Short bio: Clare Chambers is Professor of Political Philosophy and a Fellow of Jesus College, University of Cambridge. She is the author of Against Marriage: An Egalitarian Defence of the Marriage-Free State (Oxford University Press, 2017); Sex, Culture, and Justice: The Limits of Choice (Penn State University Press, 2008); Teach Yourself Political Philosophy: A Complete Introduction (with Phil Parvin, Hodder, 2012); and numerous articles and chapters on feminist and liberal political philosophy. Her next book, Intact: A Defence of the Unmodified Body, will be published by Allen Lane (Penguin Random House) in 2021.
Long bio: Clare Chambers is Professor of Political Philosophy and a Fellow of Jesus College, University of Cambridge. She is particularly known for her feminist critique of the liberal focus on choice; her account of social construction; her problematisation of the concept of ‘normal’; her engagement with beauty norms and the body; her critique and analysis of Rawlsian political liberalism; her work on multiculturalism, religion, and intervention; her critique of state-recognised marriage; and her proposals for the alternative regulation of relationships.
Clare Chambers is the author of Against Marriage: An Egalitarian Defence of the Marriage-Free State (Oxford University Press, 2017); Sex, Culture, and Justice: The Limits of Choice (Penn State University Press, 2008); Teach Yourself Political Philosophy: A Complete Introduction (with Phil Parvin, Hodder, 2012); and numerous articles and chapters on political philosophy, gender, and bioethics. Her next book, Intact: A Defence of the Unmodified Body, will be published by Allen Lane (Penguin Random House) in 2021.
Clare Chambers engages in media work. She regularly appears on BBC Radio 4 (PM, Broadcasting House, Woman’s Hour, Sweet Reason, How To Disagree) and has also been featured on the BBC website, on Radio 5 Live, on the BBC World Service, on local radio, and on the cross-platform BBC Rethink series. Her research has featured in print and online media as diverse as the Guardian, The Times of India, the Times Literary Supplement, The American Conservative, Philosophy 24/7, Daily Nous, and Aeon.
Clare Chambers also engages in policy and impact work. She is a Member of the Nuffield Council on Bioethics, and formerly a member of the Working Party that produced the report Cosmetic Procedures: Ethical Issues. She has given evidence to Parliament on behalf of the Council.
Clare Chambers is also Secretary of the Britain & Ireland Association for Political Thought; and Editor-in-Chief of the journal Res Publica, a journal of moral, social, and legal philosophy.
Before joining the Faculty of Philosophy at Cambridge in 2006 Clare Chambers was Mary Somerville Junior Research Fellow at Somerville College, University of Oxford and, before that, Lecturer in Political Theory at the London School of Economics. She has a D.Phil in Political Theory from the University of Oxford (DPIR and Nuffield College).
Clare Chambers currently holds a Major Research Fellowship from the Leverhulme Trust for the project Intact: The Political Philosophy of the Unmodified Body.
Previous Career and Visiting Positions
2013: Visiting Scholar at the Center for the Study of Law and Society, Boalt School of Law, University of California, Berkeley
2010: Early Career Fellow at the Centre for Research in the Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities, University of Cambridge
2009: Visiting Scholar at the Center for the Study of Law and Society, Boalt School of Law
University of California, Berkeley
2004-6: Mary Somerville Junior Research Fellow, Somerville College
Member of the Centre for the Study of Social Justice
Lecturer in Politics, St. Anne’s and Christ Church Colleges
University of Oxford
2002-4: Lecturer in Political Theory, Government Department
London School of Economics and Political Science
1999-2003: DPhil in Political Theory, Department of Politics and IR
University of Oxford
1998-9: MSc in Political Theory
Government Department
London School of Economics and Political Science
1997-8: Fast Stream Civil Servant
Cabinet Office
1994-7: BA (Hons) in Politics, Philosophy and Economics
St. Anne’s College
University of Oxford