PROFESSOR JAMES WILLIAM LENMAN B.A., M. Phil., Ph.D.
CURRICULUM VITAE
Department of Philosophy
University of Sheffield
45 Victoria Street
Sheffield
S3 7QB
44 (0)114 2220590
[email protected]
AREAS OF SPECIALISATION
Normative Ethics, Metaethics, Agency and Responsibility
PRINCIPAL AREAS OF COMPETENCE
Epistemology, Political Philosophy, History of Philosophy – Ancient Greek Philosophy especially Plato, Ancient Chinese Philosophy especially Confucius, Early Modern Philosophy especially Hume
ACADEMIC EMPLOYMENT
St Andrews University, 1993-1994, Graduate Teaching Assistant in Moral Philosophy.
Lancaster University, September 1994- July 1997, Lecturer in Philosophy (fixed term, originally 1994-1996, reappointed for one year 1996-1997).
University of Glasgow, From August 1997, Lecturer in Philosophy.
Promoted to Senior Lecturer from August 2003.
Harvard University, Faculty Fellow, University Center for Ethics and the Professions, 2002-2003.
University of Sheffield, From September 2003, Lecturer in Philosophy
Promoted to Senior Lecturer from August 2004.
Promoted to Professor from January 2007.
EDUCATION
B. A. (Hons, Class II), University of Oxford (St Catherine’s College), Honours School of Philosophy, Politics and Economics, 1985.
M. Phil., University of St Andrews, Department of Moral Philosophy, 1987.
PhD, University of St Andrews, Department of Moral Philosophy, 1995.
Supervisor: John Haldane. Examiners: John Skorupski and Michael Smith. Thesis: Realism and Idealism in the Theory of Value.
RESEARCH
PUBLICATIONS
BOOKS
1. The Possibility of Moral Community (Oxford University Press, forthcoming, September, 2024)
2. (with Ben Bramble) Should we Maximize Utility: A Debate about Utilitarianism (Routledge: forthcoming)
EDITED BOOK
3. Constructivism in Practical Philosophy (Oxford University Press, 2012) (with Yonatan Shemmer).
PAPERS
4. “Beliefs about Other Minds: A Pragmatic Justification” in American Philosophical Quarterly 31, 1994, pp. 223-234.
5. “Finding Beauty” in Journal of Value Inquiry (special issue on aesthetic value), 28, 1994, pp.245-256.
6. “Immortality: A Letter” in Cogito 9, 1995, pp.164-169. Reprinted in David Benatar (ed.): Life, Death and Meaning (Rowman and Littlefield, 2004).
7. “Belief, Desire and Motivation: An Essay in Quasi-Hydraulics” in American Philosophical Quarterly 33, 1996, pp. 291-301.
8. “Michael Smith and the Daleks: Reason, Morality and Contingency” in Utilitas 11, 1999, pp. 164-177.
9. “The Externalist and the Amoralist” in Philosophia (Israel) 27., 1999, pp. 441-457.
10. “Contracting Responsibility” in Ton van den Beld (ed), Moral Responsibility and Ontology (Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers, 2000), pp. 171-182.
11. "Preferences in their Place" in Environmental Values 9, 2000, pp. 431-451.
12. "Consequentialism and Cluelessness" in Philosophy and Public Affairs, Vol 29, 2000, pp. 342-370.
13. "On Becoming Redundant or What Computers Shouldn't Do" in Journal of Applied Philosophy 18, 2001, pp. 1-11. Reprinted in John Weckert (ed.) Computer Ethics (Ashgate: International Library of Essays in Public and Professional Ethics, 2007).
14. "On the Alleged Shallowness of Compatibilism: A Critical Study of Saul Smilansky: Free Will and Illusion" in Iyyun 51, 2002, pp. 63-79.
15. "On Becoming Extinct" in Pacific Philosophical Quarterly 83, 2002, pp. 253-269.
Reprinted in David Benatar (ed.): Life, Death and Meaning (Rowman and Littlefield, 2004) and Hon-Lam Li and Anthony Kwok-wing Yeung (eds.): Animal Rights, Personhood and the Ethics of Killing (Palgrave MacMillan, 2007.)
16. “Moral Deviants and Amoral Saints: A Dilemma for Moral Externalism” in Southern Journal of Philosophy 61, 2003 pp. 223-240.
17. “Noncognitivism and Wishfulness” in Ethical Theory and Moral Practice 6, 2003, pp. 265-274.
18. “Disciplined Syntacticism and Moral Expressivism” in Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 66, 2003, pp. 32-57.
19. “Noncognitivism and the Dimensions of Evaluative Judgement: A Review of Michael Smith: “Evaluation, Uncertainty and Motivation”” in BEARS (Brown Electronic Article Review Service), World Wide Web, (http://www.brown.edu/Departments/Philosophy/bears/homepage.html). Posted January 15th 2003 as part of a symposium.
20. “Utilitarianism and Obviousness” in Utilitas 16, 2004, pp. 322-325.
21. “The Saucer of Mud, The Kudzu Vine and the Uxorious Cheetah: Against Neo-Aristotelian Naturalism in Metaethics” in The European Journal of Analytic Philosophy 1, 2005, pp. 37-50.
22. “Compatibilism and Contractualism: The Possibility of Moral Responsibility” in Ethics 117, 2006, pp. 7-31
23. “How to Live, What to Do: A Critical Study of Allan Gibbard: Thinking How to Live” in Journal of Moral Philosophy 3, 2006, pp. 359-369.
24. “Moral Naturalism” in Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/naturalism-moral/ ), posted June, 2006.
25. “What is Moral Inquiry?” in Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society, Supplementary Volume 81, 2007, pp. 63-81.
26. "Why I Have No Plans to Retire: In Defence of Moderate Professional Complacency" in Ratio 20, 2007, pp. 241-246.
27. “The Politics of the Self” in Lisa Bortolotti (ed.): Philosophy and Happiness (London: Palgrave MacMillan, 2008), pp. 183-199.
28. “Contractualism and Risk Imposition”, Politics, Philosophy and Economics 7, 2008, pp. 99-122.
29. “Against Moral Fictionalism”, Philosophical Books 49, 2008, pp. 23-32.
30. "Actions, Motives and Causes: A Critical Study of Alfred R. Mele: Motivation and Agency", Philosophical Quarterly 58, 2008, pp. 53-62.
31. “Reasons for Action: Justification vs Explanation” in Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/reasons-just-vs-expl/), posted February, 2009.
32. “Naturalism Without Tears” in Ratio 22, 2009, pp. 1-18. Reprinted in Jussi Suikkanen and John Cottingham (eds.): Essays on Derek Parfit’s On What Matters (Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell, 2009).
33. "Achieving Objectivity" in Philosophical Perspectives 23, 2009, pp. 293-304
34. "Humean Constructivism in Moral Theory" in Oxford Studies in Metaethics 5, 2010, pp. 175-193.
35. “Uggles and Muggles: Wedgwood on Normative Thought and Justification” in Philosophical Studies 151, 2010, pp. 469-477.
36. “Pleasure, Desire and Practical Reason” in Ethical Theory and Moral Practice 14, 2011, pp. 143-149.
37. "Introduction" in James Lenman and Yonatan Shemmer (eds.): Constructivism in Practical Philosophy (Oxford, OUP, 2012) (with Yonatan Shemmer).
38. "Expressivism and Constructivism" in James Lenman and Yonatan Shemmer (eds.): Constructivism in Practical Philosophy (Oxford, OUP, 2012).
39. "Science, Ethics and Observation" forthcoming in Havi Carel and Darian Meacham (eds.): Phenomenology and Naturalism, Supplement to Philosophy (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2012/2013).
40. Deliberation, Schmeliberation: Enoch's Indispensibility Argument" forthcoming in Philosophical Studies.
41. "Ethics Without Errors" in Ratio 26, 2013, pp. 391-409. Reprinted in Bart Streumer (ed.): Irrealism in Ethics (Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell, 2014)
42. "Deliberation, Schmeliberation: Enoch's Indispensibility Argument" in Philosophical Studies 168, 2014, pp. 835-842.
43. "Scepticism about Intuition" in Sophie-Grace Chappell (ed.): Intuition, Theory and Anti-Theory in Ethics (Oxford: OUP, 2015), pp. 24-39.
44. "Gibbardian Humiility: Moral Fallibility and Moral Smugness" in Journal of Value Inquiry 48, 2014, pp. 235-245 (issue edited by Sabine Roeser and Joel Rickard).
45. "Moral Inquiry and Mob Psychology" in Christopher Daly (ed.). The Palgrave Handbook of Philosophical Methods (Basingstoke: Palgrave MacMillan, 2015, pp. 637-651.
46. "Why Externalism is a Problem for Ethical Intuitionists" in Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society, Virtual Issue 3, 2015: Methods in Ethics, ed. Ben Colburn, p. 326-333.
47. "La Révolution est un bloc? Wallace on Affirmation and Regret" Journal of Applied Philosophy 34, 2017, pp. 420-428..
48. "Reasons without Humans" in Analysis 77, 2017, pp. 586-595.
49. “Thomson on Goodness” Metafísica y Persona, 2018
50. "The Primacy of the Passions" in Anna Bergqvist and Robert Cowan (eds.): Evaluative Perception (Oxford: OUP, 2018), pp. 282-294.
51. "An Ecumenical Matter" in Philosophical Quarterly 69, 2019, pp. 175-186.
52. "The That" in Jussi Suikkanen and Antti Kauppinen (eds.): Metholodology and Moral Philosophy (London: Routledge, 2019), pp. 148-165.
53. "La Révolution est un bloc? Wallace on Affirmation and Regret" Journal of Applied Philosophy 34, 2017.
54. Ethics and Perception: Two Kinds of Quasi-Realism” In Christopher Cowie and Richard Rowland (eds.): Companions in Guilt Arguments in Metaethics (Routledge, 2019).
55. "How Effective Altruism Lost the Plot" in IAI News October 2019.
56. "Reasons for Pretending and Pretend Reasons" in Richard Joyce and Stuart Brock (eds): Moral Fictionalism and Religious Fictionalism (OUP, 2023)
57"Making Sense of Ethics: An Introduction to Metaethics in Bart: Engelen and Maureen Sie (eds.): Second Thoughts: First Introductions to Philosophy
https://openpresstiu.pubpub.org/pub/making-sense-of-ethics/release/3?readingCollection=5e291060
58. "Anything goes? Eccentricity and Reason in Stevenson" forthcoming in Rachel Handley (ed.): Stevenson on Emotivism (Palgrave)
SHORT BOOK REVIEWS (More substantial critical studies are listed above under “Papers”.)
