Gustaf Arrhenius

Gustaf Arrhenius is a Professor in the Department of Philosophy at Stockholm University, Sweden, specializing in foundational questions of population ethics, future generations, climate change, and democratic theory. His research addresses how moral theories evaluate populations with varying size, identity, and well-being—most famously exposing the Repugnant Conclusion paradox where maximizing population size could override quality-of-life considerations.

Arrhenius's work centers on Population Axiology, investigating whether creating additional lives with positive welfare inherently improves the world. He has pioneered formal impossibility theorems demonstrating that no population ethics theory satisfies all intuitively plausible conditions. His research extends to democratic theory through reconstructions of the All Subjected Principle for voting rights and climate ethics via analyses of intergenerational compensation in energy policy. This theoretical rigor connects to urgent real-world issues like sustainable development and long-term policy planning.

Recent publications (2022-2024) reveal intensified focus on resolving population paradoxes through non-transitive frameworks and incommensurability concepts, while his democratic theory work examines enfranchisement principles for marginalized groups. The 2022 Oxford Handbook he co-edited represents a field-defining synthesis, with ongoing projects addressing risk assessment in population ethics and egalitarianism's relational dimensions.

As a supervisor, Arrhenius mentors graduate students in analytical philosophy with emphasis on formal methods. His international collaborations—particularly with Stefánsson and Goodin—demonstrate strong cross-institutional networks. While operating without a traditional laboratory, his conceptual work influences policy debates through philosophical precision applied to intergenerational justice and democratic inclusion.