Theron Pummer

Location: Edgecliffe 104 Title: Should hate speech be against the law? Abstract: Hate speech has become increasingly prevalent, fuelled by social media, political polarization, and the rise of extremist groups. It can have a profoundly negative impact on individuals and communities, causing harm, inciting violence, and perpetuating discrimination. However, hate speech is notoriously difficult to ... Read more

Title: Chance Prioritarianism Location: Teams (online only), and streamed from Edgecliffe G03 Abstract: I will defend what we could call survival chance prioritarianism, according to which the moral value of improving someone’s chance of surviving (some period) is greater the more likely the person was to die before the improvement. I motivate this view by ... 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

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