​John Wilcox is an ethicist, philosopher of science and cognitive scientist at Stanford University. He is also the author of the book "Human Judgment: How Accurate Is It, and How Can It Get Better?" (Springer Nature, 2022).

Praise for "Human Judgment":
  • "John Wilcox presents an accessible, insightful take on the questions that should captivate any social scientist.... A must-read for those interested in all disciplines, including those of us concerned with improving politics and policy.” - Rachel George, PhD, Lecturing Fellow, Duke University
 
  • “John Wilcox’s book is a timely and lucid study of what it means to think rationally and why it’s important for our understanding of human minds.” - Samuel Gershman, PhD, Professor of Psychology, Harvard University
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  • “This is a great and educational read – we ALL make decisions every day of our lives. Wilcox is our expert guide on how each of us, and society at large, could do a better job with these, and improve our calibration in the process.” - Mark Graber, MD, Founder of the Society to Improve Diagnosis in Medicine

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​AREAS of Specialization​

Cognitive Psychology & Epistemology
 
Much of John’s research revolves around human cognition—especially the question of how to improve human reasoning. The hope is that improving reasoning will improve decision-making and, ultimately, the quality of our lives as individuals and as a collective. Some of his innovations in this space include arguing for a new epistemological constraint on when judgments of probability are trustworthy.
​Metascience & Philosophy of Science
 
John also works in philosophy of science and metascience. He regularly reviews academic work for publishers such as the Cambridge University Press, the British Journal of Philosophy of Science and others. Together with psychologist Fiona Fidler, he authored the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy entry on the “Reproducibility of Scientific Results”—a valuable resource for navigating scientific and philosophical issues surrounding the so-called replication crisis. His main innovations in this space also include articulating a new Bayesian account of some important concepts in philosophy of science.
Moral Psychology & Ethics
 
John also explores moral psychology and ethics. He is also the co-director and lead researcher at an interdisciplinary research team called The Metachangemakers Project. The project focuses on how to cultivate changemakers—that is, people with the motivation and competencies to make a positive impact on the world, to contribute to collective wellbeing and to address societal challenges.

His innovations in this space also include developing a new solution to the so-called “moral twin earth problem” in metaethics.

You can learn more about metachangemaking from his team’s presentation at the first Life Improvement Science conference (to the left).