Centre for Ethics, Philosophy and Public Affairs
Title: 'The Problem of Polarization' Abstract: “The cure for democracy's ills is more democracy.” This popular adage is false. Contemporary democracy faces problems that have their source in otherwise laudable forms of political participation. In short, enactments of democratic citizenship heighten our exposure to polarization, which in turn erodes our capacities to perform well as ... Read more
Title: 'Conflict, Discord, and Strife' Abstract: Given that interpersonal relationships are relationships between persons, we might hold out hope that a better philosophical understanding of the nature of persons can help us to better understand the structure and dynamics of interpersonal relationships. In this talk I will argue that this thought is correct. In particular, ... Read more
TITLE: Uniqueness, Intrinsic Value, and Reasons ABSTRACT: Uniqueness appears to enhance intrinsic value. A unique stamp sells for millions of dollars; Stradivarius violins are all the more precious because they are unlike any others. This observation has not gone overlooked in the value theory literature: uniqueness plays a starring role recalibrating the dominant Moorean ... 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
Title: Ameliorative Skepticism and the Nature of Health Abstract: In this talk, I’ll give a brief overview of the project I call ‘ameliorative skepticism’. Sally Haslanger has argued that, in doing social ontology, we can sometimes approach the question ‘what is x?’ by asking question ‘what do we want x to be?’. I argue that ... Read more
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
Location: Edgecliffe G03 Title: 'Should political discrimination be unlawful?'
Location: Edgecliffe G03 Title: “On Seeking Objective Grounds for Moral Evaluation” Abstract: The paper argues that to do justice to questions of objectivity that arise within and about moral discourse, we must take into account that this discourse is embedded within a somewhat conventionally regimented practice that comprises attempts to guide attitude and action by ... Read more
Location: Edgecliffe G03 Title: “Superspreading the Word”. Abstract: Quasi-realists are expressivists who say much of what realists say. To avoid making their view indistinguishable from realism, however, they usually stop short of saying everything realists say. Many realists therefore think that something important is missing from quasi-realism. I will argue that quasi-realists can undermine this ... Read more
Title: Is There Anti-Fittingness?" Abstract: The permissible and the forbidden are privative opposites: each is a lack of the other. The good and the bad are, by contrast, polar opposites: badness is anti-goodness, not non-goodness. What about the fitting and the unfitting, the appropriate and the inappropriate, the apt and the inapt, the warranted and ... Read more