Readings
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Rethinking the Good: Moral Ideals and the Nature of Practical Reasoning
Larry S. Temkin
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From Normativity to Responsibility
Joseph Raz
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Ethics and Moral Philosophy
Thom Brooks
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Ethics and Humanity: Themes from the Philosophy of Jonathan Glover
N. Ann Davis, Richard Keshen and Jeff McMahan
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Reflective Knowledge
Ernest Sosa
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Know How
Jason Stanley
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New Waves in Ethics
Thom Brooks
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Ethics for Enemies: Terror, Torture, and War
F. M. Kamm
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On What Matters
Derek Parfit
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Semantic Relationism
Kit Fine
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Reliable Reasoning: Induction and Statistical Learning Theory
Gilbert Harman and Sanjeev Kulkarni
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Beyond Humanity?
Allen E. Buchanan
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Braintrust: What Neuroscience Tells Us about Morality
Patricia S. Churchland
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Equality and Tradition
Samuel Scheffler
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Climate Ethics
Stephen Gardiner, Simon Caney, Dale Jamieson and Henry Shue
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The Character of Consciousness
David J. Chalmers
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Secular Philosophy and the Religious Temperament
Thomas Nagel
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Well-Being and Death
Ben Bradley
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The Beloved Self: Morality and the Challenge from Egoisim
Alison Hills
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Depth: An Account of Scientific Explanation
Michael Strevens
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The Case for Contextualism
Keith DeRose
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When Truth Gives Out
Mark Richard
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The Idea of Human Rights
Charles R. Beitz
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Willing, Wanting, Waiting
Richard Holton
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The Idea of Justice
Amartya Sen
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Harming Future Persons: Ethics, Genetics and the Nonidentity Problem
Melinda A. Roberts and David T. Wasserman
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What Is Good and Why: The Ethics of Well-Being
Richard Kraut
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Content and Justification
Paul A. Boghossian
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Thoughts: Papers on Mind, Meaning, and Modality
Stephen Yablo
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Normativity
Judith Jarvis Thomson
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How We Get Along
J. David Velleman
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Self-Constitution: Agency, Identity, and Integrity
Christine M. Korsgaard
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Appearances of the Good: An Essay on the Nature of Practical Reason
Sergio Tenenbaum
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Killing in War
Jeff McMahan
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Experimental Philosophy
Joshua Knobe and Shaun Nichols
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Disadvantage
Jonathan Wolff and Avner de-Shalit
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Reconciling Our Aims: In Search of Bases for Ethics
Allan Gibbard
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Moral Dimensions: Permissibility, Meaning, Blame
T. M. Scanlon
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The Philosophy of Philosophy
Timothy Williamson
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Authority and Estrangement
Richard Moran
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Moral Psychology, Volume 1
Walter Sinnott-Armstrong
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The Reflective Life
Valerie Tiberius
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Moral Literacy
Barbara Herman
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On Human Rights
James Griffin
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Experiments in Ethics
Kwame Anthony Appiah
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Reasons without Rationalism
Kieran Setiya
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Moral Realism: A Defence
Russ Shafer-Landau
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The Way We Eat
Peter Singer and Jim Mason
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Metaphysical Essays
John Hawthorne
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10 Moral Paradoxes
Saul Smilansky
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Normativity and the Will
R. Jay Wallace
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Ideal Code, Real World
Brad Hooker
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The Nature of Normativity
Ralph Wedgwood
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Structures of Agency: Essays
Michael E. Bratman
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The Second-Person Standpoint
Stephen Darwall
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Ethics and the A Priori
Michael Smith
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Weighing Lives
John Broome
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Reasons and the Good
Roger Crisp
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May 15, 2012
CF: Intuition and Evidence – Naturalistic or Anti-Naturalistic
By S. Matthew Liao
June 12 -14, 2012
Location: MSH Lorraine, Campus of the University of Lorraine, Nancy, France 91, av. de la Libération, 3rd floor.