59. Kurt Baier: The Rational and the Moral Order and J. B. Schneewind (ed.): Reason, Ethics and Society in Philosophical Books, Vol. 38, 1997.
60. Michael Smith: The Moral Problem in Ethical Theory and Moral Practice 1, 1998.
61. Christine Korsgaard: Creating the Kingdom of Ends in Ethical Theory and Moral Practice 1, 1998.
62. Marcel S. Lieberman: Commitment, Value and Moral Realism in Mind 109, 2000
63. Tae-Chang Kim and Ross Harrison (eds.): Self and Future Generations in Philosophical Books 43, 2002.
64. Jeanette Kennett: Agency and Responsibility in Utilities 15, 2003.
65. Brad Hooker: Ideal Code, Real World in Philosophical Books 44, 2003.
66. G. F. Schueler: Reasons and Purposes in Mind 116, 2007.
67. Terry Horgan and Mark Timmons (eds.): Metaethics After Moore in Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews, 2007.
68. Terence Cuneo: The Normative Web in Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews, 2008.
69. Allan Gibbard: Reconciling Our Aims in Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews, 2009.
70. Mark Schroeder: Slaves of the Passions in Philosophical Quarterly 2013.
71. Gillian Russell: Truth in Virtue of Meaning in Ethics 123, 2013
72. T. M. Scanlon: Being Realistic About Reasons in Economics abnd Philosophy, 2015.
73: Stephen Finlay: Confusion of Tongues in Language 92, 2016.
GUEST EDITORSHIP OF JOURNAL
74. Ethical Theory and Moral Practice – Volume 5, issue 3, September 2002 - comprising selected papers from the 2001 British Society of Ethical Theory Conference at Glasgow.
TALKS AND PRESENTATIONS
CONFERENCES
1. “The Contingent and the Contemptible” was given at the inaugural conference of the British Society for Ethical Theory, University of Keele, 28th March, 1996.
2. “On Being Jubblesome, Expressivism, Naturalism and the Absence of Knowledge Argument” was read to the first Inland Northwest Philosophy Conference (on Realism) at the University of Idaho and Washington State University, U. S. A., 3rd-5th April, 1998.
3. Contracting Responsibility was read at a conference on “Moral Responsibility and Ontology” at the University of Utrecht, The Netherlands, 4th-7th June 1998.
4. Invited participant at Workshop at Ambleside on Ethics and Environmental Valuation funded by DG XII of the E.C., Environment and Climate RTD Programme, 23rd-25th April 1999.
5. “On Becoming Extinct” was read on 28th December 1999 to a plenary session of the International Conference on Bioethics at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, 28th-30th December 1999.
6. “Contractualism, Utilitarianism and Risk-Imposition” was read on 26th March, 2000 to the International Society for Utilitarian Studies “Utilitarianism 2000” Conference hosted by Wake Forest University, North Carolina, 24th-26th March, 2000. Geoffrey Sayre-McCord was my respondent.
7. “Humean Constructivism in Moral Theory” was read to a plenary session of a conference on the work of T. M. Scanlon, University of London, June 4th-5th, 2004 at which I was an invited plenary speaker with Mark Kalderon as my respondent.
8. “What is Moral Inquiry?” was read to a workshop on The Metaphysics of Value held at Leeds on 14th May 2005.
9. "Some Ways of Being Bleak: Parfit on Reasons and Desires" was read to a conference, "Parfit Meets Critics", University of Reading, 2nd - 3rd November 2006, at which I was an invited plenary speaker. Derek Parfit gave a response.
10. “The Politics of the Self” was read to a conference, “Happiness and the Meaning of Life”, University of Birmingham, 17th May 2007, at which I was an invited plenary speaker.
11. “What is Moral Inquiry?” was read to the Joint Session of the Mind Association and Aristotelian Society, 6th-8th July, 2007, at the University of Bristol (host) and the University of the West of England (venue), at which I was an invited, plenary, lead speaker with Michael Ridge as my respondent.
12. I delivered a response to Sarah Broadie, “Truth and Story in Plato’s Timaeus” at a conference in Leeds on “Themes from the Ethics of Bernard Williams”, 30th June-2nd July, 2009.
13. “Pleasure, Desire and Practical Reason” was given as a keynote paper at the 2009 conference of the British Society for Ethical Theory at the University of Reading, 13th -15th July, 2009.
14. “Expressivism and Constructivism” was given to a workshop on “Constructivism and Normative Epistemology” at Sheffield, 27th March, 2009 and again to a conference on “Constructivism in Normative Philosophy” at Sheffield, 14th-16th August, 2009.
15. “Scepticism about Intuitionism” was given at to a conference on “Intuitionism, Theory and Anti-Theory in Ethics”, Edinburgh (under the auspices of Open University), 3rd-4th July, 2010.
16. “Modest and Grandiose Mind-Independence: Egan and Street on Quasi-Realism” was given to a conference on “Knowing What to Do” at the University of Kent at Canterbury, 9th-10th April, 2011.
17. "Matilda, Matilda" was given to a workshop on “The Relevance of Motivational Internalism”, University of Gothenburg, Sweden, 17th-18th August, 2011.
18. “Ethics and Science” was given to Royal Institute for Philosophy Conference on “Human Experience and Nature”, University of the West of England, 30th August-2nd September, 2011.
19. "Ethics without Errors" was given to the Ratio Conference on Irrealism in Ethics, Reading, 20th April, 2012.
20. "Objectivity, Modest and Grandiose: Moral Disagreement and Unpardonable Smugness" was given to a workshop on the Limits of Realism about Value and Taste at the Northern Institute of Philosophy, University of Aberdeen, 17th December 2012.
21. "Good People and Good Things" given to workshop on the Philosophy of Judith Jarvis Thomson, University of Cambridge, 17th October, 2013.
22. "Objectivity, Modest and Grandiose: Moral Disagreement and Unpardonable Smugness" was given to a workshop on the Limits of Realism about Value and Taste at the Northern Instutute of Philosophy, University of Aberdeen, as part of the Leverhulme Trust funded project on Relativism and Rational Tolerance led by Crispin Wright, 17th December 2012.
23. "Moral Inquiry and Mob Psychology" given to a conference on Knowledge. Modality and Normativity, organized by the Edinburgh Centre for Epistemology, Mind and Normativity, University of Edinburgh, 9th-11th May, 2014.
24. Contributor to workshop on Thad Metz; Relational Ethics: An African Moral Theory, Goethe University, Frankfurt, 22nd May, 2015.
25. "Rawls' Inadvertent Dispensibility Argument" read to conference on "Construction, Constitution and Normativity", Humboldt University, Berlin, June 29th - July 1st, 2015.
26. "On the Very Idea of Making the World a Better Place" was presented to a conference on the Philosophical Foundations of Effective Altruism, University of St Andrews, 29th - 30th March, 2015.
27. "From Desires to Reasons" presented to Hume Readings conference, Sapienza University of Rome, 20/21 June, 2016.
28. "Reasons and Desires: Mind-Independence revisited" invited talk, Realism in Ethics, University of Sheffield, 16th-17th July 2016.
29. "On the Very Idea of Making the World a Better Place, keynote talk, Understanding Value V, University of Sheffield, 27th 29th July, 2015
30. "Some Reflections on Ecumenical Expressivism", invited talk, New Directions in Expressivism, University of Sheffield, 17th-19th August, 2016.
Invited speaker, "Contractualism and the Ethics of Risk", ESRC Workshop, London School of Economcs, 14-15 September, 2016.
31. "On the Vary Idea of Making the World a Better Place, Keynote, Nederlandse Onderzoeksschool Wisjbegeerte Annual Conference, Rijksuniversiteit Groningen, 9th-10th December, 2016.
32. “The Politics of Objectivity” (submitted paper) given to conference on The New Methods of Ethics, University of Birmingham, 4-5th Jan, 2017
33. "Moral Responsibility and Psychopaths" given to a workshop on Moral Responsibility: Hard Cases, University opf Birmingham, 18th May, 2017.
34. Invited Participant in workshop at University of Konstanz on my book project, The Possibility of Moral Community", 21st July, 2017.
35. Invited Speaker, Workshop on Companions in Guilt, ACU Melbourne, Rome Campus, 1st-3rd September, 2017, read the paper, "Realism, Intuition and Sense Perception".
36. Keynote talk, White Rose Postgraduate Philospohy Forum, Sheffield, 5th May, 2018
37.Invited speaker, "Meaningfulness", Workshop on Cheshire Calhoun, Doing Valuable Time, Sheffield, 28th-29th September, 2018.
38. Invited speaker, "Very Distant Others", workshop on etxtraterrestrial life, St Andrews, 12th October 2018.
39.
40. Keynote speaker, "The Possibiliity of Moral Community", Early Career Conference in Moral and Political Philosophy, December 17-18, 2018, Humboldt University Berlin
41. Philosophy at the Showroom' talk on "Alphaville" (with screening of film), Showroom Cinema, Sheffield, 28th March, 2019.
42. Invited speaker, "Burke and Wollstonecraft on Moral Epistemology", Workshop on moral epistemology, University of Helsinki, 6-7th June, 2019.
43."Pretenceworthiness" read to Workshop of Moral and Religious Fictionalism, Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand (online), 4th September 2021.
44: Invited speaker: "How Separate Are Persons?", conference at York on Happiess, Utility and Well Being.
45. "Consequences of Cluelessness" presented to a workshop, University of Tampere, Moominland, 25th May, 2023.
46. On 26th May 2023 I participated in a workshop on my book draft, The Possibility of Moral Community, University of Tampere, Moominland, Participants: Nomy Arpaly, Stephen Finlay, Arto Laitinen, Teemu Toppinen, Vilma Venesmaa.
COLLOQUIA
“Desire, Belief and Motivation”, Lancaster University Philosophy Department, 1994-5 session.
“The Contingent and the Contemptible”, Lancaster University Philosophy Department, 1995-6 session.
“In Defence of Preferences” was read to a Lancaster-Zürich joint research group seminar meeting, “Beyond Cost-Benefit Analysis: Deliberation, Judgement and Public Policy”, Charlotte Mason College, Ambleside,15th February, 1996.
“The Externalist and the Amoralist” was read to a Lancaster-Zürich joint research group seminar meeting, “Beyond Cost-Benefit Analysis: Deliberation, Judgement and Public Policy” at the University of Zürich, Switzerland, 14th June, 1996.
“Contracting Responsibility” was read to the Glasgow University Philosophy Senior Seminar, 16th December 1997
“Who’s Afraid of the Frege-Geach Problem?” was read to a meeting of the Leeds University Philosophy Senior Seminar, 3rd December, 1998.
