CEPPA’s Moral Philosophy Reading Group reads and discusses an article per week, chosen by a different member each time. Semester 2 schedule: Wednesdays 3pm – 4pm, beginning 3 February and ending 28 April. We will skip the following Wednesdays: 10 Feb, 24 Mar, 31 Mar, 21 Apr. (Due to staff meetings and spring break.) Organizer: ... Read more
Title: Biased Evaluative Descriptions Abstract: In 2008, Joseph Biden called Barack Obama “an African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy.” Though intended as a compliment, such a description would not be applied to a non-African-American leader in the same context. Such biased evaluative descriptions, roughly, well-intended descriptions whose apparently positive surface ... Read more
Microsoft Teams Link Part 1. 3-3:30. In the first half hour, Rowan Cruft, Professor of Philosophy at Stirling University and CEPPA Member, recounts his involvement with the Leveson Inquiry into the conduct of the British media, which made use of his work on human rights. Part 2. 3:30-4:30. Researchers in all fields can have an ... Read more
Title: ‘The Point Is To Change It’ Abstract: Many political philosophers happily repeat Karl Marx’s 11th Thesis on Feuerbach (inscribed on his gravestone) ‘The Philosophers have only interpreted the world. The point is to change it.’ Marx had a theory of change: proletariat revolution. But what theory of change is appropriate in current circumstances? In ... Read more
CEPPA’s Moral Philosophy Reading Group reads and discusses an article per week, chosen by a different member each time. Semester 2 schedule: Wednesdays 3pm – 4pm, beginning 3 February and ending 28 April. We will skip the following Wednesdays: 10 Feb, 24 Mar, 31 Mar, 21 Apr. (Due to staff meetings and spring break.) Organizer: ... Read more
Title: “Some people and the people” Abstract: When is an action, or a choice, or a desire, an action or choice or desire of the people, as opposed to being an action, or choice, or desire of some people? In this talk I consider eight possible answers to this question. I focus in particular on the idea that the ... Read more
Online Workshop Schedule Please email Matthew Vermaire <[email protected]> if you'd like the Zoom link. Friday April 9th: Justin Snedegar (University of St Andrews) / "Dismissing Blame" Abstract: When someone blames you, you might accept the blame or you might reject it, challenging the blamer’s interpretation of the facts, or providing a justification or excuse. Either ... Read more
Title: Distributing Commemorative Attention Abstract: Some of us get a lot of attention and some of us very little. This continues after we die. Some of our commemorative decisions are private but some of our commemorative attention is public: we are directed by monuments, commemorative plaques and scheduled occasions towards those we should commemorate. Much ... Read more
Title: On Photographic Wrongs Abstract: While ethicists have had little to say on the subject, people often feel wronged by the creation and dissemination of their photographic image. After describing several cases in which people have felt wronged by a photograph, I’ll go on to offer a taxonomy for thinking about these cases. Many of ... Read more