Enrico Galvagni – CEPPA Work-In-Progress Talk (in person)

Location: Edgecliffe G03 Title: Hume’s Account of Virtue and Its Place in the History of Ethics Abstract: Hume’s account of virtue is notoriously puzzling. On the one hand, he claims that the virtues are qualities useful or agreeable to oneself or to others. On the other, he says that they are qualities which give a pleasing ... Read more

CEPPA Talk (in person) – Brian Hedden (ANU)

Location: School 6 Title: Counterfactual Decision Theory Abstract: I defend counterfactual decision theory, which says that you should evaluate an act in terms of which outcomes would likely obtain, were you to perform it. Counterfactual decision theory has traditionally been subsumed under causal decision theory as a particular formulation of the latter. This is a mistake. ... Read more

CEPPA Talk (in person) – Cécile Fabre (Oxford)

Location: Edgecliffe G03 Title: The Morality of Gossip Abstract: Gossip is pervasive and wide-ranging. It lubricates and wrecks social relationships. Many people openly confess to loving it yet acknowledge that gossiping, while often gratifying, is, if not morally wrong, at least not quite right. Gossip has not received much attention in moral philosophy. In this ... Read more

CEPPA Talk (in person) – Ben Sachs-Cobbe (St Andrews)

Location: Edgecliffe G03 and Teams Title: What’s wrong with teaching our children to be good citizens? Abstract: Character education is a common part of schooling in the U.S. and U.K., and one popular argument in favour of character education is that it is conducive to producing citizens who have the virtues that make someone a ... Read more

CEPPA Talk (online only) – Sally Haslanger (MIT)

Location: Teams (online only) Title: Ideology, Culture, and Social Meaning Abstract: My aim in this paper is to sketch a conception of ideology that draws on the critical theory tradition. This conception of ideology is a response to a particular challenge for those working on social justice: Why is it that most of us, most ... Read more

CEPPA Talk (online only) – Nancy Fraser (The New School)

Location: Teams (online only) Title: Three Faces of Capitalist Labor: Uncovering the Hidden Ties among Gender, Race, and Class Abstract: Dissatisfied with identity-based politics, many activists and intellectuals are now seeking larger paradigms that can unify disparate struggles. Aiming to advance that project, I propose that labor forms the hidden link between gender, race, and ... Read more

CEPPA Talk (online only) – Jason Brennan (Georgetown)

Location: Teams (online only) Title: Laissez-Faire Democracy? Reasons to Regulate Votes Abstract: Most economists and political philosophers accept a simple argument for empowering governments to regulate citizens’ and private firms’ economic activity: Markets, they say, suffer from various market failures. In many such cases, governments can correct or prevent these market failures through various interventions ... Read more

CEPPA Talk (online only) – Shelly Kagan (Yale)

Location: Teams (online only) Title: "Death, Deprivation, and Rational Regret" Abstract:  Is death a bad thing? According to the deprivation account, death is bad because the dead don't get the various goods that they would have if only they were still alive. But it's not normally a misfortune when a merely possible good doesn't come ... Read more

CEPPA Talk (online only) – Heather Battaly (University of Connecticut)

Location: Teams (online only) Title: Can Fanaticism be a Liberatory Virtue? Abstract: Quassim Cassam (2022a) and Paul Katsafanas (2019) have argued that fanaticism and extremism are normatively negative concepts—characterized by, e.g., perverted ideals, vicious closed-mindedness, and unwarranted intolerance. I suggest an alternative approach that: (i) explains what makes fanaticism and extremism vicious in the very many cases ... Read more

CEPPA Talk (online only) – David Boonin (University of Colorado Boulder)

Location: Teams (online only) Title: Two Puzzles About the Ethics of Divestment Abstract: Suppose you own stock in Acme Corp. and you learn that it consistently acts in seriously immoral ways. What should you do? A common answer maintains that owning stock in Acme Corp. makes you complicit in its immoral behavior and that you ... Read more