I am a French, Iranian and American Assistant Professor of Philosophy (with tenure) at the University of Twente in the Netherlands and an Associate Senior Scholar at The Millennium Project: Global Futures Studies and Research, a DC-based global think-tank. From 2013 till 2018 I worked at the Berman Institute of Bioethics at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. I hold a Ph.D. in Philosophy from Georgetown University and graduate degrees in History of Philosophy and Medical Ethics from the University of Paris in my native city.
Areas of Research Specialization:
Philosophy of anticipation (foresight/futures studies/thinking about the future)
Applied ethics and political philosophy with a focus on:
digital ethics (e-justice)
ethics of choice architecture (nudges) and of psychology
food ethics
public health ethics and bioethics
Areas of Teaching Competence:
American pragmatism
Epistemology
History of modern philosophy (Spinoza and Radical Enlightenment)
History and philosophy of psychology
Philosophical methodology and argumentation theory
Besides my academic work, I enjoy training bonsai (I’m particularly fond of miniature landscapes called in Chinese “Penjing”), appreciate Persian and Chinese calligraphy and painting, and love cooking delicious French recipes. I’m also a dedicated meditator.
Representative publications:
Leon Rossmaier, Yashar Saghai, and Philip Brey. "Commercial mHealth Apps and the Providers’ Responsibility for Hope." Digital Society 2, 39 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s44206-023-00071-1
Gross, Jonathan, Tine Davids, Anneke Sools, and Yashar Saghai. “Covid-19 and the Politics of Hope: A Comparative Analysis of Greek and Ecuadorian Letters from a Desired Post-Pandemic Future." Futures (2023). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.futures.2023.103115
Andrade, Stefan B., Anneke Sools, and Yashar Saghai. "Writing styles and modes of engagement with the future." Futures (2022): 102986.
Wieczorek, Michał, Fiachra O’Brolchain, Yashar Saghai, and Bert Gordijn. "The ethics of self-tracking. A comprehensive review of the literature." Ethics & Behavior (2022): 1-33.
Saghai, Y. 2021. "Subversive future seeks like-minded model: On the mMismatch between visions of food sovereignty futures and quantified scenarios of global food futures." Ethics and International Affairs: 51-67.
van Dijk, Michiel, Tom Morley, Marie Luise Rau, Saghai Yashar. 2021. "A meta-analysis of global food demand and population at risk of hunger projections for the period 2010-2050." Nature Food 2(494–501). https://doi.org/10.1038/s43016-021-00322-9.
Saghai, Yashar. 2018. "Theorizing justice in health research contexts." In Beyond Consent: Seeking Justice in Research, edited by J. Kahn, A. Mastroianni, and J. Sugarman. Second edition, pp. 187-207. Oxford University Press: New York, NY.
Saghai, Yashar. 2013. "Salvaging the concept of nudge." Journal of Medical Ethics 39(8): 487-493. Doi:10.1136/medethics-2012-100727. Editor's pick; featured article; selected #1 among the most highly-cited papers that contributed to the Journal's latest Impact Factor of 1.764 (2015 Journal Citation Reports® Science Edition (Thomson Reuters, 2016).
Powers, Madison, Ruth Faden, and Yashar Saghai. 2012. "Liberty, Mill, and the framework of public health ethics." Public Health Ethics 5 (1): 6-15. DOI:10.1093/phe/phs002.
Beauchamp, Tom, and Yashar Saghai. 2012. "The historical foundations of the research-practice distinction in bioethics." Theoretical Medicine and Bioethics 33 (1): 45-56. DOI 10.1007/s11017-011-9207-8.
To download my CV, please click here.
Email: y.saghai@utwente.nl