“On Becoming Extinct” was read to the Senior Seminar of the Bolton Institute Philosophy Department, 21st May, 1999.
“Autonomy and Responsibility” was read to the Philosophy Departments of the University of St Andrews, 16th February, 2000.
“Contractualism and Responsibility” was read to the Philosophy Department (Stapledon Society) of Liverpool University, 12th March, 2000.
“Consequentialism and Cluelessness” was read to the Philosophy Department of the University of Dundee, 18th October, 2000
“Consequentialism and Cluelessness” was read to the Philosophy Department of the University of Haifa, Israel, 18th December, 2000.
“Consequentialism and Cluelessness” was read to the Philosophy Department of Bar-Ilan University, Israel, 19th December, 2000.
“Gambling with Responsibility” was read to the Philosophy Department of the University of Tel-Aviv, Israel, 20th December, 2000
“Contractualism and Responsibility” was read to the Philosophy Department of the University of Birmingham, 26th March, 2001.
“Contractualism and Responsibility” was read to the Philosophy Department of the University of Edinburgh, 27th April, 2001.
“Utilitarianiam, Contractualism and Risk-Imposition” was read to the Philosophy Department of the University of Stirling, 29th November, 2001
“Imposing Risks” was read to the Philosophy Department of the University of Reading, 12th February, 2002.
“Comments on Frances Kamm: “Responsibility and Collaboration”“ given to Harvard Ethics and the Professions Seminar, 15th October, 2002.
On 15th January 2003 I was invited to attend a meeting of the Boston University Ethics Reading group to discuss my paper “Consequentialism and Cluelessness”
“Contractualism and Responsibility” was read to the Philosophy Department of Syracuse University, New York, 6th December 2002.
“Contractualism and Risk-Imposition: Some Thoughts” was read to the Philosophy Department of the University of Sheffield, 6th February, 2003.
“Contractualism and Risk Imposition: Some Thoughts” was read and discussed with Harvard Ethics and the Professions Seminar, 18th February, 2003.
“Anscombe’s Saucer: Desires and Desirability Characteristics” was read at the Moral Philosophy Seminar, University of Oxford, 10th November, 2003.
“On Goodness” was read to the Philosophy Department of the University of York, 4th December 2003.
“Some Remarks on Neo-Aristotelian Naturalism” was read to the Philosophy Department at the University of Leeds, October 28th, 2004.
“Some Remarks on Neo-Aristotelian Naturalism” was read to the Philosophy Department of Essex University, 11th November 2004.
“Humean Constructivism” was read to the Moral Sciences Club, University of Cambridge, January 25th 2005.
“What is Moral Inquiry?” was read to the Philosophy Department of the University of Birmingham, 30th January, 2006.
"Humean Constructivism in Moral Theory” was read to the Philosophy Department of the University of Nottingham, 8th Febuary, 2006.
"What is Moral Inquiry?" was read to the Philosophy Department of the University of Sheffield, 8th December 2006.
“Achieving Objectivity” was read to the Philosophy Department of the University of Manchester, 12th March, 2008.
“Achieving Objectivity” was read to the Philosophy Department of the University of Nottingham, 5th November, 2008.
“Achieving Objectivity was read to the Philosophy Department of the Queen’s University, Belfast, 13th November, 2008.
“Achieving Objectivity” was read to the Philosophy Society of the University of Reading, 3rd March, 2009.
"Expressivism and Constructivism” was read to the Philosophy Department of Cardiff University, 1st March, 2010.
"Scepticism about Moral Intuition" was given to the Oxford University Moral Philosophy Seminar, 23rd January, 2012.
"Ethics without Errors" was given to Philosophy Department at Lancaster University, 15th February, 2012.
"Science, Ethics and Observation" was given to Hull University Philosophy Department, 6th December, 2011.
"Ethics Without Errors" was given to the Normativity of Law Research Group at the University of York on 4th July, 2012.
"Wallace on Affirmation and Regret" read to the Centre for Ethics, Law and Public Affairs, University of Warwick, 19th May 2015.
"From Desires to Reasons" was presented to Forum Philosophicum, Department of Philosophy, Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen, 11th November, 2015; and the following day discussed the same paper the Prof. Sabine Döring's Metaethics Research Group.
"Moral Inquiry and Mob Psychology" was presented to departmental seminar, University of Stirling, 8th October, 2015
Royal Institute of Philosophy Invited Lecture, "From Desires to Reasons" was given at Keele University, 16th Feb, 2016.
"On the Very Idea of Making the World a Better Place" given to IDEA Research Seminar, Leeds., 29th March, 2017.
"The Politics of Objectivity", talk at École Normale Supérieur, Paris (in association with Institut Jean Nicod). 22 November, 2017.
Philosophy at Lincoln: Distinguished Public Lecture Series: "Moral Responsibility and Unreasonable People" 28th November2, 2017
"Moral Responsibility and Unreasonable People" talk for Royal Institute of Philosophy/OXford Brooks University, Blackwell's Bookshop, Oxford,
December 2017.
Invited speaker, "The Possibility of Moral Community" departmental seminar, Trinity College, Dublin, 5th November, 2018.
Speaker at colloquim on my recent work at University of Duisberg/Essen, Germany, November 2019,
"Plato or Confucius" Sheffield Philosophy Seminar, 23rd April, 2021.
The Genuine Queerness of Moral ErrorTheory" given (online) to Philosophy Department, Shandong University, China, 12th May, 2022.
Lectures on Utilitarianism (online), University of Shandong, Jinan, China. 5th, 7th, 9th, 19th, 21st and 23rd September, 2022. Online.
Invited speaker, "Communitarian Expressivism" departmental seminar, Trinity College, Dublin, 6th March, 2024.
INAUGURAL LECTURE
“Making Ethics Intelligible”. Humanities Research Institute, University of Sheffield, 13th May, 2009
PUBLIC TALKS & DISCUSSIONS
Panellist, Sheffield Salon debate, "My Brain Made Me Do It", September 2013.
'Philosophy at the Showroom' talk on Joseph Conrad and Redemption, Showroom Cinema, Sheffield, 12th December, 2013.
'Philosophy at the Showroom' talk on "The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie" (with screening of film), Showroom Cinema, Sheffield, 30th October, 2014.
Philosophy at the Showroom' talk on "The Pure Hell of St Trinian's" (with screening of film), Showroom Cinema, Sheffield, 17th December, 2015.
Philosophy at the Showroom' talk on "Nashville" (with screening of film), Showroom Cinema, Sheffield, 27th April, 2017.
"Philosophy and Film" talk on "A Canterbury Tale" (with screening of film), Hyde Park Picture House, Leeds, 10th December, 2017. (I missed this due to illness but it went ahead. Joe Saunders, who organised it, rather heroically managed to construct some kiond of talk from my sktechy and coherent notes.)
"Ethics With Confucius", talk at Sheffield Cathedral, 8th May, 2018.
Philosophy at the Showroom' talk on "The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp" (with screening of film), Showroom Cinema, Sheffield, 27th October, 2022.
TEACHING
SUMMARY: I have taught courses on:
SUBJECT AREAS
Epistemology
Ethics
Logic
Philosophy of Language
Political Philosophy
TEXTS
The Analects (Lúnyǔ 论语）
Plato: Apology, Meno, Gorgias, Protagoras, Republic, Phaedo, Theaetetus,
Aristotle: Nicomachean Ethics
Burke: Reflections of the Revolution in France
Paine: The Rights of Man
Wollstonecraft： A Vindication of the Rights of Men
Russell: The Problems of Philosophy
Rawls: A Theory of Justice
Parfit: Reasons and Persons
Williams: Ethics and the Limits of Philoosphy
GRADUATE COURSES
Sheffield: I was responsible for teaching
PHI6603: MORAL AND OTHER VALUES: 2003-4, 2018-2019, 2019-2020, 2020-2021, 2021-2022, 2022-2023 (with Yonatan Shemmer)
PHI6690: POLITICS AND VALUE (2003-2004, 2009-2010 (with Andrew Vincent), 2018-2019
PHI6680: METAPHYSICS AND EPISTEMOLOGY (2007-2008)
PHI6670: MIND AND LANGUAGE (2012-2013)
I have contributed a various classes to the Philosophy Department’s PHI 6700 Research Training Course.
INTERMEDIATE/UPPER LEVEL UNDERGRADUATE COURSES
St Andrews: I led seminars for upper level students preparing for general papers in moral philosophy: these dealt with basic topics in ethics, epistemology and philosophy of mind.
Lancaster: I was responsible for the content, teaching and examining of the following Part II (2nd/3rd year) courses (or part courses):
Knowledge, Mind and Language (2nd/3rd year) (1994-5);
Current Issues in Ethics (3rd year)(1994-5 and 1995-6 and 1996-7);
Logic (2nd/3rd year) (1995-6);
Political Ideas (3rd year) (1996-7)
Glasgow: I was responsible for the content, teaching and examining of the following Honours (3rd/4th year) courses (or part courses):
Moral and Political Theory (Core Paper)(1997-8, 1998-9, 2000-2001, 2001-2002) ;
Moral and Political Texts (Core Paper)(2001-2002);
Philosophy of Mind (Core Paper)(1997-8, examining only in 1998-9, 2000-2001, 2001-2002)).
I was involved in supervising and examining a large number of undergraduate dissertations on a wide variety of topics.
Sheffield: I have been responsible for the content, teaching and examining of:
PHI344: METAETHICS (from 2003-2004 to 2005-2006)
PHI 351: PLATO ON KNOWLEDGE (2007-2008).
PHI278/PHI378: PHILOSOPHY AND REVOLUTION (2018-2019).
PHI217: PLATO (from 2003-2004 to 2005-2006; 2007-2008, 2008-2009, 2010-2011, 2011-2012, 2012-2013, 2013-2014, 2015-2016, 2017-2018, 2018-2019).
PHI204/PHI209: ETHICS (2004-2005, 2005-2006, 2008-2009, 2009-2010, 2010-2011, 2011-2012, 2012-2013, 2014-2015, 2015-2016, 2016-201, 2021-2022, 2022-2023)
PHI340: ARISTOTLE (2019-2020).
PHI378: PHILOSOPHY AND REVOLUTION (2019-2020)
PHI31007: ANCIENT CHINESE PHILOSOPHY (2020-2021, 2021-2022, 2022-2023, 2023-2024).
