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in person

In person icon Applying AI to Political Philosophy: Methods and Reflections

Member rate £527.50
Non-Member rate £1055.00

Save £45 Loyalty discount applied automatically*
Save 5% on each additional course booked

* If you attended our Methods School during the calendar years 2024 or 2025, you qualify for £45 off your course fee.

Course Dates and Times

Date: Thursday 21 – Friday 22 August and Tuesday 26 – Thursday 28 August 2025
Location: Online and Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
Time: TBC

Edmund Handby

edmund.handby@anu.edu.au

Duke University

This course includes FREE observer access to the General Conference 2025!

This course offers an introduction to methods in political philosophy, with a focus on artificial intelligence. It covers and critically engages with existing methods in and approaches to political philosophy, and examines the role of AI in political philosophy, including how AI complicates existing theories of politics and whether AI can be used as a method in political philosophy.

The aim of the course is to guide you through the role that AI can have in political philosophy. It does so through engagement with core ideas in political philosophy methodology, as well as offering practical advice and techniques for applying AI models and tools for your own projects.

Purpose of the course

By the end of this course, you will have critically examined the range of methods employed by political philosophers and theorists, and whether AI can, or should, be included in those methods.

You will be able to assess the suitability of AI in political philosophy, and whether AI can be beneficial to the discipline. You will also have the skill set to independently evaluate whether AI can be beneficial to your own projects.


Instructor Bio

Edmund Handby is a Postdoctoral Associate in the Department of Political Science at Duke University. His research examines methodological questions and approaches in the history of political thought, empirically informed political theory, and politics, philosophy, and economics.

Read more about Edmund here.

Key topics covered

  • Introduction to existing methods in contemporary political philosophy - This includes dominant ideas and approaches, such as conceptual analysis, the use of mental states such as intuitions, thought experiments, and ideal scenarios, and empirically informed political theory.
  • Critical engagement with existing methods - Discuss the benefits of the respective methods, as well as various shortcomings. You will examine these methods in the context of your own research.
  • An introduction to AI models - Including basic technical details and training data.
  • Examining the role of AI in politics, and political philosophy in particular - This includes assessing how AI complicates or complements dominant theories of politics, such as egalitarianism, and liberalism.
  • Assess whether AI has a meaningful effect on any of these approaches
  • Introduction to an alternative role for AI in political philosophy as a method - You will assess whether AI models and platforms can be part of the philosopher's methodological toolbox.
  • Applying the various ways that you can use AI for your own projects - Including assessment of whether there is any benefit to the approach. 

Prior knowledge about the basics of political theory and philosophy methodology (i.e., conceptual analysis, intuitions, reflective equilibrium) is recommended but not required. Some familiarity with artificial intelligence models and platforms (i.e., ChatGPT) is recommended.

The course includes pre-course assignments as well as daily seminar-type lectures totalling at least three hours. The instructor will conduct live Q&A sessions and offer designated office hours for short one-to-one consultations.