Centre for Ethics, Philosophy and Public Affairs
Title: The Permissibility of Collective Defence Agreements Abstract: Collective defence agreements (CDAs), of the sort that exist between, for example, NATO members, EU members, and African Union members, are a prime example of a prominent deterrence mechanism. They promise a degree of assistance that will make it almost impossible for an adversary to win an ... Read more
This talk is part of our series on Climate Ethics. Title: Ethical births, ethical deaths: Climate anxiety in Britain through the life course Abstract: This paper is based on anthropological research conducted with climate activists on the topic of climate anxiety in Britain. Drawing on themes of kinship and its relationship to mental health and ... Read more
Title: Consent, Intent, and Communication What is consent? I will assume that it is a normative power – a power to alter rights and duties directly. If this is right, how is consent exercised? I will argue that consent is exercised through the execution of intentions to alter practical reasoning. Successful communication is not needed ... Read more
Title: Pleasure Fundamentalism Abstract: Pleasure fundamentalism is the view that moral value is the same thing as pleasure and this explains all other moral facts. This talk presents two arguments for pleasure fundamentalism and discusses the form of naturalism they arise from. According to the Reliability Argument, all processes generating moral belief are unreliable, except ... Read more
Title: Beyond Institutional Denial: A Global Constitutional Convention for Future Generations Abstract: Humanity is in deep institutional denial. Current institutions are failing future generations, in part because there is a governance gap when it comes to promoting intergenerational concern. This gap facilitates a tyranny of the contemporary that puts the young and other future generations ... Read more
Title: About Climate Justice: What Does it Mean and What Lies Ahead? Abstract: In July 2023, Europe reached scorching milestones with relentless heatwaves and Scotland had its hottest June ever. Several regions grappled with unprecedented rainfall, triggering ecological and socioeconomic upheaval. However, impacts aren't equally distributed, those who contribute minimally to carbon emissions, find themselves ... Read more
Title: Strip-searching as Abjectification: Racism and Sexual Violence in British Policing Abstract: Co-authored with Tom Kemp (Criminology, University of Nottingham), this paper examines police strip-searching practices in the UK. Drawing on newly acquired Freedom of Information data, publicly available testimonies, thematic analysis of official literature and media reports, and first-hand experience, we advance three arguments. ... Read more
Title: Philosophical Foundations of Green-House Gas Accounting Abstract: International agreements such as the Kyoto protocol and the Paris agreement require countries to measure and track their greenhouse gas emissions. Companies (as well as universities and other organisations) are required by governmental regulations or their own net-zero goals to do the same. Greenhouse gas accounting is ... Read more
Title: Two Moralities of Recognition Abstract: According to moralities of recognition, fundamental moral norms are norms for living together. Moral norms explain how living in unity is possible despite being separate individuals, they explain how we can relate to each other as persons that are more than mere sources of benefits and burdens, obstacles and opportunities. ... Read more
Title: Internal Validity, External Validity and the Evaluation of Thought Experiments in Applied Ethics and Political Philosophy Abstract: Thought experiments clearly play a central role in much contemporary ethical theorising. In the recent literature on thought experiments, some commentators (e.g. Wilson 2016; Dowding 2019) have criticised the lack of attention paid by moral philosophers to ... Read more