In 2018-19 and 2019-20 I contributed one lecture to the team taught 2nd year course on Film and Philosophy (1st year)
I also taught modules on Euthanasia (2007-2008), Heraclitus (2008-2009) Plato on Knowledge (2008-2009, 2009-2010) and The Evil of Death (2012-2013) for the project-based course PHI355/356: PHILOSOPHICAL PROJECTS. In 2004-2005 I contributed a single “guest” lecture on Socrates to Department of Biblical Studies Course BIB142, The Greek World.
On 23rd October 2023 I did a guest lecture on Confucius in Helen Beebee's undergraduate course on the History of Western Philosophy
INTRODUCTORY UNDERGRADUATE COURSES
St Andrews: I led seminars for first year students studying a course covering applied ethics, philosophy of religion, Locke’s Second Treatise and Mill’s On Liberty.
Lancaster: I led Part I (first year) seminars on a syllabus covering at an elementary level ethics, epistemology, philosophy of mind, philosophy of religion and the freedom/determinism issue. I was involved as a seminar tutor in teaching Philosophy 200, a Part II (2nd/3rd year) course covering similar ground for students who had not done Part I Philosophy.
Glasgow: I was responsible for the content, teaching and examination of parts of the following first and second level courses:
1A: An Introduction to Moral Philosophy (1998-9 and 2000-2001);
2K: Knowledge, Meaning and Inference (2000-2001, 2001-2002).
In 1998-9 I was involved as a tutor for course 1F States and Citizen Ancient and Modern. In 1997-8 I was involved as a tutor for the courses 1A: An Introduction to Moral Philosophy and 1D Philosophy of Religion.
Sheffield: Responsible for content, teaching and examining of:
PHI121: KNOWLEDGE, JUSTIFICATION AND DOUBT (2014-2015, 2015-2016, 2016-2017, 2017-2018)
PHI118: THE HISTORY OF ETHICS (2023-2024)
SUPERVISION/MENTORING
PHD SUPERVISION
Anna Wilkinson: PhD candidate, From 2003: Dissertation Topic: Naturalism in Meta-ethics. Completed 2007.
Paul Sludds: PhD candidate, from 2004, Dissertation Topic, Wellbeing and Death. Completed 2008.*
Jules Holroyd. PhD candidate, from 2004. Dissertation Topic: Autonomy. Completed 2008.
Jonathan Smith: PhD candidate, from 2005; Dissertation Topic: Moral Realism.. Completed 2010.*
Heather Arnold: PhD candidate from 2007; Dissertation Topic: The Family. Completed 2011.
David Ekstrand: PhD candidate from 2008; Dissertation Topic: Reciprocity and the State : a Liberal Theory of Legitimacy. Completed 2011.*
Carl Fox: PhD Candidate from 2010; Dissertation Topic: Legitimacy and Obligation. Completed 2014.*
Jonathan Parry: PhD Candidate from 2011; Dissertation Topic: Just War Theory. Completed 2014.
Stephen Ingram: PhD Candidate from 2012; Dissertation Topic: Robust normative Realism. Completed 2016.*
Graham Bex-Priestly: PhD Candidate from 2014; Dissertatiojn Topic: Ecumenical Expressivism. COmpleted 2018*
Josh Thomas: PhD Candidate from 2014; Dissertation Topic: Meaning in Life. Completed 2018
Lewis Brooks: PhD Candidate from 2015; Dissertation Topic: Quasi-Realism.* Completed 2019
Jingbo Hu: PhD Candidate from 2016: Dissertation Topic: Moral Responsibility.Completed 2020
Brendan Kelters; PhD Candidate from 2016: DIssertation Topic: Moral Change. Completed 2022
James Dunstan; PhD Candidate from 2018: Disserttation Topic: Manipulation.*Completed 2023
Pascal Ally Candidate from 2020. Dissertation Topic: Agency.*
Charlie Potter: Candidate from 2021. Dissertation Topic: Meaning.*
Ume Hussain, Dissertation Topic, Virtue in Islamic Philosophy
Soo Hwan Park: Dissertation Topic: Metaethics
* - Primary supervisor.
VISITING STUDENT SUPERVISION
Antonio Marturano (visiting Lancaster from Universita degli Studi di Milano, dissertation topic: “Il problema della logica del noncognitivismo normativo e li sue prospettive” (“Problems and Prospects for Non-Cognitive Normative Logic”), 1997.
POSTDOCTORAL SUPERVISION AND MENTORING
2000- 2002: supervisor to Dr Matilde Carasco, a postdoctoral Honorary Research Fellow working on normative ethics.
2007-2010: mentor Dr Helen Frowe.
2008-2010: mentor to Dr Fiona Woollard.
2015-2018: mentor to Dr Ashley Taylor.
From 2019: mentor to Dr Max Hayward.
From 2021: mentor to Dr James Chamberlain
RESEARCH AWARDS
1987–1990: Competitively awarded Scottish Education Department Major Scottish Studentship.
1999-2000: Competitively awarded grant from the United Kingdom Arts and Humanities Research Board Research Leave Scheme.
2002-2003: Faculty Fellowship at the University Center for Ethics and the Professions, Harvard University (value $35,000).
2006-2007: Competitively Awarded grant from the United Kingdom Arts and Humanities Research Council Research Leave Scheme. (Value £25,990).
2009: Competitively awarded grant from the United Kingdom Arts and Humanities Research Council Research Networks and Workshops Scheme. (Value, £25,062).
2010-2011: Competitively awarded grant from the United Kingdom Arts and Humanities Research Board Research Leave Scheme (value £30.898).
DEPARTMENT/FACULTY SERVICE
I have been Director of Graduate Admissions in Philosophy at Sheffield with occasional interruptions for research leave for ever. I have performed sundry other departmental administrative tasks that it would be too tedious to list.
I have served on a number of hiring committees.
EXTERNAL ACTIVITIES AND SERVICE I organized the 1997 Annual Conference of the British Society for Ethical Theory at Lancaster and their 2001 Annual Conference at Glasgow.
I co-organized (with Gordon Graham) the Glasgow meetings of the Scots Philosophy Club in December 1997 and December 2000.
In association with a grant from AHRC Research Networks and Projects Scheme (see below under Research Funding), I managed a major project (3 workshops, a major international conference and planned publication) on “Constructivism in Practical Philosophy” in 2009, employing one graduate student as an assistant. The project was completed on time and within budget.
In March 1996, I was elected by the newly formed British Society for Ethical Theory to serve as its first Secretary. I was re-elected as Secretary in 1999. In April 2002 I was elected President of the British Society for Ethical Theory. I was re-elected for a second term in July 2005, relinquishing the position in 2008. In 2008 I was elected an Honorary Life Member of the British Society for Ethical Theory.
From 2005- 2013 I was a member of the AHRC’s Peer Review College and have evaluated grant and study leave applications for AHRC funding awards worth up to approx £1 million. In the summer of 2005 I was a member of the expert group convened by the AHRC to develop the (ultimately unsuccessful) shortlisted Strategic Initiative Proposal, “Dynamics of Trust”. I was a member of the committee set up by the Mind Association in 2005 to adjudicate the competition for Mind Association Scholarships held that year.
I have been a member of the WROCAH (White Rose College of the Arts and Humanities) Subject Cluster Committee for “Thought”.
Corresponding Editor for Ethical Theory and Moral Practice June 2004-March 2006.
Editorial Board member, Ethical Theory and Moral Practice, from 2006 - 2019.
Member of Editorial Committee, Utilitas, from April, 2010.
Referee for: British Society for Ethical Theory Annual Conferences, The Australasian Journal of Philosophy, The Canadian Journal of Philosophy, Ethical Theory and Moral Practice, Environmental Values, The Encyclopaedia of Applied, Ethics, European Journal of Philosophy, Inquiry, Journal of Applied Philosophy, Journal of Ethics and Social Philosophy, Journal of Moral Philosophy, Journal of Philosophical Research, Mind, Nous, Philosophers’ Imprint, Philosophical Explorations, Philosophical Studies, Philosophical Quarterly, Social Theory and Practice, Thought, Utilitas.
Oxford University Press, Cambridge University Press, Routledge, Edinburgh University Press, Palgrave, Blackwell.
Fellowship Dissertation Referee for Trinity College, Cambridge, Junior Research Fellowship competition.
Hiring/Tenure/Promotion Referee for Department of Philosophy, University of Missouri at St Louis; Department of Philosophy, University of Southern California; Department of Philosophy, University of Michigan at Ann Arbor; Department of Philosophy, University of Minnesota at Twin Cities; Department of Philosophy, MIT. Cornell University, Yonsei University.
Since 2003 I have been a member of the Ethics Committee of the Sheffield Children’s Hospital.
External Examining
Postgraduate
University of Manchester (PhD thesis, Mohammad A. Shomali, Ethical Relativism, 2000);
University of Birmingham (M. Phil. (B) thesis, Andrew Fisher, “A Discussion Concerning the Application of the Open Question Argument to Both Semantic and Ethical Naturalism”, 2000)
University of London (M. Phil thesis, Chung-Hung Chang, “Expressivism and the Use of Moral Language”, 2001)
University of Leeds (PhD thesis, Andrew Cochrane, Moral Fictionalism, 2006);
University of Reading (PhD thesis, Jussi Suikkanen, Contractualist Principles and Wrongness, 2008)
University of Adelaide (PhD Thesis, Rosemary Lowry, Reasons, Capacities and the Motivational Requirement, 2008)
University of London (M. Phil. Res Thesis, Peter Grummitt, “Expressivism and the Frege-Geach Problem”, 2009)
University of Glasgow (PhD Thesis, Robert Cowan, Intuition, Percecption and Emotion, 2011)
University of Cambridge (PhD Thesis, Christopher Cowie, Reasons in Ethics and Epistemology, 2014)
University of Cambridge (PhD Thesis, Annika Böddeling, Moral Realism: Time to Relax, 2018)
University of Newcastle, Australia (phD Thesis, Alan Duncan, Eliminating Morality: Methods and Reasons, 2019)
University of Birmingham (PhD Thesis, Casey Elliott, Attributivism, 2019)
University of Liverpool (PhD thesis, Rachel Handley: Quasi-Realism: A Defence, 2020)
Undergraduate
External Examiner for Undergraduate Philosophy, Lancaster University, 2011-2013.
External Examiner for Undergraduate Philosophy, University of St Andrwes, 2015- 2017.
External Examiner for Undergraduate Philosophy, London School of Economics, 2020-2022.
MISCELLANEOUS
I am a UK citizen and hold a UK passport. I hold a clean UK driver’s license. I do not have a criminal record in any country.
Languages: English (native speaker). I can read and understand French, Latin, Classical Greek, Classical Chinese, Mandarin Chinese to at least an intermediate standard.
