Colin Farrelly
Professor | Sir Edward Peacock Professor of Political Theory
He/Him
PhD (Bristol University); MA, BA (McMaster University)
Political Studies & Philosophy
Political Theory
Professor | Sir Edward Peacock Professor of Political Theory
Colin Farrelly Curriculum Vitae
Colin is a political theorist and philosopher.
Research Interests
The foundational aspiration of Colin’s research is the advancement of the Enlightenment Project into the 21st century. The themes of reason, science, progress, and optimism inform his curiosity-driven research interests and interdisciplinary focus.
Main research interests are: Ethics and political theory/philosophy, including distributive justice; ideal/non-ideal theory; history of political thought, deliberative democracy; all things virtue-related: virtue ethics, virtue epistemology, and virtue jurisprudence; Analytical Marxism; play; science and justice - especially the biomedical sciences (e.g. genetics, evolutionary biology, “geroscience” and the ethics of human enhancement).
Colin Farrelly is interested in supervising students interested in research projects at the intersection of political theory and advances in the biomedical sciences and/or public health ethics and policy.
Biography
Colin received his Ph.D. from the University of Bristol in England in 1999. Over his 20-year academic career, he has held academic appointments in 10 different departments in Political Science, Philosophy, and Public Policy in England, Scotland, the United States, and Canada. Previous appointments include Visiting Professor in UCLA’s Luskin School of Public Affairs, Fulbright Visiting Research Chair at the University of Manoa in Hawaii, Research Fellow in the Department of Politics and International Relations at Oxford University, Visitor in Oxford’s Program on Ethics and the New Biosciences, as well as permanent academic appointments at Waterloo University, Manchester University and the University of Birmingham. For the past 5 years, Colin has been involved in teaching philosophy to male inmates.
The author and editor of 6 books and approximately 50 journal articles, Colin’s publications include articles in journals in political science, philosophy, feminism, law, science, and medicine. He has published on a diverse array of topics, including the health challenges posed by population aging, the creation and evolution of patriarchy, virtue ethics, virtue epistemology, virtue jurisprudence, play and politics, freedom of expression, judicial review, non-ideal theory, gene patents, deliberative democracy, nanotechnology, sex selection, toleration, a citizen’s basic income, enhancing soldiers and economic incentives.
Colin is currently working on the following three major research projects:
- a new textbook titled Classics in Political Philosophy for Today(under contract with Hackett Publishing) which covers a range of political thinkers from Plato through to MLK, Jr. The book encourages students to engage with, and critically reflect upon, the contemporary significance of the history of Western political thought.
- research for a new manuscript on the social significance of “geroscience”- the science of healthy aging. This multi-year project examines the limitations of public health’s “War Against Disease”- covering not only the war against infectious diseases (such as COVID-19), but also the wars against cancer and obesity. It also canvasses the progression of a century of experimental scientific research on modulating aging, from dietary restriction and genetic manipulation in laboratory organisms, to pharmacological interventions in humans.
- developing an account of a “realistic utopia” that focuses on the developmental potential of play- physical, social, and imaginative play. This project relies on insights from evolutionary biology and positive psychology, as well as philosophy and the history of political thought.
Teaching
For detailed information about political studies courses and instructors, please refer to the Undergraduate and Graduate pages.
Selected Publications
(Oxford University Press, 2026). Open access book
(Hackett Publishing, forthcoming September 2024).
(Polity Books, 2018)
(Cambridge University Press, 2016).
(co-edited with Lawrence Solum) (Basingstoke: Palgrave MacMillan, 2008).
(Basingstoke: Palgrave MacMillan, 2007).
(London: Sage Publications, 2004).
(editor) (London: Sage Publications, 2004).
Colin Farrelly, “The Geroscience Perspective on One Health” Bioscience (2025) biaf080,
Colin Farrelly, “Wisdom-inquiry science is essential for healthy longevity”. Age and Ageing. 2025 Mar 28;54(4):afaf073.
Colin Farrelly, “Climate Geroscience: The Case for “Wisdom-Inquiry” Science” Biology Letters (2024) 20: 20240426.
Colin Farrelly, “The Role of Science Communication in Advancing Translational Gerontology”, J Am Geriatr Soc. (2024) 72(12):3931-3935.
Hajj-Boutros G, Faust A, Muscedere J… Farrelly C… “”. J Gerontol A Biol Sci Med Sci. (2024);1;79(7):glae069.
Colin Farrelly, ““” Royal Society Open Science 2024 Jan 31;11(1):231102. doi: 10.1098/rsos.231102
Colin Farrelly, “From Sanitation Science to Geroscience: Public Health Must Transcend ‘Folkbiology’” (forthcoming) Public Health Ethics.
Colin Farrelly (2023). “Geroscience and climate science: Oppositional or complementary?”. Aging cell, 22(8), e13890. []
Colin Farrelly, “Idealism and Imagination in the Medical Sciences of an Ageing World” Journal of Medical Ethics 2023, 49(4): 271-74. []
Colin Farrelly (2023). Geroscience and Public Health's Plastic "Ecology of Ideas". The journals of gerontology. Series A, Biological sciences and medical sciences, 78(5), 793–797. []
Colin Farrelly (2022). Aging, Equality and the Human Healthspan. HEC forum: an interdisciplinary journal on hospitals' ethical and legal issues, 1-19. []
Colin Farrelly, “Post-Protean” Public Health and the Geroscience Hypothesis” (forthcoming) Aging and Disease.
Colin Farrelly, “Longevity Science and Women’s Health and Wellbeing.” Journal of population ageing, 1-20. 30 Jan. 2023. []
Colin Farrelly, “Framing Longevity Science and an “Aging Enhancement”” in The Routledge Handbook of the Ethics of Human Enhancement (edited by Fabrice Jotterand, Marcello Ienca) (Routledge: 2023).
“Responsible Biology, Aging Populations and the 50th Anniversary of the “War on Cancer”” Biogerontology 2021 Aug;22(4):429-440 ().
“How Should We Theorize 91TV Justice in the Genomic Era?” in Politics and the Life Sciences 40(1) (2021): 106-25.
"50 Years of the War on Cancer: Lessons for Public Health and Geroscience” Geroscience. 2021 Jun;43(3):1229-1235 ().
“COVID-19, Biogerontology and the Ageing of Humanity” The Journals of Gerontology. Series A, Biological Sciences and Medical Sciences, 2021, 76(8), e92–e96. ().
Tyler J. Vander Weele, Claudia Trudel-Fitzgerald, Paul Allin, Colin Farrelly et al. “Current Recommendations on the Selection of Measures for Well-being” Preventive Medicine Vol 133, April 2020.
Tyler J. Vander Weele, Claudia Trudel-Fitzgerald, Paul Allin, Colin Farrelly et al. “Brief Well-being Assessments, or Nothing at All? Preventive Medicine Vol 135, June 2020.
“Toleration, “Mindsight” and the Epistemic Virtues” (forthcoming) in The Palgrave Handbook on Toleration.
“Positive Biology” and Well-Ordered Science” in Measuring Well-Being: Interdisciplinary Perspectives from the Social Sciences and the Humanities (edited by Matthew Lee, Laura Kubzansky, and Tyler VanderWeele) (Oxford University Press, forthcoming in 2020).
“The “Focusing Illusion” of Rawlsian Ideal Theory” in John Rawls: Debating the Major Questions (edited by Sarah Roberts-Cady and Jon Mandle) (Oxford University Press, forthcoming in 2020).
CFRC Right of Reply Interview