Professor Christopher Insole

Christopher Insole is a professor in the Department of Theology and Religion at the University of Durham. His work is concerned with the relationship between fundamental metaphysical and doctrinal commitments, and patterns of thought in meta-ethics and practical reasoning. This interest underlies publications on realism and anti-realism, the relationship between theology and political liberalism, the place of natural law language in the work of Edmund Burke, and (most recently) the role of theology within Kant's metaphysics, epistemology and ethics.

His recent book, Kant and the Creation of Freedom: a Theological Problem (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013), shows that important features of Kant's philosophy were forged out of difficulties he had in reconciling his belief in God as creator with the concept of human freedom. Professor Insole's current research involves investigating the implications of these difficulties (in relating divine action and human freedom) for Kant's account of autonomy, and his conception of happiness.