CURRICULUM VITAE
Department of Philosophy
University of Sheffield
45 Victoria Street
Sheffield
S3 7QB
44 (0)114 2220590
[email protected]
AREAS OF SPECIALISATION
Normative Ethics, Metaethics, Agency and Responsibility
PRINCIPAL AREAS OF COMPETENCE
Epistemology, Political Philosophy, History of Philosophy – Ancient Greek Philosophy especially Plato, Ancient Chinese Philosophy especially Confucius, Early Modern Philosophy especially Hume
ACADEMIC EMPLOYMENT
St Andrews University, 1993-1994, Graduate Teaching Assistant in Moral Philosophy.
Lancaster University, September 1994- July 1997, Lecturer in Philosophy (fixed term, originally 1994-1996, reappointed for one year 1996-1997).
University of Glasgow, From August 1997, Lecturer in Philosophy.
Promoted to Senior Lecturer from August 2003.
Harvard University, Faculty Fellow, University Center for Ethics and the Professions, 2002-2003.
University of Sheffield, From September 2003, Lecturer in Philosophy
Promoted to Senior Lecturer from August 2004.
Promoted to Professor from January 2007.
EDUCATION
B. A. (Hons, Class II), University of Oxford (St Catherine’s College), Honours School of Philosophy, Politics and Economics, 1985.
M. Phil., University of St Andrews, Department of Moral Philosophy, 1987.
PhD, University of St Andrews, Department of Moral Philosophy, 1995.
Supervisor: John Haldane. Examiners: John Skorupski and Michael Smith. Thesis: Realism and Idealism in the Theory of Value.
RESEARCH
PUBLICATIONS
BOOKS
1. The Possibility of Moral Community (Oxford University Press, forthcoming, September, 2024)
2. (with Ben Bramble) Should we Maximize Utility: A Debate about Utilitarianism (Routledge: forthcoming)
EDITED BOOK
3. Constructivism in Practical Philosophy (Oxford University Press, 2012) (with Yonatan Shemmer).
PAPERS
4. “Beliefs about Other Minds: A Pragmatic Justification” in American Philosophical Quarterly 31, 1994, pp. 223-234.
5. “Finding Beauty” in Journal of Value Inquiry (special issue on aesthetic value), 28, 1994, pp.245-256.
6. “Immortality: A Letter” in Cogito 9, 1995, pp.164-169. Reprinted in David Benatar (ed.): Life, Death and Meaning (Rowman and Littlefield, 2004).
7. “Belief, Desire and Motivation: An Essay in Quasi-Hydraulics” in American Philosophical Quarterly 33, 1996, pp. 291-301.
8. “Michael Smith and the Daleks: Reason, Morality and Contingency” in Utilitas 11, 1999, pp. 164-177.
9. “The Externalist and the Amoralist” in Philosophia (Israel) 27., 1999, pp. 441-457.
10. “Contracting Responsibility” in Ton van den Beld (ed), Moral Responsibility and Ontology (Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers, 2000), pp. 171-182.
11. "Preferences in their Place" in Environmental Values 9, 2000, pp. 431-451.
12. "Consequentialism and Cluelessness" in Philosophy and Public Affairs, Vol 29, 2000, pp. 342-370.
13. "On Becoming Redundant or What Computers Shouldn't Do" in Journal of Applied Philosophy 18, 2001, pp. 1-11. Reprinted in John Weckert (ed.) Computer Ethics (Ashgate: International Library of Essays in Public and Professional Ethics, 2007).
14. "On the Alleged Shallowness of Compatibilism: A Critical Study of Saul Smilansky: Free Will and Illusion" in Iyyun 51, 2002, pp. 63-79.
15. "On Becoming Extinct" in Pacific Philosophical Quarterly 83, 2002, pp. 253-269.
Reprinted in David Benatar (ed.): Life, Death and Meaning (Rowman and Littlefield, 2004) and Hon-Lam Li and Anthony Kwok-wing Yeung (eds.): Animal Rights, Personhood and the Ethics of Killing (Palgrave MacMillan, 2007.)
16. “Moral Deviants and Amoral Saints: A Dilemma for Moral Externalism” in Southern Journal of Philosophy 61, 2003 pp. 223-240.
17. “Noncognitivism and Wishfulness” in Ethical Theory and Moral Practice 6, 2003, pp. 265-274.
18. “Disciplined Syntacticism and Moral Expressivism” in Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 66, 2003, pp. 32-57.
19. “Noncognitivism and the Dimensions of Evaluative Judgement: A Review of Michael Smith: “Evaluation, Uncertainty and Motivation”” in BEARS (Brown Electronic Article Review Service), World Wide Web, (http://www.brown.edu/Departments/Philosophy/bears/homepage.html). Posted January 15th 2003 as part of a symposium.
20. “Utilitarianism and Obviousness” in Utilitas 16, 2004, pp. 322-325.
21. “The Saucer of Mud, The Kudzu Vine and the Uxorious Cheetah: Against Neo-Aristotelian Naturalism in Metaethics” in The European Journal of Analytic Philosophy 1, 2005, pp. 37-50.
22. “Compatibilism and Contractualism: The Possibility of Moral Responsibility” in Ethics 117, 2006, pp. 7-31
23. “How to Live, What to Do: A Critical Study of Allan Gibbard: Thinking How to Live” in Journal of Moral Philosophy 3, 2006, pp. 359-369.
24. “Moral Naturalism” in Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/naturalism-moral/ ), posted June, 2006.
25. “What is Moral Inquiry?” in Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society, Supplementary Volume 81, 2007, pp. 63-81.
26. "Why I Have No Plans to Retire: In Defence of Moderate Professional Complacency" in Ratio 20, 2007, pp. 241-246.
27. “The Politics of the Self” in Lisa Bortolotti (ed.): Philosophy and Happiness (London: Palgrave MacMillan, 2008), pp. 183-199.
28. “Contractualism and Risk Imposition”, Politics, Philosophy and Economics 7, 2008, pp. 99-122.
29. “Against Moral Fictionalism”, Philosophical Books 49, 2008, pp. 23-32.
30. "Actions, Motives and Causes: A Critical Study of Alfred R. Mele: Motivation and Agency", Philosophical Quarterly 58, 2008, pp. 53-62.
31. “Reasons for Action: Justification vs Explanation” in Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/reasons-just-vs-expl/), posted February, 2009.
32. “Naturalism Without Tears” in Ratio 22, 2009, pp. 1-18. Reprinted in Jussi Suikkanen and John Cottingham (eds.): Essays on Derek Parfit’s On What Matters (Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell, 2009).
33. "Achieving Objectivity" in Philosophical Perspectives 23, 2009, pp. 293-304
34. "Humean Constructivism in Moral Theory" in Oxford Studies in Metaethics 5, 2010, pp. 175-193.
35. “Uggles and Muggles: Wedgwood on Normative Thought and Justification” in Philosophical Studies 151, 2010, pp. 469-477.
36. “Pleasure, Desire and Practical Reason” in Ethical Theory and Moral Practice 14, 2011, pp. 143-149.
37. "Introduction" in James Lenman and Yonatan Shemmer (eds.): Constructivism in Practical Philosophy (Oxford, OUP, 2012) (with Yonatan Shemmer).
38. "Expressivism and Constructivism" in James Lenman and Yonatan Shemmer (eds.): Constructivism in Practical Philosophy (Oxford, OUP, 2012).
39. "Science, Ethics and Observation" forthcoming in Havi Carel and Darian Meacham (eds.): Phenomenology and Naturalism, Supplement to Philosophy (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2012/2013).
40. Deliberation, Schmeliberation: Enoch's Indispensibility Argument" forthcoming in Philosophical Studies.
41. "Ethics Without Errors" in Ratio 26, 2013, pp. 391-409. Reprinted in Bart Streumer (ed.): Irrealism in Ethics (Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell, 2014)
42. "Deliberation, Schmeliberation: Enoch's Indispensibility Argument" in Philosophical Studies 168, 2014, pp. 835-842.
43. "Scepticism about Intuition" in Sophie-Grace Chappell (ed.): Intuition, Theory and Anti-Theory in Ethics (Oxford: OUP, 2015), pp. 24-39.
44. "Gibbardian Humiility: Moral Fallibility and Moral Smugness" in Journal of Value Inquiry 48, 2014, pp. 235-245 (issue edited by Sabine Roeser and Joel Rickard).
45. "Moral Inquiry and Mob Psychology" in Christopher Daly (ed.). The Palgrave Handbook of Philosophical Methods (Basingstoke: Palgrave MacMillan, 2015, pp. 637-651.
46. "Why Externalism is a Problem for Ethical Intuitionists" in Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society, Virtual Issue 3, 2015: Methods in Ethics, ed. Ben Colburn, p. 326-333.
47. "La Révolution est un bloc? Wallace on Affirmation and Regret" Journal of Applied Philosophy 34, 2017, pp. 420-428..
48. "Reasons without Humans" in Analysis 77, 2017, pp. 586-595.
49. “Thomson on Goodness” Metafísica y Persona, 2018
50. "The Primacy of the Passions" in Anna Bergqvist and Robert Cowan (eds.): Evaluative Perception (Oxford: OUP, 2018), pp. 282-294.
51. "An Ecumenical Matter" in Philosophical Quarterly 69, 2019, pp. 175-186.
52. "The That" in Jussi Suikkanen and Antti Kauppinen (eds.): Metholodology and Moral Philosophy (London: Routledge, 2019), pp. 148-165.
53. "La Révolution est un bloc? Wallace on Affirmation and Regret" Journal of Applied Philosophy 34, 2017.
54. Ethics and Perception: Two Kinds of Quasi-Realism” In Christopher Cowie and Richard Rowland (eds.): Companions in Guilt Arguments in Metaethics (Routledge, 2019).
55. "How Effective Altruism Lost the Plot" in IAI News October 2019.
56. "Reasons for Pretending and Pretend Reasons" in Richard Joyce and Stuart Brock (eds): Moral Fictionalism and Religious Fictionalism (OUP, 2023)
57"Making Sense of Ethics: An Introduction to Metaethics in Bart: Engelen and Maureen Sie (eds.): Second Thoughts: First Introductions to Philosophy
https://openpresstiu.pubpub.org/pub/making-sense-of-ethics/release/3?readingCollection=5e291060
58. "Anything goes? Eccentricity and Reason in Stevenson" forthcoming in Rachel Handley (ed.): Stevenson on Emotivism (Palgrave)
SHORT BOOK REVIEWS (More substantial critical studies are listed above under “Papers”.)
