All Outputs (19)

Metaethics and the nature of properties (2024)
Journal Article

This paper explores connections between theories of morality and theories of properties. It argues that: (1) Moral realism is in tension with predicate, class and mereological nominalism; (2) Moral non-naturalism is incompatible with standard version... Read More about Metaethics and the nature of properties.

Speculative Aesthetic Expressivism (2022)
Journal Article

In this paper we sketch a new version of aesthetic expressivism. We argue that one advantage of this view is that it explains various putative norms on the formation and revision of aesthetic judgement. We begin by setting out our proposed explananda... Read More about Speculative Aesthetic Expressivism.

Reasons Internalism and the function of normative reasons (2017)
Journal Article

What is the connection between reasons and motives? According to Reasons Internalism there is a non-trivial conceptual connection between normative reasons and the possibility of rationally accessing relevant motivation. Reasons Internalism is attrac... Read More about Reasons Internalism and the function of normative reasons.

Conceptual role semantics and the reference of moral concepts (2017)
Journal Article

© 2017 The Authors European Journal of Philosophy Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd This paper examines the prospects for a conceptual or functional role theory of moral concepts. It is argued that such an account is well-placed to explain both th... Read More about Conceptual role semantics and the reference of moral concepts.

On the connection between normative reasons and the possibility of acting for those reasons (2016)
Journal Article

According to Bernard Williams, if it is true that A has a normative reason to Φ then it must be possible that A should Φ for that reason. This claim is important both because it restricts the range of reasons which agents can have and because it has... Read More about On the connection between normative reasons and the possibility of acting for those reasons.

Reasons, inescapability and persuasion (2016)
Journal Article

This paper outlines a new metasemantic theory of moral reason statements, focused on explaining how the reasons thus stated can be inescapable. The motivation for the theory is in part that it can explain this and other phenomena concerning moral rea... Read More about Reasons, inescapability and persuasion.

On standing one's ground (2014)
Journal Article

I provide a positive expressivist account of the permissibility of ‘standing one’s ground’ in some cases of moral conflict, based in part on an illustrative analogy with political disputes. This account suffices to undermine Enoch’s recent argument a... Read More about On standing one's ground.

MORAL REALISM, FACE-VALUES AND PRESUMPTIONS (2012)
Journal Article

Many philosophers argue that the face-value of moral practice provides presumptive support to moral realism. This paper analyses such arguments into three steps. (1) Moral practice has a certain face-value, (2) only realism can vindicate this face va... Read More about MORAL REALISM, FACE-VALUES AND PRESUMPTIONS.

Expressivism and the Value of Truth (2012)
Journal Article

This paper is a reply to Michael Lynch's "Truth, Value and Epistemic Expressivism" in Philosophy and Phenomenological Research for 2009. It argues that Lynch's argument against expressivism fails because of an ambiguity in the employed notion of an '... Read More about Expressivism and the Value of Truth.

Metaethics, teleosemantics and the function of moral judgements (2012)
Journal Article

This paper applies the theory of teleosemantics to the issue of moral content. Two versions of teleosemantics are distinguished: input-based and output-based. It is argued that applying either to the case of moral judgements generates the conclusion... Read More about Metaethics, teleosemantics and the function of moral judgements.

Promotionalism, Motivationalism and Reasons to Perform Physically Impossible Actions (2012)
Journal Article

In this paper I grant the Humean premise that some reasons for action are grounded in the desires of the agents whose reasons they are. I then consider the question of the relation between the reasons and the desires that ground them. According to pr... Read More about Promotionalism, Motivationalism and Reasons to Perform Physically Impossible Actions.

Expressivist Explanations (2012)
Journal Article

In this paper I argue that the common practice of employing moral predicates as explaining phrases can be accommodated on an expressivist account of moral practice. This account does not treat moral explanations as in any way second-rate or derivativ... Read More about Expressivist Explanations.

Moral expressivism and sentential negation (2011)
Journal Article

This paper advances three necessary conditions on a successful account of sentential negation. First, the ability to explain the constancy of sentential meaning across negated and unnegated contexts (the Fregean Condition). Second, the ability to exp... Read More about Moral expressivism and sentential negation.

The explanationist argument for moral realism (2011)
Journal Article

In this paper I argue that the explanationist argument in favour of moral realism fails. According to this argument, the ability of putative moral properties to feature in good explanations provides strong evidence for, or entails, the metaphysical c... Read More about The explanationist argument for moral realism.

Free thinking for expressivists (2008)
Journal Article

This paper replies to Zangwill’s argument that quasi-realists cannot accommodate the conceptual status of claims of moral mind-independence embedded in ordinary moral thought. I argue that this conceptual status is compatible with an ‘internal readin... Read More about Free thinking for expressivists.

Propositional clothing and belief (2007)
Journal Article

Moral discourse is propositionally clothed, that is, it exhibits those features – such as the ability of its sentences to intelligibly embed in conditionals and other unasserted contexts – that have been taken by some philosophers to be constitutive... Read More about Propositional clothing and belief.

Expressivism and the practicality of moral convictions (2007)
Journal Article

Many expressivists have employed a claim about the practicality of morality in support of their view that moral convictions are not purely descriptive mental states. In this paper I argue that all extant arguments of this form fail. I distinguish six... Read More about Expressivism and the practicality of moral convictions.

The moral belief problem (2006)
Journal Article

The moral belief problem is that of reconciling expressivism in ethics with both minimalism in the philosophy of language and the syntactic discipline of moral sentences. It is argued that the problem can be solved by distinguishing minimal and robus... Read More about The moral belief problem.

Two kinds of naturalism in ethics (2006)
Journal Article

What are the conditions on a successful naturalistic account of moral properties? In this paper I discuss one such condition: the possibility of moral concepts playing a role in good empirical theories on a par with those of the natural and social sc... Read More about Two kinds of naturalism in ethics.