Applications are invited for at least one research fellowship of up to 50,000 Israeli Shekels per year for academic research that illuminates how deliberation or education should be conducted under normative uncertainty. Any fallible human being, including theoreticians, policy makers and educators, should be somewhat uncertain about her normative (moral or prudential) beliefs. How should educators deal with such normative uncertainty? This question applies not only to teachers and school principals, but also to relevant policy-makers, as well as parents. A related question is how deliberation should be conducted under normative uncertainty.
Deliberation (of the practical kind, upon which we focus) is a mental effort aimed at answering a practical question or deciding between practical options. Whereas psychological research of deliberation can study how people actually deliberate, philosophical research can examine how deliberation should be conducted.
Anyone may apply—students, postdoctoral and experienced researchers—in any academic field (e.g. philosophy, education, political science, etc.). The proposed research must be somewhat relevant to the Israeli public, but physical presence in Israel is not required for the whole research term. There’s some flexibility concerning the research term and start date.
At first stage, candidates need only send a CV and a brief statement of interest, up to 400 words long, to nikkonna@gmail.com, with “Uncertainty Fellowship Application” in the subject line. Replies will be sent to confirm email receipt, and further instructions will be sent to those who pass the initial screening.
Nikkonna is a registered nonprofit organization (Amuta Reshuma) in Israel, whose general research mission concerns the basic conditions for reaching the right decisions and fulfilling them.