59. Kurt Baier: The Rational and the Moral Order and J. B. Schneewind (ed.): Reason, Ethics and Society in Philosophical Books, Vol. 38, 1997.
60. Michael Smith: The Moral Problem in Ethical Theory and Moral Practice 1, 1998.
61. Christine Korsgaard: Creating the Kingdom of Ends in Ethical Theory and Moral Practice 1, 1998.
62. Marcel S. Lieberman: Commitment, Value and Moral Realism in Mind 109, 2000
63. Tae-Chang Kim and Ross Harrison (eds.): Self and Future Generations in Philosophical Books 43, 2002.
64. Jeanette Kennett: Agency and Responsibility in Utilities 15, 2003.
65. Brad Hooker: Ideal Code, Real World in Philosophical Books 44, 2003.
66. G. F. Schueler: Reasons and Purposes in Mind 116, 2007.
67. Terry Horgan and Mark Timmons (eds.): Metaethics After Moore in Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews, 2007.
68. Terence Cuneo: The Normative Web in Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews, 2008.
69. Allan Gibbard: Reconciling Our Aims in Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews, 2009.
70. Mark Schroeder: Slaves of the Passions in Philosophical Quarterly 2013.
71. Gillian Russell: Truth in Virtue of Meaning in Ethics 123, 2013
72. T. M. Scanlon: Being Realistic About Reasons in Economics abnd Philosophy, 2015.
73: Stephen Finlay: Confusion of Tongues in Language 92, 2016.
GUEST EDITORSHIP OF JOURNAL
74. Ethical Theory and Moral Practice – Volume 5, issue 3, September 2002 - comprising selected papers from the 2001 British Society of Ethical Theory Conference at Glasgow.
TALKS AND PRESENTATIONS
CONFERENCES
1. “The Contingent and the Contemptible” was given at the inaugural conference of the British Society for Ethical Theory, University of Keele, 28th March, 1996.
2. “On Being Jubblesome, Expressivism, Naturalism and the Absence of Knowledge Argument” was read to the first Inland Northwest Philosophy Conference (on Realism) at the University of Idaho and Washington State University, U. S. A., 3rd-5th April, 1998.
3. Contracting Responsibility was read at a conference on “Moral Responsibility and Ontology” at the University of Utrecht, The Netherlands, 4th-7th June 1998.
4. Invited participant at Workshop at Ambleside on Ethics and Environmental Valuation funded by DG XII of the E.C., Environment and Climate RTD Programme, 23rd-25th April 1999.
5. “On Becoming Extinct” was read on 28th December 1999 to a plenary session of the International Conference on Bioethics at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, 28th-30th December 1999.
6. “Contractualism, Utilitarianism and Risk-Imposition” was read on 26th March, 2000 to the International Society for Utilitarian Studies “Utilitarianism 2000” Conference hosted by Wake Forest University, North Carolina, 24th-26th March, 2000. Geoffrey Sayre-McCord was my respondent.
7. “Humean Constructivism in Moral Theory” was read to a plenary session of a conference on the work of T. M. Scanlon, University of London, June 4th-5th, 2004 at which I was an invited plenary speaker with Mark Kalderon as my respondent.
8. “What is Moral Inquiry?” was read to a workshop on The Metaphysics of Value held at Leeds on 14th May 2005.
9. "Some Ways of Being Bleak: Parfit on Reasons and Desires" was read to a conference, "Parfit Meets Critics", University of Reading, 2nd - 3rd November 2006, at which I was an invited plenary speaker. Derek Parfit gave a response.
10. “The Politics of the Self” was read to a conference, “Happiness and the Meaning of Life”, University of Birmingham, 17th May 2007, at which I was an invited plenary speaker.
11. “What is Moral Inquiry?” was read to the Joint Session of the Mind Association and Aristotelian Society, 6th-8th July, 2007, at the University of Bristol (host) and the University of the West of England (venue), at which I was an invited, plenary, lead speaker with Michael Ridge as my respondent.
12. I delivered a response to Sarah Broadie, “Truth and Story in Plato’s Timaeus” at a conference in Leeds on “Themes from the Ethics of Bernard Williams”, 30th June-2nd July, 2009.
13. “Pleasure, Desire and Practical Reason” was given as a keynote paper at the 2009 conference of the British Society for Ethical Theory at the University of Reading, 13th -15th July, 2009.
14. “Expressivism and Constructivism” was given to a workshop on “Constructivism and Normative Epistemology” at Sheffield, 27th March, 2009 and again to a conference on “Constructivism in Normative Philosophy” at Sheffield, 14th-16th August, 2009.
15. “Scepticism about Intuitionism” was given at to a conference on “Intuitionism, Theory and Anti-Theory in Ethics”, Edinburgh (under the auspices of Open University), 3rd-4th July, 2010.
16. “Modest and Grandiose Mind-Independence: Egan and Street on Quasi-Realism” was given to a conference on “Knowing What to Do” at the University of Kent at Canterbury, 9th-10th April, 2011.
17. "Matilda, Matilda" was given to a workshop on “The Relevance of Motivational Internalism”, University of Gothenburg, Sweden, 17th-18th August, 2011.
18. “Ethics and Science” was given to Royal Institute for Philosophy Conference on “Human Experience and Nature”, University of the West of England, 30th August-2nd September, 2011.
19. "Ethics without Errors" was given to the Ratio Conference on Irrealism in Ethics, Reading, 20th April, 2012.
20. "Objectivity, Modest and Grandiose: Moral Disagreement and Unpardonable Smugness" was given to a workshop on the Limits of Realism about Value and Taste at the Northern Institute of Philosophy, University of Aberdeen, 17th December 2012.
21. "Good People and Good Things" given to workshop on the Philosophy of Judith Jarvis Thomson, University of Cambridge, 17th October, 2013.
22. "Objectivity, Modest and Grandiose: Moral Disagreement and Unpardonable Smugness" was given to a workshop on the Limits of Realism about Value and Taste at the Northern Instutute of Philosophy, University of Aberdeen, as part of the Leverhulme Trust funded project on Relativism and Rational Tolerance led by Crispin Wright, 17th December 2012.
23. "Moral Inquiry and Mob Psychology" given to a conference on Knowledge. Modality and Normativity, organized by the Edinburgh Centre for Epistemology, Mind and Normativity, University of Edinburgh, 9th-11th May, 2014.
24. Contributor to workshop on Thad Metz; Relational Ethics: An African Moral Theory, Goethe University, Frankfurt, 22nd May, 2015.
25. "Rawls' Inadvertent Dispensibility Argument" read to conference on "Construction, Constitution and Normativity", Humboldt University, Berlin, June 29th - July 1st, 2015.
26. "On the Very Idea of Making the World a Better Place" was presented to a conference on the Philosophical Foundations of Effective Altruism, University of St Andrews, 29th - 30th March, 2015.
27. "From Desires to Reasons" presented to Hume Readings conference, Sapienza University of Rome, 20/21 June, 2016.
28. "Reasons and Desires: Mind-Independence revisited" invited talk, Realism in Ethics, University of Sheffield, 16th-17th July 2016.
29. "On the Very Idea of Making the World a Better Place, keynote talk, Understanding Value V, University of Sheffield, 27th 29th July, 2015
30. "Some Reflections on Ecumenical Expressivism", invited talk, New Directions in Expressivism, University of Sheffield, 17th-19th August, 2016.
Invited speaker, "Contractualism and the Ethics of Risk", ESRC Workshop, London School of Economcs, 14-15 September, 2016.
31. "On the Vary Idea of Making the World a Better Place, Keynote, Nederlandse Onderzoeksschool Wisjbegeerte Annual Conference, Rijksuniversiteit Groningen, 9th-10th December, 2016.
32. “The Politics of Objectivity” (submitted paper) given to conference on The New Methods of Ethics, University of Birmingham, 4-5th Jan, 2017
33. "Moral Responsibility and Psychopaths" given to a workshop on Moral Responsibility: Hard Cases, University opf Birmingham, 18th May, 2017.
34. Invited Participant in workshop at University of Konstanz on my book project, The Possibility of Moral Community", 21st July, 2017.
35. Invited Speaker, Workshop on Companions in Guilt, ACU Melbourne, Rome Campus, 1st-3rd September, 2017, read the paper, "Realism, Intuition and Sense Perception".
36. Keynote talk, White Rose Postgraduate Philospohy Forum, Sheffield, 5th May, 2018
37.Invited speaker, "Meaningfulness", Workshop on Cheshire Calhoun, Doing Valuable Time, Sheffield, 28th-29th September, 2018.
38. Invited speaker, "Very Distant Others", workshop on etxtraterrestrial life, St Andrews, 12th October 2018.
39.
40. Keynote speaker, "The Possibiliity of Moral Community", Early Career Conference in Moral and Political Philosophy, December 17-18, 2018, Humboldt University Berlin
41. Philosophy at the Showroom' talk on "Alphaville" (with screening of film), Showroom Cinema, Sheffield, 28th March, 2019.
42. Invited speaker, "Burke and Wollstonecraft on Moral Epistemology", Workshop on moral epistemology, University of Helsinki, 6-7th June, 2019.
43."Pretenceworthiness" read to Workshop of Moral and Religious Fictionalism, Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand (online), 4th September 2021.
44: Invited speaker: "How Separate Are Persons?", conference at York on Happiess, Utility and Well Being.
45. "Consequences of Cluelessness" presented to a workshop, University of Tampere, Moominland, 25th May, 2023.
46. On 26th May 2023 I participated in a workshop on my book draft, The Possibility of Moral Community, University of Tampere, Moominland, Participants: Nomy Arpaly, Stephen Finlay, Arto Laitinen, Teemu Toppinen, Vilma Venesmaa.
COLLOQUIA
“Desire, Belief and Motivation”, Lancaster University Philosophy Department, 1994-5 session.
“The Contingent and the Contemptible”, Lancaster University Philosophy Department, 1995-6 session.
“In Defence of Preferences” was read to a Lancaster-Zürich joint research group seminar meeting, “Beyond Cost-Benefit Analysis: Deliberation, Judgement and Public Policy”, Charlotte Mason College, Ambleside,15th February, 1996.
“The Externalist and the Amoralist” was read to a Lancaster-Zürich joint research group seminar meeting, “Beyond Cost-Benefit Analysis: Deliberation, Judgement and Public Policy” at the University of Zürich, Switzerland, 14th June, 1996.
“Contracting Responsibility” was read to the Glasgow University Philosophy Senior Seminar, 16th December 1997
“Who’s Afraid of the Frege-Geach Problem?” was read to a meeting of the Leeds University Philosophy Senior Seminar, 3rd December, 1998.
