Christina Easton
About me
I am a political and moral philosopher, with an interdisciplinary teaching and research background. You'll find links to some of my publications below, with a full list in my CVLink opens in a new window.
Currently I am a British Academy Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Warwick, where (amongst other things!) I'm working on a project on tolerance and education. I have a PhD in Philosophy from the LSE.
I've taught at LSE, Princeton and King's College London, including courses in moral philosophy and public policy. In 2017 I was awarded both the department teaching award and an LSE-wide teaching award. I was interviewed about my experiences teaching at LSE.
Prior to taking up the studentship at LSE, I taught Philosophy and Religious Studies to 11-18 year olds. Having spent 8 years in schools in the Greater London area, working my way from classroom teacher to Head of Department, I have a practical awareness of the impact of education policy on students and teachers, as well as first-hand experience of the dilemmas one encounters in the classroom that beg of philosophical reflection.
Publications
Books
Forthcoming [under contract; expected 2024/5]. In defence of teaching liberal democratic values: Implications for pedagogy, policy and practice. London: Bloomsbury.
2019. Critical Religious Education in practice: A teacher’s guide for the secondary classroomLink opens in a new window (with A. Goodman, A. Wright, & A. Wright). London: Routledge.
Journal articles
2024. Religion and religious education on the journey to the ideal society. Analysis.
2023. ‘Filling the Ranks’: Moral Risk and the Ethics of Military RecruitmentLink opens in a new window (with Jonathan Parry). American Political Science Review.
2023. LGBT-inclusive education in liberal pluralist societiesLink opens in a new window. Journal of Applied Philosophy 40(3), 550-568.
2022. Winning in philosophy: Female under-representation, competitiveness, and implications for inclusive high school philosophy competitionsLink opens in a new window. Journal of Philosophy in Schools 9(1), 47-67.
2021. Women and 'the philosophical personality': Evaluating whether gender differences in the Cognitive Reflection Test have significance for explaining the gender gap in Philosophy.Link opens in a new window Synthese 198, 139–167.
2019. Religious Education – reform, not abolition: A reply to Matthew Clayton and David StephensLink opens in a new window. Theory and Research in Education 17 (1), 100-111.
2019. Dietary double-thinkLink opens in a new window. Think 18 (52), 75-80.
2018. Educating in respect: Against neutral discourse as a norm for respectful classroom discussionLink opens in a new window. Philosophy 93 (2), 187-210.
2017. Did most Brits fail in their civic duties in the EU referendum?Link opens in a new window Think 16 (45), 7-14.
Book chapters
Forthcoming. Forming an orderly queue: Remedying educational inequality in the post-Covid world. In The Future of Education: Reimagining Its Aims and Responsibilities.Link opens in a new window New York: Oxford University Press.
2023. Political Philosophy. In Short Cuts: Philosophy, ed. Laura D'Olimpio, 106-119, London: IconBooks.
2022. Teaching liberal values: The case of promoting ‘British values’ in schoolsLink opens in a new window. In Liberal Democratic Education: A Paradigm in Crisis, ed. J. Culp, J. Drerup, I. de Groot, A. Schinkel, & D.Yacek, 47-66, Paderborn, Germany: Brill mentis.
2019. Truth in science and ‘truth’ in religion: An enquiry into student views on different types of truth-claimLink opens in a new window. In Science and Religion in Education, ed. B. Billingsley, K. Chappell & M. J. Reiss, 123-139, London: Springer.
2018. ‘Words that wound’ in the classroom: Should they be silenced or discussed?Link opens in a new window In The Value and Limits of Academic Speech: Philosophical, Political, and Legal Perspectives, ed. D. A. Downs & C. W. Surprenant, 167-186, London: Routledge.
Edited collection
Forthcoming [under contract; expected 2024]. The Future of Education: Reimagining Its Aims and Responsibilities.Link opens in a new window New York: Oxford University Press.
Book review
2018. Countering extremism in British schools? The truth about the Birmingham Trojan Horse AffairLink opens in a new window. Journal of Education Policy 33 (4), 584-585.
Examples of blog posts
- Military recruitment is a moral minefield, British Politics and Policy at LSE, 2024.
- Why schools should teach that it’s okay to be LGBT, Justice Everywhere, 2023.
- Teaching tolerance in schools cannot avoid controversy. Psyche/Aeon, 2022.
- Women and the 'philosophical personality'. Daily Nous, 2019.
- How philosophy can help us have better arguments. Prospect, 2018.
- A Year Without Clothes Shopping. Huffington Post, 2018.
- An Education in Diversity? Philosophy Now, 2017/8.
- How to teach children about tolerance - and its limits. Times Literary Supplement, 2017.
- Teaching (In)tolerance In Schools. Huffington Post, 2017.
- Don't mention Jesus! Why excluding beliefs from the public sphere is mistaken. Open Democracy, 2017.