Tom Sorell (born 24 October 1951) is a Canadian philosopher based in the UK. His work mainly concerns the theory of knowledge, the philosophy of science, early modern philosophy, ethics and political philosophy. He is noted for his writings on Hobbes, scientism and applied ethics. Since 2008, he has worked in ethics and technology both as a researcher and as a consultant. He is the author of Hobbes (1986); Descartes (1987); Moral Theory and Capital Punishment (1987); Scientism (1992); Business Ethics (with John Hendry) (1994); Moral Theory and Anomaly (1999); Descartes Reinvented (2005); and Emergencies and Politics (2013).
Early life and education Sorell was born in Mexico City in 1951 to European migrants. The family moved to Vancouver, Canada in 1956 and to Montreal in 1961. He attended the High School of Montreal, entered McGill University in 1968, and graduated in 1972, when he won the Prince of Wales Gold Medal in philosophy. In 1973, he began his BPhil in Philosophy at Balliol College, Oxford, England. He was taught by John McDowell, Gareth Evans, John Mackie, and Simon Blackburn. Supervised by B.F. McGuinness, he wrote a thesis on the deep continuity between Wittgenstein's Tractatus and his very late work, On Certainty. After completing his BPhil, Sorell wrote a thesis under the supervision of David Pears, defending a version of the causal theory of knowledge. He was awarded the Oxford DPhil in 1978.
Teaching career
Sorell held temporary lectureships at St. Anne's, Balliol, and Queen's Colleges in Oxford in the mid-1970s before joining the philosophy department at the Open University in 1979, working alongside Rosalind Hursthouse and Janet Radcliffe Richards. In 1992, he was appointed Reader in Philosophy at Essex University, and was promoted to Professor in 1996. From 2003 to 2005 he acted as co-director of the Human Rights Centre at Essex. He moved to Birmingham University in 2006 as John Ferguson Professor of Global Ethics. In 2013 he became Professor of Politics and Philosophy at Warwick University, where he directs the Interdisciplinary Ethics Research Group. He was a Faculty Fellow in the Ethics and the Professions program at Harvard in 1996–7, and a visiting professor in philosophy at the Chinese University of Hong Kong in 2013.'Professor Tom Sorell'.
Work Sorell has published extensively in early modern philosophy, especially on HobbesE.g. Hobbes (Routledge, 1986). and Descartes,E.g. Descartes (Oxford University Press, 1987); ‘Bodies and the Subjects of Metaphysics and Ethics in Descartes’, Revistia di Storia della Filosofia 3 (2000) pp. 369-379; and ‘Descartes, the Divine Will and the Ideal of Psychological Stability’, History of Philosophy Quarterly 17 (2000) pp. 361-379. and has co-edited article collections on history of philosophy and analytic philosophy,Tom Sorell and John Rogers, ed. Analytic Philosophy and History of Philosophy (Oxford University Press, 2005). on the relationship of canonical to non-canonical figures in early modern philosophy,The Rise of Modern Philosophy (Oxford University Press, 1993). and on the relationship between ancient and modern philosophers.Tom Sorell, John Rogers and Jill Kraye, Insiders and Outsiders in Early Modern Philosophy (Routledge, 2009). He claims that history of philosophy and problem-solving analytic philosophy can be highly complementary. His Descartes Reinvented (2005) and Emergencies and Politics: A Sober Hobbesian Approach (2013) are applications of his views on how to harmonise the disciplines of problem-solving analytic philosophy and history of philosophy.Richard Marshall, 'Innocent Descartes and Sober Hobbes' (interview with Tom Sorell), 3:16: Richard Marshall's Philosophy Interviews after 3:AM ([August 2019]). His book Scientism: Philosophy and the Infatuation with Science (1991) articulates a pro-science position while criticising what Sorell sees as a tendency, especially in American philosophy, to overvalue science and overdo naturalism.(Routledge, 1991). In ethics, Sorell defends theory against the claims of anti-theorists, including Bernard Williams.Moral Theory and Anomaly (Blackwell, 1999). His work in applied ethics concerns capital punishment,Moral Theory and Capital Punishment (Backwell, 1988). technology, including roboticsTom Sorell and Heather Draper, 'Robot carers, ethics, and older people', Ethics and Information Technology (2014). and AI,Tom Sorell et al. 'Responsible AI – Key Themes, Concerns & Recommendations for European Research and Innovation -- Summary of Consultation with Multidisciplinary Experts' (2018). surveillance,'Preventive Policing, Surveillance and European Counter-Terrorism', Criminal Justice Ethics 30 (2011), pp. 1-22. privacy, counter-terrorism, organised crime,'Organized Crime and Peventive Justice', Ethical Theory and Moral Practice (2018). emergency ethics'Morality and Emergency', Proceedings of Aristotelian Society 103 (2002), pp. 21-37. including pandemic ethics,Tom Sorell et al., Will the NHS continue to function in an influenza pandemic? A survey of healthcare workers in the West Midlands, UK BMC Public Health (2009), 9:142. microfinance, and responsibility in the 2008 financial crisis.Tom Sorell and James Dempsey, eds. Midwest Studies in Philosophy (2018). His latest work considers the various harms involved in several kinds of online crime and retaliation against online crime.E.g. 'Online Grooming and Preventive Justice’, Criminal Law and Philosophy (2016) and ‘Scambaiting on the Spectrum of Digilantism’, Criminal Justice Ethics (2019). His work in applied ethics is regularly pursued with practitioners in various fields, including law enforcement, intelligence services, technology, business, healthcare and politics .
Major publications Privacy and Surveillance [Cambridge Elements in Political Philosophy] (Cambridge University Press, 2026) with Sven Bernecker ed. The Ethics and Epistemology of Vaccine Hesitancy (Routledge, 2026). with Dempsey, J and Cowton, C. eds. Business Ethics After the Financial Crisis (Routledge, 2019) with K. Kadjimatheou, J. Guelke eds. Security Ethics (Routledge, 2016) with L Cabera, eds. Microfinance, Rights and Global Justice (Cambridge University Press, 2015) Emergencies and Politics (Cambridge University Press, 2013) with Jill Kraye and John Rogers, eds. Scientia in Early Modern Philosophy (Springer, 2009). with Jill Kraye and John Rogers, eds. Insiders and Outsiders in Early Modern Philosophy (Routledge, 2009). Descartes Reinvented (Cambridge University Press, 2005). with John Rogers, eds. Analytic Philosophy and History of Philosophy (Oxford University Press, 2005). with L. Foisneau and J-C Merle, eds. Leviathan Between the Wars: Hobbes’s Impact on Early Twentieth Century Political Philosophy (Peter Lang, 2005). with L. Foisneau, eds. Leviathan After 350 Years (Oxford University Press, 2004). With John Rogers, eds. Hobbes and History (Routledge, 2000). ed. Descartes. Dartmouth Readings in the History of Philosophy (Ashgate, 1999). Moral Theory and Anomaly. Aristotelian Society Monograph Series (Blackwell, 1999). ed. Health Care, Ethics, and Insurance (Routledge, 1998). with R. Ariew, J. Cottingham, eds. and trans. Descartes: Background Source Materials (Cambridge University Press, 1998). ed. The Cambridge Companion to Hobbes, 3rd edn (Cambridge University Press, 1996). ed. The Rise of Modern Philosophy (Oxford University Press, 1993). Moral Theory and Capital Punishment (Blackwell, 1987) Descartes (Oxford University Press, 1987) [repr. in the Oxford Past Masters and Very Short Introductions series, and widely translated].
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