This conference is about intuitions and their epistemic role as evidence. Is there any epistemological explanation justifying the appeal to intuition in philosophy? How can different models of intuitions explain their possible roles? Which role does imagination and conceiving play?
Tuesday, 12 June, 2012
14h15-15h45 Frank Hofmann, Luxemburg : Intuition and evidence about possibilities
16h15-17h45 Paul Boghossian, New York : Intuitions and the A Priori
May 15, 2012
CF: Challenges to Religious and Moral Belief: Disagreement and Evolution
By S. Matthew Liao
September 6-8, 2012
Purdue University
The conference will focus on three main challenges to religious and moral beliefs:
• Widespread interpersonal disagreement among intellectual peers on religious and on moral topics provides reason to doubt these beliefs;
• Belief-source disagreement on moral issues between commonsense moral intuitions and religious belief sources raises doubts about both methods of belief formation;
• Evolutionary accounts of the origins of our religious and moral beliefs create doubts about these beliefs by undermining our confidence in the reliability of their sources.
May 15, 2012
CFA: Rethinking Inequality
By S. Matthew Liao
Rethinking Inequality: Philosophical Reflections on Recent Empirical Research
University of Ottawa, November 16-17, 2012
Rising economic inequality in advanced industrialized states is a phenomenon much discussed by the media in recent years, and much studied by sociologists, social epidemiologists, and scholars of public health. Political theorists and philosophers too have been concerned with abstract notions of equality, and to what extent material inequalities within states are compatible with the more general notion that all individuals are entitled to equal respect. These arguments have however largely failed to consider that high levels of inequality may be correlated with a host of social problems, such as poorer public health, lower levels of social trust, and higher crime rates.
May 5, 2012
CFP: The Nature of the Enkratic Requirement of Rationality
By S. Matthew Liao
Special Issue on The Nature of the Enkratic Requirement of Rationality
Organon F – International Journal of Analytic Philosophy
Guest Editor: Julian Fink (University of Vienna)
Submission deadline: October 1st 2012
Confirmed contributors:
John Broome (Oxford)
John Brunero (Missouri-St Louis)
Herlinde Pauer-Studer (Vienna)
Christian Piller (York)
Andrew Reisner (McGill)
Jonathan Way (Southampton)
Ralph Wedgwood (USC)
Invited contributors:
Robert Audi (Notre Dame)
Olav Gjelsvik (Oslo)
Pamela Hieronymi (UCLA)
May 5, 2012
CF: The Future of Contractualism
By S. Matthew Liao
Moral and Political Issues in Contractualist Theory
May, 11 and 12, 2012
University of Rennes 1
Philosophy Department (campus de Beaulieu, bât. 32B – amphi 12 et salle 13).
Keynote speakers
Ann Cudd (University of Kansas, USA) (Analysing Oppression, OUP, 2006)
Tim Mulgan (University of St Andrews, GB) (Future People, OUP, 2006)
Nicholas Southwood (Australian National University, Australia) (Contractualism and the Foundations of Morality, OUP, 2010)
Catherine Colliot-Thélène (Université de Rennes 1, France) (La démocratie sans demos, Seuil, 2011)
You will find the final program and all the relevant information at the following address:
April 18, 2012
CF: Expressivism and Epistemic Normativity
By S. Matthew Liao
May 9-10, 2012
Amphithéâtre Gustave Roussy – Centre de Recherche des Cordeliers
15 rue de l’Ecole de Médecine, 75006 Paris
Organizers : Joëlle Proust and Anne Coubray (Institut Jean-Nicod)
WEDNESDAY 9 MAY
10:00 a.m. Speaker : Allan Gibbard (Michigan) : Full Truth for Expressivists: Deflationary Truth and Acceptability.
Respondent : Joëlle Proust (ENS, IJN).
12:00 a.m. Lunch
2:00 p.m. Speaker : Kristoffer Ahlstrom-Vij (Copenhagen) : The Costs of Epistemic Realism.
