CEPPA Talk (in person) – Walter Sinnott-Armstrong (Duke University)

Location: Edgecliffe G03 Title: How to Build Morality into AI Abstract: AI is spreading fast. We humans need to figure out the best way to prevent AI from making the worst decisions, which are harmful, unfair, or otherwise morally wrong. One way is to design AI to predict what humans would judge to be immoral if ... Read more

CEPPA Talk (online only) – Jeff McMahan (Oxford University)

Title: “Compensation for Wrongful Life” Abstract: In a recent case in the UK, a 20-year-old woman with spina bifida brought an action against her mother’s physician for failing to advise her to take folic acid supplements for several months before becoming pregnant. The court ruled in the woman’s favor, accepting her claim that, had the ... Read more

Knox Lecture 2022 – Frances Kamm (Rutgers University)

The 2022 Knox Lecture will be delivered online by Professor Frances Kamm (Rutgers University) on Thursday, 19 May at 5:15pm UK time. Title: "Handling Future Pandemics: Harming, Not Aiding, and Liberty" Abstract: All over the world there have been protests, based on a concern with liberty, against restrictions intended to defeat the current pandemic. In ... Read more

CEPPA Talk (in person) – Matthew Adler (Duke University)

Location: Edgecliffe G03 and Teams Title: “Person-Affecting Consequentialism: Equity-Regarding, Desert-Neutral, Repugnant” Abstract: The philosophical literature on consequentialism regularly distinguishes between “person-affecting” and “impersonal” moral justifications or accounts.   The “person-affecting”/”impersonal” distinction can be interpreted in various ways.  I understand it as follows.  A person-affecting justificatory framework sees individuals’ well-being gains and losses—well-being effects on persons—as the fundamental ... Read more

The Ethics Cup – The Finals

United College St. Andrews, United Kingdom

The finals of 2022 The Ethics Cup, featuring the 12 top-performing teams from across the U.K.

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

SOCIETY AND HUMAN NATURE: A Workshop in Early Modern Philosophy

Wednesday, 15 June 2022 Edgecliffe, Room 104, University of St Andrews 9:30-10:00: Welcome coffee Morning session: Chair: James Harris (University of St Andrews) 10:00-10:45: David Harmon (University of St Andrews) “The Model of Human Nature and Whether ‘Ought’ Implies ‘Can’ in Spinoza” 10:45-11:30: Ruth Boeker (University College Dublin) “Catharine Trotter Cockburn on Self-interest, Self-love, and ... Read more

Epistemic Breakthroughs Conference

Epistemic Breakthroughs: A workshop University of St Andrews Join us for a philosophical workshop on the topic of "epistemic breakthroughs," held at the University of St Andrews, in partnership with the JN Wright Trust, The Mind Association, and the Scots Philosophical Association. When? Friday, June 24th Saturday, June 25th Where? Lecture Room 2, at St ... Read more