What is good policy?
The central question that the issue poses is whether philosophers can be considered as moral experts, and if so, what kind of expertise they possess and what their role in policy processes should be. Additionally, the special issue raises the question of whether these philosophers, along with moral experts more broadly, can legitimately be granted special authority in the formulation of public policy.
The special issue grows out of the work done in the project "What is a Good Policy? Political Morality, Feasibility, and Democracy (GOODPOL)" at the Centre for Advanced Study at the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters (CAS).
Issue launch event
The event was organized in collaboration with the project "Science and Democracy," hosted at IFIKK, University of Oslo, and funded by UiO: Democracy. Guest-editors Cathrine Holst and Jakob Elster opened the event by welcoming and providing an introduction on the topic.
Eilev Hegstad from Oslo Metropolitan University presented his article titled "Why Ethics Commissions? Four Normative Models." Lars Christie from Inland Norway University of Applied Sciences presented his article on "The Role of Moral Experts in Secret Policy." Following the presentations, Trym Nohr Fjørtoft from the University of Oslo provided comments on the special issue as a whole.
This collaboration highlights the interdisciplinary nature of the topic and the importance of engaging scholars and researchers from various fields in discussions on philosophy, policy, and moral expertise.