Respondent : Friedericke Moltmann (CNRS, IHPST).
4:00 p.m. Coffee break
4:30 p.m. Speaker : Seth Yalcin (Berkeley) : Knowledge in the Absence of Truth.
Respondent : Paul Egré (CNRS, IJN).
6:30 p.m. End
April 17, 2012
CFA: 4th Arizona Workshop in Normative Ethical Theory
By S. Matthew Liao
There is a call for abstracts for the Fourth Annual Arizona Workshop in Normative Ethical Theory that will be held in Tucson, Arizona on January 3-5, 2013.
Abstracts are welcome in any area or on any topic in normative ethical theory (to be distinguished as well as possible from metaethics, political philosophy, and applied ethics).
Abstracts should be 2-3 double-spaced pages and are due no later than Monday June 3, 2012. Please send abstracts by email to Professor Mark Timmons at mtimmons (at) u.arizona.edu. Those who presented at the 2011 or 2012 workshops are not eligible for presenting at the 2013 workshop.
April 7, 2012
BBC Interview about Human Engineering and Climate Change
By S. Matthew Liao
Readers of Ethics Etc might be interested in an interview I did with the BBC One Planet about human engineering and climate change. The interview segment starts at around the 11 minute mark.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p00q88qq/One_Planet_Aid_Happiness _and_Tiny_Vegetarians/
More programming information can be found here.
April 6, 2012
Cartoon about Human Engineering and Climate Change
By S. Matthew Liao
Here is an amusing cartoon that appeared in the Sydney Morning Herald, drawn by Cathy Wilcox, about our “Human Engineering and Climate Change” paper.
April 4, 2012
CF: BSET 2012 in Stirling
By S. Matthew Liao
9 – 11 July, 2012
University of Stirling,
Keynote Speakers
Sarah Broadie (St Andrews)
Frances Kamm (Harvard)
Submitted Papers
Science’s Immunity to Moral Refutation
– Alex Barber (Open)
Specialising General Duties
– Stephanie Collins (ANU)
Cognitivism about Moral Judgement
– Alison Hills (Oxford)
March 28, 2012
Your Brain on Politics with Jonathan Moreno and Jonathan Haidt at NYU
By S. Matthew Liao
Thursday, March 29, 6:30pm -8:00pm
Location: NYU Bookstore, 726 Broadway New York, NY 10003
“This is Your Brain on Politics: Why people believe what they want to believe, and deny science selectively” with Jonathan Moreno and Jonathan Haidt, moderated by S. Matthew Liao.
Jonathan Moreno is David and Lyn Silfen University Professor of Ethics at the University of Pennsylvania, and author of The Body Politic: The Battle Over Science in America (BLP, 2012) and Mind Wars: Brain Science and the Military in the 21st Century (BLP pap. ed., 2012).
March 19, 2012
CF: Irrealism in Ethics at Reading
By S. Matthew Liao
The Department of Philosophy at the University of Reading invites you to the annual Ratio Conference on Friday 20 April 2012.
This year’s theme is Irrealism in Ethics.
Speakers:
Jonas Olson (University of Stockholm): ‘Precursors of Moral Error Theory’
James Lenman (University of Sheffield): ‘Ethics without Errors’
Michael Ridge and Sebastian Köhler (University of Edinburgh): ‘Revolutionary Expressivism’
Mark Kalderon (University College London): ‘The Philosophical Significance of the Frege-Geach Problem’
Registration fee: £15 (staff), £10 (students), which includes tea and coffee during the day.
