There is always some one thing which the ignorant man knows, and that thing is the only thing worth knowing; it
fills the ignorant man's universe. (Joseph Conrad, An Outcast of the Islands)
fills the ignorant man's universe. (Joseph Conrad, An Outcast of the Islands)
2021-
"Pretenceworthiness" read to Workshop of Moral and Religious Fictionalism, Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand (online), 4th September 2021.
"On the Genuine Queerness of Moral Error Theory" given (online) to Philosophy Department, University of Shandong, Jinan, China, 12th May, 2022.
Lectures on Utilitarianism (online), University of Shandong, Jinan, China. 5th, 7th, 9th, 19th, 21st and 23rd September, 2022. Online.
"Consequences of Cluelessness" presented to a workshop, University of Tampere, Moominland, 25th May, 2023.
On 26th May 2023 I participated in a workshop on my forthcoming book, The Possibility of Moral Community, University of Tampere, Moominland, Participants: Nomy Arpaly, Stephen Finlay, Arto Laitinen, Teemu Toppinen, Vilma Venesmaa.
On 6th March 2024, I presented "Communitarian Expressivism" to the Philosophy Colloquium at Trinity College, Dublin.
On 20th April, 2024, I presented "Where is Bedrock?" to the conference on Explaining Normativity at the University of Sheffield.
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2017-2020
Invited Participant, Workshop on Effective Altruism and Philosophy, University of Oxford, 10th-11th November, 2016. Keynote speaker, Nederlandse Onderzoeksschool Wisjbegeerte Annual Conference, Rijksuniversiteit Groningen, "On the Very Idea of Making the World a Better Place", 9th-10th December, 2016. “The Politics of Objectivity” (submitted paper) given to conference on The New Methods of Ethics, University of Birmingham, 4-5th Jan, 2017 "On the Very Idea of Making the World a Better Place" given to IDEA Research Seminar, Leeds., 29th March, 2017. Philosophy at the Showroom' talk on "Nashville" (with screening of film), Showroom Cinema, Sheffield, 27th April, 2017. "Moral Responsibility and Psychopaths" to be given to a workshop on Moral Responsibility: Hard Cases, University opf Birmingham, 18th May, 2017. Invited Participant in workshop at University of Konstanz on my book project, The Possibility of Moral Community", 21st July, 2017. Invited Speaker, Workshop on Companions in Guilt, ACU Melbourne, Rome Campus, 1st-3rd September, 2017, read the paper, "Realism, Intuition and Sense Perception". "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. , "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.) Keynote talk, White Rose Postgraduate Philospohy Forum, Sheffield, 5th May, 2018 "Ethics With Confucius", talk at Sheffield Cathedral, 8th May, 2018. Invited speaker, "Meaningfulness", Workshop on Cheshire Calhoun, Doing Valuable Time, Sheffield, 28th-29th September, 2018. Invited speaker, "Very Distant Others", workshop on etxtraterrestrial life, St Andrews, 12th October 2018. Invited speaker, "The Possibility of Moral Community" departmental seminar, Trinity College, Dublin, 5th November, 2018 Keynote speaker, "The Possibiliity of Moral Community", Early Career Conference in Moral and Political Philosophy, December 17-18, 2018, Humboldt University Berlin Philosophy at the Showroom' talk on "Alphaville" (with screening of film), Showroom Cinema, Sheffield, 28th March, 2019. Invited speaker, "Burke and Wollstonecraft on Moral Epistemology", Workshop on moral epistemology, University of Helsinki, 6-7th June, 2019 |
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2012-2016
"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. "Ethics without Errors" was given to the Ratio Conference on Irrealism in Ethics, Reading, 20th April, 2012. "Ethics Without Errors" was given to the Normativity of Law Research Group at the University of York on 4th July, 2012. "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. Panellist, Sheffield Salon debate, "My Brain Made Me Do It", September 2013. "Good People and Good Things" given to workshop on the Philosophy of Judith Jarvis Thomson, University of Cambridge, 17th October, 2013. 'Philosophy at the Showroom' talk on Conrad and Redemption, Showroom Cinema, Sheffield, 12th December, 2013. "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. 'Philosophy at the Showroom' talk on "The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie" (with screening of film), Showroom Cinema, Sheffield, 30th October, 2014. "Wallace on Affirmation and Regret" read to the Centre for Ethics, Law and Public Affairs, University of Warwick, 19th May 2015. Contributor to workshop on Thad Metz; Relational Ethics: An African Moral Theory, Goethe University, Frankfurt, 22nd May, 2015. "Rawls' Inadvertent Dispensibility Argument" read to conference on "Construction, Constitution and Normativity", Humboldt University, Berlin, June 29th - July 1st, 2015. "Moral Inquiry and Mob Psychology" was presented to departmental seminar, University of Stirling, 8th October, 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. Philosophy at the Showroom' talk on "The Pure Hell of St Trinian's" (with screening of film), Showroom Cinema, Sheffield, 17th December, 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" to be presented to a conference on the Philosophical Foundations of Effective Altruism, University of St Andrews, 29th - 30th March, 2015. "From Desires to Reasons" to be presented to Hume Readings conference, Sapienza University of Rome, 20/21 June, 2016. "Reasons and Desires: Mind-Independence revisited" invited talk, Realism in Ethics, University of Sheffield, 16th-17th July 2016. "On the Very Idea of Making the World a Better Place, keynote talk, Understanding Value V, University of Sheffield, 27th 29th July, 2015 "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. Invited Participant, Workshop on Effective Altruism and Philosophy, University of Oxford, 10th-11th November, 2016. Keynote speaker, Nederlandse Onderzoeksschool Wisjbegeerte Annual Conference, Rijksuniversiteit Groningen, 9th-10th December, 2016. |
2009-2011“Achieving Objectivity” was read to the Philosophy Society of the University of Reading, 3rd March, 2009.
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. “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. “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. “Expressivism and Constructivism” was read to the Philosophy Department of Cardiff University, 1st March, 2010. “Scepticism about Intuitions” 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. “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. "Matilda, Matilda" was given to a workshop on “The Relevance of Motivational Internalism”, University of Gothenburg, Sweden, 17th-18th August, 2011. “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. "Science, Ethics and Observation" was given to Hull University Philosophy Department, 6th December, 2011. . |
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2006-2008“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. "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. "What is Moral Inquiry?" was read to the Philosophy Department of the University of Sheffield, 8th December 2006. “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. “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. “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. |
2003-2005On 15th January 2003 I attended 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. “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.“ 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 a workshop on The Metaphysics of Value held at Leeds on 14th May 2005. |
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2000-2002“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. “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. “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. |
'90sDesire, Belief and Motivation” Lancaster Philosophy Staff-Student Seminar, 1994-5 session.
“The Contingent and the Contemptible”, Lancaster Philosophy Staff-student seminar, 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 Contingent and the Contemptible” was given at the inaugural conference of the British Society for Ethical Theory, University of Keele, 28th March, 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 “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. Contracting Responsibility was read at a conference on “Moral Responsibility and Ontology” at the University of Utrecht, The Netherlands, 4th-7th June 1998. “Who’s Afraid of the Frege-Geach Problem?” was read to a meeting of the Leeds University Philosophy Senior Seminar, 3rd December, 1998. 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. “On Becoming Extinct” was read to the Senior Seminar of the Bolton Institute Philosophy Department, 21st May, 1999. “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 |
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