Philippe Van Parijs holds doctorates in the social sciences (Louvain, 1977) and in philosophy (Oxford, 1980). After having been a researcher at Belgium’s National Fund for Scientific Research (FNRS) from 1974 to 1991, he was appointed professor at the Faculty of economic, social and political sciences of the University of Louvain (UCL) and invited to set up the Hoover Chair of economic and social ethics, which he directed from 1991 to 2016, when he became professor emeritus. In parallel, he was a Regular Visiting Professor at Harvard University from 2004 to 2010 and at the University of Oxford from 2011 to 2015.

His books include Evolutionary Explanation in the Social Sciences (London & Totowa NJ 1981), Le Modèle économique et ses rivaux (Genève 1990),Qu’est-ce qu’une société juste? (Paris 1991), Arguing for Basic Income (London 1992, ed.), Marxism Recycled (Cambridge 1993), Real Freedom for All(Oxford 1995), Sauver la solidarité (Paris 1995), Refonder la solidarité (Paris 1996), Solidariteit voor de XXIste eeuw (Leuven 1997), Ethique économique et sociale (Paris 2000, with C. Arnsperger), What’s Wrong with a Free Lunch? (Boston 2001), Hacia una concepcion de la justicia global (Medellín 2002),Cultural Diversity versus Economic Solidarity (editor, Brussels 2004), L’Allocation universelle (Paris 2005, with Y. Vanderborght), Just Democracy. The Rawls-Machiavelli Programme (Colchester, 2011), Linguistic Justice for Europe and for the World (Oxford, 2011), After the Storm How to save democracy in Europe (editor, Tielt, 2015 with L. van Middelaar) and Basic Income. A radical proposal for a free society and a sane economy (Harvard UP, 2017, with Y. Vanderborght).

In 1986, he was one of the founders of the Basic Income European Network (BIEN), which became in 2004 the Basic Income Earth Network, and he chairs its International Board.