“On Becoming Extinct” was read to the Senior Seminar of the Bolton Institute Philosophy Department, 21st May, 1999.
“Autonomy and Responsibility” was read to the Philosophy Departments of the University of St Andrews, 16th February, 2000.
“Contractualism and Responsibility” was read to the Philosophy Department (Stapledon Society) of Liverpool University, 12th March, 2000.
“Consequentialism and Cluelessness” was read to the Philosophy Department of the University of Dundee, 18th October, 2000
“Consequentialism and Cluelessness” was read to the Philosophy Department of the University of Haifa, Israel, 18th December, 2000.
“Consequentialism and Cluelessness” was read to the Philosophy Department of Bar-Ilan University, Israel, 19th December, 2000.
“Gambling with Responsibility” was read to the Philosophy Department of the University of Tel-Aviv, Israel, 20th December, 2000
“Contractualism and Responsibility” was read to the Philosophy Department of the University of Birmingham, 26th March, 2001.
“Contractualism and Responsibility” was read to the Philosophy Department of the University of Edinburgh, 27th April, 2001.
“Utilitarianiam, Contractualism and Risk-Imposition” was read to the Philosophy Department of the University of Stirling, 29th November, 2001
“Imposing Risks” was read to the Philosophy Department of the University of Reading, 12th February, 2002.
“Comments on Frances Kamm: “Responsibility and Collaboration”“ given to Harvard Ethics and the Professions Seminar, 15th October, 2002.
On 15th January 2003 I was invited to attend a meeting of the Boston University Ethics Reading group to discuss my paper “Consequentialism and Cluelessness”
“Contractualism and Responsibility” was read to the Philosophy Department of Syracuse University, New York, 6th December 2002.
“Contractualism and Risk-Imposition: Some Thoughts” was read to the Philosophy Department of the University of Sheffield, 6th February, 2003.
“Contractualism and Risk Imposition: Some Thoughts” was read and discussed with Harvard Ethics and the Professions Seminar, 18th February, 2003.
“Anscombe’s Saucer: Desires and Desirability Characteristics” was read at the Moral Philosophy Seminar, University of Oxford, 10th November, 2003.
“On Goodness” was read to the Philosophy Department of the University of York, 4th December 2003.
“Some Remarks on Neo-Aristotelian Naturalism” was read to the Philosophy Department at the University of Leeds, October 28th, 2004.
“Some Remarks on Neo-Aristotelian Naturalism” was read to the Philosophy Department of Essex University, 11th November 2004.
“Humean Constructivism” was read to the Moral Sciences Club, University of Cambridge, January 25th 2005.
“What is Moral Inquiry?” was read to the Philosophy Department of the University of Birmingham, 30th January, 2006.
"Humean Constructivism in Moral Theory” was read to the Philosophy Department of the University of Nottingham, 8th Febuary, 2006.
"What is Moral Inquiry?" was read to the Philosophy Department of the University of Sheffield, 8th December 2006.
“Achieving Objectivity” was read to the Philosophy Department of the University of Manchester, 12th March, 2008.
“Achieving Objectivity” was read to the Philosophy Department of the University of Nottingham, 5th November, 2008.
“Achieving Objectivity was read to the Philosophy Department of the Queen’s University, Belfast, 13th November, 2008.
“Achieving Objectivity” was read to the Philosophy Society of the University of Reading, 3rd March, 2009.
"Expressivism and Constructivism” was read to the Philosophy Department of Cardiff University, 1st March, 2010.
"Scepticism about Moral Intuition" was given to the Oxford University Moral Philosophy Seminar, 23rd January, 2012.
"Ethics without Errors" was given to Philosophy Department at Lancaster University, 15th February, 2012.
"Science, Ethics and Observation" was given to Hull University Philosophy Department, 6th December, 2011.
"Ethics Without Errors" was given to the Normativity of Law Research Group at the University of York on 4th July, 2012.
"Wallace on Affirmation and Regret" read to the Centre for Ethics, Law and Public Affairs, University of Warwick, 19th May 2015.
"From Desires to Reasons" was presented to Forum Philosophicum, Department of Philosophy, Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen, 11th November, 2015; and the following day discussed the same paper the Prof. Sabine Döring's Metaethics Research Group.
"Moral Inquiry and Mob Psychology" was presented to departmental seminar, University of Stirling, 8th October, 2015
Royal Institute of Philosophy Invited Lecture, "From Desires to Reasons" was given at Keele University, 16th Feb, 2016.
"On the Very Idea of Making the World a Better Place" given to IDEA Research Seminar, Leeds., 29th March, 2017.
"The Politics of Objectivity", talk at École Normale Supérieur, Paris (in association with Institut Jean Nicod). 22 November, 2017.
Philosophy at Lincoln: Distinguished Public Lecture Series: "Moral Responsibility and Unreasonable People" 28th November2, 2017
"Moral Responsibility and Unreasonable People" talk for Royal Institute of Philosophy/OXford Brooks University, Blackwell's Bookshop, Oxford,
December 2017.
Invited speaker, "The Possibility of Moral Community" departmental seminar, Trinity College, Dublin, 5th November, 2018.
Speaker at colloquim on my recent work at University of Duisberg/Essen, Germany, November 2019,
"Plato or Confucius" Sheffield Philosophy Seminar, 23rd April, 2021.
The Genuine Queerness of Moral ErrorTheory" given (online) to Philosophy Department, Shandong University, China, 12th May, 2022.
Lectures on Utilitarianism (online), University of Shandong, Jinan, China. 5th, 7th, 9th, 19th, 21st and 23rd September, 2022. Online.
Invited speaker, "Communitarian Expressivism" departmental seminar, Trinity College, Dublin, 6th March, 2024.
INAUGURAL LECTURE
“Making Ethics Intelligible”. Humanities Research Institute, University of Sheffield, 13th May, 2009
PUBLIC TALKS & DISCUSSIONS
Panellist, Sheffield Salon debate, "My Brain Made Me Do It", September 2013.
'Philosophy at the Showroom' talk on Joseph Conrad and Redemption, Showroom Cinema, Sheffield, 12th December, 2013.
'Philosophy at the Showroom' talk on "The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie" (with screening of film), Showroom Cinema, Sheffield, 30th October, 2014.
Philosophy at the Showroom' talk on "The Pure Hell of St Trinian's" (with screening of film), Showroom Cinema, Sheffield, 17th December, 2015.
Philosophy at the Showroom' talk on "Nashville" (with screening of film), Showroom Cinema, Sheffield, 27th April, 2017.
"Philosophy and Film" talk on "A Canterbury Tale" (with screening of film), Hyde Park Picture House, Leeds, 10th December, 2017. (I missed this due to illness but it went ahead. Joe Saunders, who organised it, rather heroically managed to construct some kiond of talk from my sktechy and coherent notes.)
"Ethics With Confucius", talk at Sheffield Cathedral, 8th May, 2018.
Philosophy at the Showroom' talk on "The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp" (with screening of film), Showroom Cinema, Sheffield, 27th October, 2022.
TEACHING
SUMMARY: I have taught courses on:
SUBJECT AREAS
Epistemology
Ethics
Logic
Philosophy of Language
Political Philosophy
TEXTS
The Analects (Lúnyǔ 论语）
Plato: Apology, Meno, Gorgias, Protagoras, Republic, Phaedo, Theaetetus,
Aristotle: Nicomachean Ethics
Burke: Reflections of the Revolution in France
Paine: The Rights of Man
Wollstonecraft： A Vindication of the Rights of Men
Russell: The Problems of Philosophy
Rawls: A Theory of Justice
Parfit: Reasons and Persons
Williams: Ethics and the Limits of Philoosphy
GRADUATE COURSES
Sheffield: I was responsible for teaching
PHI6603: MORAL AND OTHER VALUES: 2003-4, 2018-2019, 2019-2020, 2020-2021, 2021-2022, 2022-2023 (with Yonatan Shemmer)
PHI6690: POLITICS AND VALUE (2003-2004, 2009-2010 (with Andrew Vincent), 2018-2019
PHI6680: METAPHYSICS AND EPISTEMOLOGY (2007-2008)
PHI6670: MIND AND LANGUAGE (2012-2013)
I have contributed a various classes to the Philosophy Department’s PHI 6700 Research Training Course.
INTERMEDIATE/UPPER LEVEL UNDERGRADUATE COURSES
St Andrews: I led seminars for upper level students preparing for general papers in moral philosophy: these dealt with basic topics in ethics, epistemology and philosophy of mind.
Lancaster: I was responsible for the content, teaching and examining of the following Part II (2nd/3rd year) courses (or part courses):
Knowledge, Mind and Language (2nd/3rd year) (1994-5);
Current Issues in Ethics (3rd year)(1994-5 and 1995-6 and 1996-7);
Logic (2nd/3rd year) (1995-6);
Political Ideas (3rd year) (1996-7)
Glasgow: I was responsible for the content, teaching and examining of the following Honours (3rd/4th year) courses (or part courses):
Moral and Political Theory (Core Paper)(1997-8, 1998-9, 2000-2001, 2001-2002) ;
Moral and Political Texts (Core Paper)(2001-2002);
Philosophy of Mind (Core Paper)(1997-8, examining only in 1998-9, 2000-2001, 2001-2002)).
I was involved in supervising and examining a large number of undergraduate dissertations on a wide variety of topics.
Sheffield: I have been responsible for the content, teaching and examining of:
PHI344: METAETHICS (from 2003-2004 to 2005-2006)
PHI 351: PLATO ON KNOWLEDGE (2007-2008).
PHI278/PHI378: PHILOSOPHY AND REVOLUTION (2018-2019).
PHI217: PLATO (from 2003-2004 to 2005-2006; 2007-2008, 2008-2009, 2010-2011, 2011-2012, 2012-2013, 2013-2014, 2015-2016, 2017-2018, 2018-2019).
PHI204/PHI209: ETHICS (2004-2005, 2005-2006, 2008-2009, 2009-2010, 2010-2011, 2011-2012, 2012-2013, 2014-2015, 2015-2016, 2016-201, 2021-2022, 2022-2023)
PHI340: ARISTOTLE (2019-2020).
PHI378: PHILOSOPHY AND REVOLUTION (2019-2020)
PHI31007: ANCIENT CHINESE PHILOSOPHY (2020-2021, 2021-2022, 2022-2023, 2023-2024).
