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👋 Hi, I’m Hein Duijf

I am an assistant professor in philosophy at Utrecht University.

I work mainly on social epistemology and the philosophy and ethics of artificial intelligence. My research interests include expertise, deliberation, and political epistemology, and collective agency, responsible AI, machine ethics, and deontic reasoning. Previously, I worked as an assistant professor at the LMU Munich and as a postdoctoral researcher at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam and Utrecht University. I was a research visitor at the London School of Economics and at the LMU Munich. During my Master’s at the Radboud University Nijmegen, I spent time at the University of Amsterdam and the Technical University of Vienna. I completed my PhD in Philosophy and Artificial Intelligence in Utrecht and my MSc in Mathematics in Nijmegen (both cum laude).

duijf.hein@gmail.com

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Short CV

🗞️ News

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Our article A Roadmap for Responsible Robotics: Promoting Human Agency and Collaborative Efforts has been published IEEE Robotics & Automation Magazine (12/11/25)

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I co-organised an interdisciplinary workshop together with Vincent Buskens on Networks of (mis)information at Utrecht University. (31/10/25)

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Our article Conditional Expressivity and Collective Deontic Admissibility has been published (open access) in The Review of Symbolic Logic (28/10/25)

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I gave an invited talk on Diversity and expertise in binary classification problems at the Theoretical Philosophy group at the University of Groningen. (22/10/25)

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I am co-organizing a symposium on Ethical and legal perspectives on explainable AI at Utrecht University. (16/10/25)

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I co-organized a symposium on Diversity and equality in epistemic networks of science at EPSA at the University of Groningen. (28/8/25)

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I gave an invited talk on Open-mindedness and epistemic inequality at the workshop on Political dimensions of open-mindedness at the Freie Universität Berlin. (3/7/25)

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I co-organized an inspiring interdisciplinary workshop (together with Vincent Buskens) on Networks, (mis)information and polarization at Utrecht University and met wonderful people working in philosophy, social sciences, data science, and related fields. (24/6/25)

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I gave an invited talk on Diversity and expertise in binary classification problems at the conference on Frontiers of Economics and Philosophy at the Paris School of Economics. (19/5/25)

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I gave an invited talk on Diversity and expertise in binary decision problems at the workshop on Formal Models of Scientific Inquiry at the Ruhr-Universität Bochum. (31/1/25)

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Our article Ability and Knowledge (with Alexandra Kuncová, Jan Broersen and Aldo Ramírez-Abarca) has been published (open access) in Autonomous Autonomous Agents and Multi-Agent Systems (6/11/24)

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My article When Should One be Open-minded? has been published (open access) in Philosophical Studies (10/5/24)

📢 Selected publications

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The Logic of Responsibility Voids. Cham: Springer International Publishing. 2022. (link)

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When Should One be Open-minded? Philosophical Studies. 2024.

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A Logical Study of Moral Responsibility. Erkenntnis. 2023.

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The Problem of No Hands: Responsibility Voids in Collective Decisions (with Frederik Van De Putte). Social Choice and Welfare. 2022.

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Should One Trust Experts? Synthese. 2021.

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An Impossibility Result on Methodological Individualism (with Allard Tamminga, and Frederik Van De Putte). Philosophical Studies. 2021.

More publications can be found here.

Publications

🔍 Research

Social epistemology

Social epistemologists recognize that most of our practices of knowledge production are fundamentally social. The individualistic picture needs to be replaced with a complex picture where our intellectual capacities are, at least partly, dependent on others. This reorientation triggers a number of philosophical issues. My research covers topics such as: When should one trust experts? When should one be open-minded? What are the epistemic prospects and risks of deliberation and voting in social networks?

Philosophy and ethics of artificial intelligence

The recent advances of artificial intelligence and its ensuing integration into our society make it increasingly hard to determine who is responsible for certain immoral or illegal outcomes resulting from actions performed through, by, or in cooperation with AIs. My research interests cover topics such as: When and why do machine actions lead to responsibility gaps? Can explainable AI techniques help solve the problem of responsibility gaps? Can we model the concept of responsibility mathematically so that we can gain a better understanding of responsibility gaps and also provide the basis for future computational mechanisms safeguarding us from legal and moral harm?

🎓 Teaching

Supervision

I am available as a supervisor for BA, MA and PhD projects that relate to my research interests.

Courses

I am currently involved in the education programs in Philosophy and in Artificial Intelligence at Utrecht University. I teach courses on all levels, from undergraduates to doctoral students. Topics include the philosophy of AI, social epistemology, (collective) moral responsibility, social ontology, the philosophy of action, and the philosophy of language.

🪄 Experience

2022 – Present: Assistant Professor in Philosophy, Utrecht University
2021 – 2022: Assistant Professor in Philosophy, LMU Munich
2018 – 2021: Postdoctoral Researcher in Philosophy, VU Amsterdam
2018 – 2019: Postdoctoral Researcher in Philosophy, Utrecht University
2014 – 2018: PhD Candidate in Philosophy and Artificial Intelligence (cum laude), Utrecht University

Supervisors: Prof. D. Cohnitz, Prof. J-J. Ch. Meyer, Dr. J. Broersen & Dr. A. Tamminga

2013 – 2014: Junior IT Consultant, Aia Software Nijmegen, Nijmegen