Personal profile
Teaching
De Bruin has taught courses and supervised research projects on a wide range of topics in business ethics, corporate social responsibility (CSR), business and human rights, and sustainability, and he has consulted to and/or taught incidental programmes for Achmea, Atradius, the Dutch tax office, Rabobank, DSI, ING, PFZW, PriceWaterhouseCoopers, the The Royal Netherlands Institute of Chartered Accountants (NBA), AOG School of Management, Comenius, Judge Business School (Cambridge), and Blavatnik School of Government (Oxford).
Research interests
De Bruin's current work is on ethical and legal aspects of business, sustainability, and climate change. (See, e.g., a contribution to the celebration of the 40th anniversary of the Journal of Business Ethics on climate change, business and human rights.) De Bruin has also worked on the ethical, political, and legal aspects of information (epistemic injustice, ethics of belief, virtue epistemology, stereotypes, etc.), with applications in finance, health care, ICT, among others. (See, e.g., The Business of Liberty: Freedom and Information in Ethics, Politics, and Law (Oxford University Press, 2022) and Epistemic vice predicts acceptance of Covid-19 misinformation (with Mark Alfano and Marco Meyer), Episteme, 2021). He has also worked on ethics management in organizations (e.g. banker’s oath, bankierseed), and the foundations of liberalism and republicanism, with applications to privacy, marketing regulation, media violence, etc.
Biosketch
De Bruin holds master’s degrees in mathematics and philosophy (University of Amsterdam), and a PhD degree from the Institute for Logic, Language and Computation (Amsterdam). He also studied musical composition at the Academy of Music (Enschede, one-year talent programme). De Bruin held visiting positions at Cambridge University, the Fondation Maison des sciences de l’homme in Paris, Harvard Business School, UC Berkeley, University of Minho, University of Gothenburg, and is a Life Member of Clare Hall (Cambridge).
De Bruin is currently directing a research programme financed by the Dutch Research Council (NWO) on Fake news, sexist stereotypes, and other non-evidential beliefs: Philosophical theory and empirically tested solutions.
De Bruin is the author of numerous academic papers, op-eds and blogs, and has published monographs titled Explaining Games: The Epistemic Programme in Game Theory (Springer, Synthese Library, 2010), Ethics and the Global Financial Crisis: Why Incompetence is Worse than Greed (Cambridge University Press, 2015, pbk 2017), and The Business of Liberty: Freedom and Information in Ethics, Politics, and Law (Oxford University Press, 2022). With Christopher F. Zurn, he has edited New Waves in Political Philosophy (Palgrave, 2008).
De Bruin is the recepient of a Veni grant (Dutch Research Council, NWO) for a project on Recognition and Republicanism. He also obtained funding from NWO for a project on The Epistemic and Rationality Assumptions of Game Theoretic Solution Concepts (one PhD student); Ethics and Game Theory (one PhD student); Shared Commitments and Common Knowledge: The Epistemic Dimensions of Deliberative Democracy (two PhD students and two postdocs, with an empirical study of neighbourhood safety, with Martin van Hees (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam); for a collaborative project on Trusting Banks (two PhD students, two postdocs, with an empirical study of epistemic virtues, with Alex Oliver, Cambridge); a project Towards Professional Epistemic Justice: Finance and Medicine (two PhD students, one postdoc, with Miranda Fricker); and a project on Fake news, sexist stereotypes, and other non-evidential beliefs: Philosophical theory and empirically tested solutions (three postdocs). Digitale Pioniers financed a project Moira Search: The Inverted Search Engine, with artist Saskia Korsten.
External positions
Professor, Göteborgs universitet
1-May-2022 → 30-Apr-2024
Expertise related to UN Sustainable Development Goals
In 2015, UN member states agreed to 17 global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure prosperity for all. This person’s work contributes towards the following SDG(s):
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SDG 4 Quality Education
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SDG 5 Gender Equality
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SDG 8 Decent Work and Economic Growth
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SDG 12 Responsible Consumption and Production
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SDG 13 Climate Action
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SDG 15 Life on Land
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SDG 16 Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions
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SDG 17 Partnerships for the Goals
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Collaborations and top research areas from the last five years
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How to Do Things with Norms: Empirical and Normative Research on Extreme Beliefs and Social Identities
de Wit, J. & de Bruin, B., 19-Aug-2025, Conceptualizing Extreme Beliefs and Behaviors: Definitions and Relations . Peels, R. & Horgan, J. (eds.). New York: Oxford University Press, p. 54-71 18 p.Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter › Academic › peer-review
Open AccessFile1 Downloads (Pure) -
Self-fulfilling testimonial injustice
De Bruin, B., 8-Jul-2025, (E-pub ahead of print) In: Episteme. 24 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Academic › peer-review
Open AccessFile4 Downloads (Pure) -
Sustainable finance, biodiversity, and greenwashing: how contested values, metrics, and causation facilitate information distortion, information omission, and information pollution
de Grefte, J. & de Bruin, B., Jun-2025, In: Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability . 74, 8 p., 101522.Research output: Contribution to journal › Review article › peer-review
Open AccessFile8 Citations (Scopus)8 Downloads (Pure) -
Climate change and reflexive law: The EU sustainable finance action plan
de Bruin, B., 18-Jan-2024, The Philosophy of Money and Finance. Sandberg, J. & Warenski, L. (eds.). Oxford University Press, p. 148-168 21 p.Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter › Academic › peer-review
Open AccessFile1 Citation (Scopus)143 Downloads (Pure) -
Demand for Financial Advice: Evidence from a Randomized Choice Experiment
de Bruin, B., Cherednychenko, O. O., Hermes, N., Kramer, M. & Meyer, M., Jun-2024, In: Journal of Banking and Finance. 163, June , p. 1-13 13 p., 107193.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Academic › peer-review
Open AccessFile1 Citation (Scopus)175 Downloads (Pure)
Activities
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Epistemic corporate culture: Knowledge and common knowledge
Bruin, de, B. (Speaker)
2019Activity: Talk and presentation › Academic presentation › Academic
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Second Annual Political Epistemology Conference
de Bruin, B. (Organiser) & Ridder, de, J. (Organiser)
2019Activity: Organising and attending an event › Organising and contributing to an event › Academic
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Managing culture in free corporations: Knowledge, common knowledge, and professional oaths
Bruin, de, B. (Speaker)
2019Activity: Talk and presentation › Academic presentation › Academic
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A Janus-faced food industry? Ethical reflections on corporate responsibility for health
Bruin, de, B. (Examiner)
2019Activity: Examination, teaching and supervision › Examination, teaching and supervision external institution › Academic
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Knowing and Acknowledging Freedom
Bruin, de, B. (Speaker)
2019Activity: Talk and presentation › Academic presentation › Academic
Press/Media
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Het klimaat in de rechtbank: wat vindt de burger?
30/06/2025
1 Media contribution
Press/Media: Research › Popular
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Trouw Artiesten cancelen Zwarte Cross vanwege omstreden investeerder
28/05/2025
1 item of Media coverage
Press/Media: Expert Comment › Popular
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Artiesten bedanken voor Zwarte Cross vanwege omstreden investeerder. Heeft dat effect?
27/05/2025
1 item of Media coverage
Press/Media: Expert Comment › Popular
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Klimaatzaken zijn vooral laatste en vertwijfelde noodkreten
13/04/2024
1 Media contribution
Press/Media: Public Engagement Activities › Popular
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Goed dat pensioenfondsen terughoudend zijn met uitspraken over investeren in de defensie-industrie | opinie
13/03/2024
1 Media contribution
Press/Media: Expert Comment › Popular