Faculty of Philosophy


Serena Olsaretti



Serena Olsaretti studied at Oxford, where she completed her D.Phil. in political philosophy, titled Liberty, Desert and the Market in 1999. She was a Research Fellow at Emmanuel College before joining the Faculty in October 2001 and becoming a Fellow of St. John's College. Her research interests include theories of distributive justice and of equality, theories of family justice, theories of well-being, and the ethics of markets.


Recent Publications

  • Editor: Desert and Justice (OUP, 2003)
  • Liberty, Desert and the Market (CUP, 2004)
  • Editor: Preferences and Well-Being (CUP, 2006)
  • 'Endorsement and Freedom in Amartya Sen's Capability Approach', Economics and Philosophy 21 (2005), 89-108
  • ‘The Limits of Hedonism’, Philosophical Studies, 136 (2007), pp. 409-415
  • ‘Debate: The Concept of Voluntariness - A Reply’, Journal of Political Philosophy 16, 1 (2008), pp. 112-121
  • ‘Choice, Circumstance and the Cost of Children’, in I. Carter, Matthew Kramer, Steve de Wijze (eds.), Hillel Steiner and the Anatomy of Justice (Routledge, 2009)
  • ’Responsibility and the Consequences of Choice’, Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society, Vol. 109, 165-188
  • 'Scanlon on Responsibility and the Value of Choice', Journal of Moral Philosophy (forthcoming)

Contact Details

Email:  mso24@cam.ac.uk
St. John's College, Cambridge, CB2 1TP, UK