Title: Justice and the Problem of Alienation Abstract: I will focus on why alienation is a problem for many of our major theories of justice (discussing political liberalism, capabilities approach and republicanism) and what might be done about it. Location: Edgecliffe G03
Title: Debating proportionality at the edge of sentience Abstract: Can octopuses feel pain and pleasure? What about crabs, shrimps, insects or spiders? How do we tell whether a person unresponsive after severe brain injury might be suffering? When does a fetus in the womb start to have conscious experiences? Could there even be rudimentary feelings ... Read more
Title: World on Fire: Climate, Extinction, Pandemic Location: Edgecliffe G03
Title: Welfare and Felt Duration Abtract: How should we understand the duration of a pleasant or unpleasant sensation, insofar as its duration modulates how good or bad the experience is overall? Given that we seem able to distinguish between subjective and objective duration and that how well or badly someone’s life goes is naturally thought ... Read more
This talk is part of our series on Climate Ethics Title: The Ranked Range View Location: Edgecliffe G03 Abstract: The bad effects of climate change will affect, and be affected by, the number of people who will exist, and their quality of life. Thus, when evaluating our climate policies and actions, we need to know ... Read more
Title: Encroachment and epistemic negligence Abstract: In this talk, I argue that the moral duty of non-negligence is a fruitful way to understand and motivate the claim that moral reasons can ‘encroach’ on epistemic norms. More forcefully: we should readily affirm that on the epistemic norms governing agents like us—that is, who have limited cognitive ... Read more
Title: Contingency and the Present Location: School V
Title: Practical Reason and the Satisfaction of Desire Location: Teams (online only) Abstract: I have a desire for dulce de leche ice-cream (or that I myself eat ice-cream) but there’s no ice-cream nearby. A heavenly angel takes pity on me and decides she will help me out. She conjures the ice-cream and quickly shoves it ... Read more
Title: Compromises and Lesser-Evil Compromises in Ending Wars. Abstract: Contemporary conflicts often lack a clear end-state, posing challenges to the traditional notion of victory in just wars. This ambiguity calls for a revaluation of war’s objectives, suggesting that wars should end without a clear victory. In this paper, I will explore various moral and non-moral ... Read more
This talk is part of our series on Climate Ethics Title: Is despair about climate breakdown rational? Abstract: Both within the wider climate and environmentalist movement as well as in academic circles, it has become a common assumption that, in order to maintain and sustain actions against the climate crisis, we need to avoid despair. ... Read more