Michael Garnett

Michael Garnett serves as a Senior Lecturer in Political Philosophy within the Philosophy department, focusing on conceptual and normative analyses of freedom, autonomy, and coercion in social contexts.

Research Interests: Garnett's work critically examines autonomy through social and relational lenses, challenging individualistic conceptions. Key areas include self-authorship, negative/positive liberty, ideological manipulation, and coercion in research ethics. He investigates how deference, unpredictability, and social structures impact inner freedom and self-determination, often bridging political philosophy with moral psychology and philosophy of action.

Publication Trends: His 15 most recent articles (2011-2023) reveal a cohesive trajectory exploring freedom's conceptual foundations. Garnett consistently analyzes coercion mechanisms—particularly in research participation—and develops social theories of autonomy. Recent work like 'Ghostwritten Lives' (2023) extends these themes to self-authorship under ideological influence, while earlier pieces establish frameworks for understanding liberty's unity and disunity.

Grants: Garnett leads the Leverhulme Trust-funded project 'Unfree Minds: Ideology, Manipulation, and the Idea of Inner Freedom' (2023-2024), investigating how manipulation restricts inner freedom through ideological capture. No student advising details or additional grants are documented in the provided materials.