EPLab (Laboratory of Ethics and Political Philosophy) brings together researchers working in different areas of practical philosophy, with particular focus on political philosophy, philosophy of law, ethics, practical rationality, and the history of moral and political thought.

The research developed at EPLab centres on the philosophical analysis of the conditions, practices, values, and concepts that structure ethical and political life, from action and responsibility to justice, institutions, and forms of collective coexistence. These questions are approached both through the philosophical tradition — including authors such as Aristotle, Kant, Machiavelli, Spinoza, Nietzsche, and Wittgenstein — and through contemporary debates, with the aim of understanding the foundations and transformations of ethical and political life in both its theoretical dimensions and its social and institutional implications.

EPLab’s activity is grounded in two central methodological assumptions:

• First, ethics and political philosophy should not be understood as rigidly separate domains, since many of the most relevant questions in practical philosophy — such as justice, responsibility, obligation, equality, or legitimacy — are situated precisely at the intersection of moral reflection, political theory, and institutional analysis.
• Second, philosophical research benefits from interdisciplinary dialogue, especially when it addresses problems whose complexity exceeds the limits of any single discipline, such as climate change, artificial intelligence, or democratic citizenship. This plurality allows the laboratory to integrate research on classical problems in ethics and political philosophy with reflection on urgent challenges faced by contemporary societies.

Over the last few years, EPLab has consolidated itself as a recognised research space in the field of practical philosophy. This consolidation is reflected in the securing of several funded projects (on political legitimacy and European economic governance; refugee integration and moral duties of assistance; democracy and intergenerational justice); in the establishment of international collaborations, such as the recent partnership with Charles University in Prague on Machiavelli’s political thought; and in the development of relevant editorial initiatives, among which the Dictionary of Moral and Political Philosophy stands out.