Global Health Justice Postdoctoral Programme (GHJ), funded by Höppsche Stiftung and directed by Prof. Dr. Rainer Forst and Prof. Dr. Darrel Moellendorf

Duration of stay: October 2024 – July 2025

Francesca Cesarano recently completed her PhD at San Raffaele University in Milan. Her research lies at the intersection of applied ethics, feminist philosophy, and political philosophy, with a particular focus on ethical challenges in public health, especially within gender-oppressive contexts. Her current project investigates how public health systems allocate resources in cases where the concept of „impairment“ is shaped by both subjective experiences and social factors. Two central questions guide her work: What criteria should determine whether a condition is considered an impairment in gender-oppressive contexts, and how can public health decisions avoid legitimizing unjust gender norms? And what are the ethical implications of adopting a particular understanding of well-being for individuals who do not share that view? To address these questions, Cesarano critically assesses dominant theories of well-being, including hedonistic, objective list, and desire fulfillment theories, arguing that each has significant limitations in non-ideal contexts. While objective list theories risk paternalism by being overly prescriptive, hedonistic and desire fulfillment theories often fail to account for the social dimensions that shape desires. Cesarano proposes an alternative approach: non-ideal deliberative perfectionism, which seeks to balance subjective experiences with social influences. This approach aims to define human flourishing in a way that can guide public health decisions without legitimizing unjust social norms or disregarding individual autonomy.

Selected Publications:
Cavaliere G, Cesarano F. (2024) Misunderstanding moral status: a reply to Robinson. Journal of Medical Ethics 50, 24-25.
Cesarano, F. (2023). Patriarchal Bargains and Responsibility for Structural Injustice. Biblioteca della Libertà 58, 5-24.
Cesarano, F. (2023) Beyond Choice: A Non-Ideal Feminist Approach to Body Modification. Res Publica 29, 647–663.