UB Philosophy PhD Leo Zaibert appointed to Hirsch Professorship in Cambridge University

UB philosophy PhD Leo Zaibert

Published July 11, 2022

The UB Department of Philosophy is pleased to announce that Leo Zaibert, one of our most successful PhD students, has been elected to the Hirsch Professorship of Penal Theory and Ethics in Cambridge University, effective September 1 2022. Zaibert’s dissertation, which he completed in 1997 under the joint supervision of UB professors James B. Brady and Barry Smith, is on the topic of “Intentionality and blame: A study on the foundations of culpability” and won the UB Philosophy Department Perry Prize. Zaibert is the author of over 100 publications, including books, edited books and dozens of peer-reviewed articles.

Zaibert serves on the Editorial Boards of prestigious journals, including Law and Philosophy, Criminal Law and Philosophy, and The Monist; and he has held visiting positions in New York University, Oxford University, Amherst College, the University of Geneva, and the University of Toronto. His work has been supported by fellowships from, inter alia, the Humboldt Foundation, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the Oxford University Centre for Ethics and Philosophy of Law, where in 2013 he was H.L.A. Hart Fellow.

Zaibert's most recent book, Rethinking Punishment, published by Cambridge University Press, has attracted considerable attention – including a special issue of the Rutgers University Law Review and an “Author meets Critics” session in the Eastern Division Meeting of the American Philosophical Association.

Research Interests

Leo Zaibert’s work is focused on punishment, forgiveness, and related phenomena. He is thus interested generally in ethics, the philosophy of law, and political philosophy.