University of Reading
Department of Philosophy
PhD, 2003
Groningen, Groningen, Netherlands
Areas of Specialization
Meta-Ethics
Normative Ethics
Areas of Interest
Meta-Ethics
  •  207
    Does 'ought' conversationally implicate 'can'?
    European Journal of Philosophy 11 (2). 2003.
    Walter Sinnott-Armstrong argues that 'ought' does not entail 'can', but instead conversationally implicates it. I argue that Sinnott-Armstrong is actually committed to a hybrid view about the relation between 'ought' and 'can'. I then give a tensed formulation of the view that 'ought' entails 'can' that deals with Sinnott-Armstrong's argument and that is more unified than Sinnott-Armstrong's view.
  •  176
    Why Jonas Olson Cannot Believe the Error Theory Either
    Journal of Moral Philosophy 13 (4): 419-436. 2016.
    Jonas Olson writes that "a plausible moral error theory must be an error theory about all irreducible normativity". I agree. But unlike Olson, I think we cannot believe this error theory. I first argue that Olson should say that reasons for belief are irreducibly normative. I then argue that if reasons for belief are irreducibly normative, we cannot believe an error theory about all irreducible normativity. I then explain why I think Olson's objections to this argument fail. I end by showing tha…Read more
  •  190
    Campbell Brown is right that my argument against semi-global consequentialism relies on the principle of agglomeration. However, semi-global consequentialists cannot rescue their view simply by rejecting this principle.
  •  83
    No, We Cannot
    International Journal of Philosophical Studies 24 (4): 537-546. 2016.
    Marianna Bergamaschi Ganapini argues that we can believe the error theory. In this reply, I explain why I still think we cannot.
  •  228
    Can consequentialism cover everything?
    Utilitas 15 (2): 237-47. 2003.
    Derek Parfit, Philip Pettit and Michael Smith defend a version of consequentialism that covers everything. I argue that this version of consequentialism is false. Consequentialism, I argue, can only cover things that belong to a combination of things that agents can bring about.