You are warmly invited to the next MQ Philosophy Work in Progress (WIP) seminar which will be given by James Franklin from UNSW.
The details are as follows: Date: Tuesday 3rd of March Time: 13:00-14:00 Room: 17WW 113 Title: Ethics can’t do without metaphysics Abstract: Metaphysics-phobia is rife in ethics and political philosophy. Rawls for example claims that his conception of justice is “political not metaphysical”. That orientation of the field has favoured conceptions of ethics as fundamentally about evolved customs, or “traffic rules for self-assertors” (Annette Baier), rather than views that take ethics to be seriously answerable to something in the way things are. The talk argues that foundational studies in (human) ethics should take metaphysics seriously, especially the extensive theories of supervenience (or grounding). A fundamental concept in ethics is the worth of persons – surely the main reason why murder is wrong is the terminal harm to the victim, and harm is a concept that implies the worth of the entity harmed. Worth is argued to be a metaphysically and ethically strong concept, grounded (in the metaphysicians’ sense) in properties of the human person that are not themselves ethical (classically, rationality, but modern sensibilities favour a wider base including, for example, the will, love, individuality …). Further information about the seminar series including the zoom link and details on future talks can be found at the seminar webpage: https://mqphilosophy.github.io/seminars <https://aus01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fmqphilosophy.github.io%2Fseminars%2F&data=05%7C02%7Cemily.hughes%40mq.edu.au%7Cd8e5f17ffdd4450b38de08de693638e9%7C82c514c1a7174087be06d40d2070ad52%7C0%7C0%7C639063878780121827%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=0gGyRMtTIimEnL6XqfNGIpGgRgNP1WsePODMpogQAiE%3D&reserved=0> We look forward to seeing you there. *Dr Emily Hughes *(she/her) ARC Discovery Early Career Research Award (DECRA) Fellow in Philosophy School of Humanities, Faculty of Arts Michael Kirby Building, 17 Wally's Walk Level 2, Room 233 Macquarie University – Wallumattagal Campus, Dharug Country NSW 2109 Australia E: [email protected] W: https://researchers.mq.edu.au/en/persons/emily-hughes *I acknowledge that Macquarie University stands on the land of the Dharug Nation, land that was never ceded. I pay my respects to the Dharug people, the Wallumattagal clan, and their Elders past and present. Always was, always will be, Aboriginal land.* --------- SydPhil mailing list To unsubscribe, change your membership options, find answers to common problems, or visit our online archives, please go to the list information page: https://mailman.sydney.edu.au/mailman/listinfo/sydphil
