and overcome biases in ethical decision making.

On a more practical front, I am deeply concerned about world poverty which may well be the most important moral issue of our day. I have therefore founded an organization called Giving What We Can to bring together those who are similarly concerned and help us to give more efficiently and effectively.

Below are pages on my research topics and other useful resources. You can always navigate back towards this page by clicking on the image to the left.

Some Resources:

• brief academic details • full academic cv • a list of my papers • unpolished ideas

Research Topics:

• ethics      • consequentialism      • moral uncertainty      • world poverty      • risks of human extinction      • the moral status of the embryo      • biases in decision making      • the prisoner's dilemma • other topics      • degrees of truth and falsity      • quantity without numbers      • hypercomputation      • algorithmic randomness

For my personal site, see the rest of a mirror clear.