In 2018-19 and 2019-20 I contributed one lecture to the team taught 2nd year course on Film and Philosophy (1st year)
I also taught modules on Euthanasia (2007-2008), Heraclitus (2008-2009) Plato on Knowledge (2008-2009, 2009-2010) and The Evil of Death (2012-2013) for the project-based course PHI355/356: PHILOSOPHICAL PROJECTS. In 2004-2005 I contributed a single “guest” lecture on Socrates to Department of Biblical Studies Course BIB142, The Greek World.
On 23rd October 2023 I did a guest lecture on Confucius in Helen Beebee's undergraduate course on the History of Western Philosophy
INTRODUCTORY UNDERGRADUATE COURSES
St Andrews: I led seminars for first year students studying a course covering applied ethics, philosophy of religion, Locke’s Second Treatise and Mill’s On Liberty.
Lancaster: I led Part I (first year) seminars on a syllabus covering at an elementary level ethics, epistemology, philosophy of mind, philosophy of religion and the freedom/determinism issue. I was involved as a seminar tutor in teaching Philosophy 200, a Part II (2nd/3rd year) course covering similar ground for students who had not done Part I Philosophy.
Glasgow: I was responsible for the content, teaching and examination of parts of the following first and second level courses:
1A: An Introduction to Moral Philosophy (1998-9 and 2000-2001);
2K: Knowledge, Meaning and Inference (2000-2001, 2001-2002).
In 1998-9 I was involved as a tutor for course 1F States and Citizen Ancient and Modern. In 1997-8 I was involved as a tutor for the courses 1A: An Introduction to Moral Philosophy and 1D Philosophy of Religion.
Sheffield: Responsible for content, teaching and examining of:
PHI121: KNOWLEDGE, JUSTIFICATION AND DOUBT (2014-2015, 2015-2016, 2016-2017, 2017-2018)
PHI118: THE HISTORY OF ETHICS (2023-2024)
SUPERVISION/MENTORING
PHD SUPERVISION
Anna Wilkinson: PhD candidate, From 2003: Dissertation Topic: Naturalism in Meta-ethics. Completed 2007.
Paul Sludds: PhD candidate, from 2004, Dissertation Topic, Wellbeing and Death. Completed 2008.*
Jules Holroyd. PhD candidate, from 2004. Dissertation Topic: Autonomy. Completed 2008.
Jonathan Smith: PhD candidate, from 2005; Dissertation Topic: Moral Realism.. Completed 2010.*
Heather Arnold: PhD candidate from 2007; Dissertation Topic: The Family. Completed 2011.
David Ekstrand: PhD candidate from 2008; Dissertation Topic: Reciprocity and the State : a Liberal Theory of Legitimacy. Completed 2011.*
Carl Fox: PhD Candidate from 2010; Dissertation Topic: Legitimacy and Obligation. Completed 2014.*
Jonathan Parry: PhD Candidate from 2011; Dissertation Topic: Just War Theory. Completed 2014.
Stephen Ingram: PhD Candidate from 2012; Dissertation Topic: Robust normative Realism. Completed 2016.*
Graham Bex-Priestly: PhD Candidate from 2014; Dissertatiojn Topic: Ecumenical Expressivism. COmpleted 2018*
Josh Thomas: PhD Candidate from 2014; Dissertation Topic: Meaning in Life. Completed 2018
Lewis Brooks: PhD Candidate from 2015; Dissertation Topic: Quasi-Realism.* Completed 2019
Jingbo Hu: PhD Candidate from 2016: Dissertation Topic: Moral Responsibility.Completed 2020
Brendan Kelters; PhD Candidate from 2016: DIssertation Topic: Moral Change. Completed 2022
James Dunstan; PhD Candidate from 2018: Disserttation Topic: Manipulation.*Completed 2023
Pascal Ally Candidate from 2020. Dissertation Topic: Agency.*
Charlie Potter: Candidate from 2021. Dissertation Topic: Meaning.*
Ume Hussain, Dissertation Topic, Virtue in Islamic Philosophy
Soo Hwan Park: Dissertation Topic: Metaethics
* - Primary supervisor.
VISITING STUDENT SUPERVISION
Antonio Marturano (visiting Lancaster from Universita degli Studi di Milano, dissertation topic: “Il problema della logica del noncognitivismo normativo e li sue prospettive” (“Problems and Prospects for Non-Cognitive Normative Logic”), 1997.
POSTDOCTORAL SUPERVISION AND MENTORING
2000- 2002: supervisor to Dr Matilde Carasco, a postdoctoral Honorary Research Fellow working on normative ethics.
2007-2010: mentor Dr Helen Frowe.
2008-2010: mentor to Dr Fiona Woollard.
2015-2018: mentor to Dr Ashley Taylor.
From 2019: mentor to Dr Max Hayward.
From 2021: mentor to Dr James Chamberlain
RESEARCH AWARDS
1987–1990: Competitively awarded Scottish Education Department Major Scottish Studentship.
1999-2000: Competitively awarded grant from the United Kingdom Arts and Humanities Research Board Research Leave Scheme.
2002-2003: Faculty Fellowship at the University Center for Ethics and the Professions, Harvard University (value $35,000).
2006-2007: Competitively Awarded grant from the United Kingdom Arts and Humanities Research Council Research Leave Scheme. (Value £25,990).
2009: Competitively awarded grant from the United Kingdom Arts and Humanities Research Council Research Networks and Workshops Scheme. (Value, £25,062).
2010-2011: Competitively awarded grant from the United Kingdom Arts and Humanities Research Board Research Leave Scheme (value £30.898).
DEPARTMENT/FACULTY SERVICE
I have been Director of Graduate Admissions in Philosophy at Sheffield with occasional interruptions for research leave for ever. I have performed sundry other departmental administrative tasks that it would be too tedious to list.
I have served on a number of hiring committees.
EXTERNAL ACTIVITIES AND SERVICE I organized the 1997 Annual Conference of the British Society for Ethical Theory at Lancaster and their 2001 Annual Conference at Glasgow.
I co-organized (with Gordon Graham) the Glasgow meetings of the Scots Philosophy Club in December 1997 and December 2000.
In association with a grant from AHRC Research Networks and Projects Scheme (see below under Research Funding), I managed a major project (3 workshops, a major international conference and planned publication) on “Constructivism in Practical Philosophy” in 2009, employing one graduate student as an assistant. The project was completed on time and within budget.
In March 1996, I was elected by the newly formed British Society for Ethical Theory to serve as its first Secretary. I was re-elected as Secretary in 1999. In April 2002 I was elected President of the British Society for Ethical Theory. I was re-elected for a second term in July 2005, relinquishing the position in 2008. In 2008 I was elected an Honorary Life Member of the British Society for Ethical Theory.
From 2005- 2013 I was a member of the AHRC’s Peer Review College and have evaluated grant and study leave applications for AHRC funding awards worth up to approx £1 million. In the summer of 2005 I was a member of the expert group convened by the AHRC to develop the (ultimately unsuccessful) shortlisted Strategic Initiative Proposal, “Dynamics of Trust”. I was a member of the committee set up by the Mind Association in 2005 to adjudicate the competition for Mind Association Scholarships held that year.
I have been a member of the WROCAH (White Rose College of the Arts and Humanities) Subject Cluster Committee for “Thought”.
Corresponding Editor for Ethical Theory and Moral Practice June 2004-March 2006.
Editorial Board member, Ethical Theory and Moral Practice, from 2006 - 2019.
Member of Editorial Committee, Utilitas, from April, 2010.
Referee for: British Society for Ethical Theory Annual Conferences, The Australasian Journal of Philosophy, The Canadian Journal of Philosophy, Ethical Theory and Moral Practice, Environmental Values, The Encyclopaedia of Applied, Ethics, European Journal of Philosophy, Inquiry, Journal of Applied Philosophy, Journal of Ethics and Social Philosophy, Journal of Moral Philosophy, Journal of Philosophical Research, Mind, Nous, Philosophers’ Imprint, Philosophical Explorations, Philosophical Studies, Philosophical Quarterly, Social Theory and Practice, Thought, Utilitas.
Oxford University Press, Cambridge University Press, Routledge, Edinburgh University Press, Palgrave, Blackwell.
Fellowship Dissertation Referee for Trinity College, Cambridge, Junior Research Fellowship competition.
Hiring/Tenure/Promotion Referee for Department of Philosophy, University of Missouri at St Louis; Department of Philosophy, University of Southern California; Department of Philosophy, University of Michigan at Ann Arbor; Department of Philosophy, University of Minnesota at Twin Cities; Department of Philosophy, MIT. Cornell University, Yonsei University.
Since 2003 I have been a member of the Ethics Committee of the Sheffield Children’s Hospital.
External Examining
Postgraduate
University of Manchester (PhD thesis, Mohammad A. Shomali, Ethical Relativism, 2000);
University of Birmingham (M. Phil. (B) thesis, Andrew Fisher, “A Discussion Concerning the Application of the Open Question Argument to Both Semantic and Ethical Naturalism”, 2000)
University of London (M. Phil thesis, Chung-Hung Chang, “Expressivism and the Use of Moral Language”, 2001)
University of Leeds (PhD thesis, Andrew Cochrane, Moral Fictionalism, 2006);
University of Reading (PhD thesis, Jussi Suikkanen, Contractualist Principles and Wrongness, 2008)
University of Adelaide (PhD Thesis, Rosemary Lowry, Reasons, Capacities and the Motivational Requirement, 2008)
University of London (M. Phil. Res Thesis, Peter Grummitt, “Expressivism and the Frege-Geach Problem”, 2009)
University of Glasgow (PhD Thesis, Robert Cowan, Intuition, Percecption and Emotion, 2011)
University of Cambridge (PhD Thesis, Christopher Cowie, Reasons in Ethics and Epistemology, 2014)
University of Cambridge (PhD Thesis, Annika Böddeling, Moral Realism: Time to Relax, 2018)
University of Newcastle, Australia (phD Thesis, Alan Duncan, Eliminating Morality: Methods and Reasons, 2019)
University of Birmingham (PhD Thesis, Casey Elliott, Attributivism, 2019)
University of Liverpool (PhD thesis, Rachel Handley: Quasi-Realism: A Defence, 2020)
Undergraduate
External Examiner for Undergraduate Philosophy, Lancaster University, 2011-2013.
External Examiner for Undergraduate Philosophy, University of St Andrwes, 2015- 2017.
External Examiner for Undergraduate Philosophy, London School of Economics, 2020-2022.
MISCELLANEOUS
I am a UK citizen and hold a UK passport. I hold a clean UK driver’s license. I do not have a criminal record in any country.
Languages: English (native speaker). I can read and understand French, Latin, Classical Greek, Classical Chinese, Mandarin Chinese to at least an intermediate standard.