The conference programme and registration form are available at http://www.reading.ac.uk/philosophy/Conferences/Conferences.aspx
March 19, 2012
CF: Oxford Political Theory Graduate Conference
By S. Matthew Liao
Theme: Political Theory and the ‘Liberal’ Tradition
Department of Politics and International Relations, University of Oxford | 19-20 April 2012
Graduate students and academics are invited to attend the inaugural Oxford Graduate Conference in Political Theory, to be held at the Department of Politics and International Relations, University of Oxford, on 19-20 April 2012. The theme for this conference is “Political Theory and the ‘Liberal’ Tradition”, and there will be four panels of student speakers, as well as two keynote addresses, given by Professor Jeremy Waldron (University of Oxford) and Professor Charles Mills (Northwestern University). The deadline for registration is 15 April 2012, and attendees can register online at: http://www.politics.ox.ac.uk/index.php/component/option,com_seminar/It emid,138/
March 14, 2012
The Guardian on Human Engineering and Climate Change
By S. Matthew Liao
My co-authors, Anders Sandberg and Rebecca Roache, and I chime in on the debate regarding our Human Engineering and Climate Change paper at the Guardian. You can read the interview here.
March 12, 2012
Human Engineering and Climate Change in The Atlantic
By S. Matthew Liao
Recently, the Atlantic interviewed me about the paper “Human Engineering and Climate Change,” which I co-wrote with Anders Sandberg and Rebecca Roache, and which is forthcoming in Ethics, Policy and the Environment. You can find the interview here:
March 10, 2012
MERG Mini-Conference at NYU
By S. Matthew Liao
Metro Experimental Research Group, in conjunction with the NYU Center for Bioethics, is hosting a mini-conference at NYU on some exciting new work in experimental philosophy on Friday, March 16th.
The conference includes the following four talks:
* Zoltan Szabo (Yale), Impure Modals
* S. Matthew Liao (NYU), The Doctrine of Double Effect and Experimental Philosophy
* Shaun Nichols (Arizona), Ambiguous Reference
* Fiery Cushman (Brown), Two Functions of Morality
The conference will be held in Room 101 of NYU’s Philosophy department (5 Washington Place) from 10:30 to 5:30. All are welcome to attend.
March 6, 2012
2012 Moral Brain Conference at NYU
By S. Matthew Liao
Please find below the Final Program for the 2012 Bioethics Conference: The Moral Brain. Although we have reached capacity, we strongly encourage you to RSVP so that you can be placed on the waitlist. We will contact you as soon as space becomes available. The direct link for RSVP is at
February 28, 2012
SLACRR 3 – Program
By S. Matthew Liao
Here are the main speakers at the next St. Louis Annual Conference on Reasons and Rationality, May 20-22, 2012.
Keynote: Jonathan Dancy (Texas/Reading), “More Right than Wrong”
* Nomy Arpaly (Brown) and Timothy Schroeder (Ohio State), “Acting and Believing for Reasons”
* Agnes Callard (Chicago), ”Introducing Socratic Anti-Intellectualism”
* Patricio Fernandez (Harvard), “Why Not Act?
* Ernesto Garcia (Massachusetts), “Explaining Constitutive Norms”
* Alex Gregory (Reading), “A Very Good Reason to Reject the Buck-Passing Account” * Ali Hasan (Iowa), “A Puzzle for Analyses of Rationality”
* Doug Portmore (Arizona State), “Perform Your Best Option”
* Abe Roth (Ohio State), “Team Reasoning, Shared Intention, and Non-Evidential Warrant for Belief”
* Michael Titelbaum (Wisconsin), “In Defense of Right Reasons”
* Daniel Whiting (Southampton), ”Reasons for Belief, the Aim of Belief, and the Aim of Action”
February 14, 2012
Henle Conference on Happiness and Well-Being
By S. Matthew Liao
The Department of Philosophy at Saint Louis University will be hosting the Henle Conference on Happiness and Well-Being on March 30-31, 2012. A tentative schedule appears below.
February 9, 2012
Open Peer Commentaries for Human Engineering and Climate Change
By S. Matthew Liao
A paper I’ve co-written with Anders Sandberg (Oxford) and Rebecca Roache (Oxford) entitled “Human Engineering and Climate Change” has been selected by Ethics, Policy, and Environment to be a Target Article for their next issue. The abstract of our paper is as follows:
keep looking »
