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811Constructivism and the Error TheoryIn Christian Miller (ed.), Continuum Companion to Ethics, Continuum. 2011.This paper presents a comparative evaluation of constructivist and error theoretic accounts of moral claims. It is argued that constructivism has distinct advantages over error theory
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915Methods of ethics and the descent of man: Darwin and Sidgwick on ethics and evolutionBiology and Philosophy 25 (3): 361-378. 2010.Darwin’s treatment of morality in The Descent of Man has generated a wide variety of responses among moral philosophers. Among these is the dismissal of evolution as irrelevant to ethics by Darwin’s contemporary Henry Sidgwick; the last, and arguably the greatest, of the Nineteenth Century British Utilitarians. This paper offers a re-examination of Sidgwick’s response to evolutionary considerations as irrelevant to ethics and the absence of any engagement with Darwin’s work in Sidgwick’s main et…Read more
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33From genes to eugenicsStudies in History and Philosophy of Science Part C: Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences 32 (4): 589-600. 2001.
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315Analytical dispositionalism and practical reasonEthical Theory and Moral Practice 2 (2): 117-133. 1999.The paper examines the plausibility of analytical dispositionalism about practical reason, according to which the following claims are conceptual truths about common sense ethical discourse: i) Ethics: agents have reasons to act in some ways rather than others, and ii) Metaphysical Modesty: there is no such thing as a response independent normative reality. By elucidating two uncontroversial assumptions which are fundamental to the common sense commitment to ethics, I argue that common sense eth…Read more
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1399Values of Art and the Ethical QuestionBritish Journal of Aesthetics 48 (4): 376-394. 2008.Does the ethical value of a work of art ever contribute to its aesthetic value? I argue that when conventionally interpreted as a request for a conceptual analysis the answer to this question is indeterminate. I then propose a different interpretation of the question on which it is understood as a substantial and normative question internal to the practice of aesthetic criticism.
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8488The Argument from QueernessIn Hugh LaFollette (ed.), The International Encyclopedia of Ethics, Blackwell. 2013.
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37Review of Richard Joyce, Simon Kirchin (eds.), A World Without Values: Essays on John Mackie's Moral Error Theory (review)Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews 2010 (7). 2010.
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669An Assumption of Extreme Significance: Moore, Ross and Spencer on Ethics and EvolutionIn Uri D. Leibowitz & Neil Sinclair (eds.), Explanation in Ethics and Mathematics: Debunking and Dispensability, Oxford University Press Uk. 2016.In recent years there has been a growing interest among mainstream Anglophone moral philosophers in the empirical study of human morality, including its evolution and historical development. This chapter compares these developments with an earlier point of contact between moral philosophy and the moral sciences in the early decades of the Twentieth century, as manifested in some of the less frequently discussed arguments of G. E. Moore and W. D. Ross. It is argued that a critical appreciation of…Read more
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22Normative Bedrock: Response-Dependence, Rationality, & ReasonsPhilosophical Quarterly 65 (258): 120-123. 2015.
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50Intricate Ethics: Rights, Responsibilities, and Permissible HarmJournal of Moral Philosophy 5 (3): 455-457. 2008.
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1388Debunking morality: Evolutionary naturalism and moral error theoryBiology and Philosophy 18 (4): 567-581. 2003.The paper distinguishes three strategies by means of which empirical discoveries about the nature of morality can be used to undermine moral judgements. On the first strategy, moral judgements are shown to be unjustified in virtue of being shown to rest on ignorance or false belief. On the second strategy, moral judgements are shown to be false by being shown to entail claims inconsistent with the relevant empirical discoveries. On the third strategy, moral judgements are shown to be false in vi…Read more
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39Jamieson on the ethics of animals and the environmentStudies in History and Philosophy of Science Part C: Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences 35 (4): 743-751. 2004.
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523The doctrine of internal reasonsJournal of Value Inquiry 34 (4): 507-516. 2000.According to advocates of internalism about reasons for action, there is an interesting connection between an agent’s reasons and the agent’s present desires. On the simplest version of this view, an agent has a reason to act a certain way at some time if and only if acting that way would promote his present desires. Let us call this the sub-Humean model.1 The sub-Humean model is widely regarded as too simple on the grounds that there are adverse conditions, such as massive confusion, in which d…Read more
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655Ethics, evolution and the a priori: Ross on Spencer and the French SociologistsIn Michael Ruse & Robert J. Richards (eds.), The Cambridge Handbook of Evolutionary Ethics, Cambridge University Press. 2017.In this chapter I critically discuss the dismissal of the philosophical significance of facts about human evolution and historical development in the work of W. D Ross. I address Ross’s views about the philosophical significance of the emerging human sciences of his time in two of his main works, namely The Right and the Good and The Foundations of Ethics. I argue that the debate between Ross and his chosen interlocutors (Herbert Spencer, Emile Durkheim and Lucien Levy-Bruhl) shows striking simi…Read more
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20Review of Alan Millar, Understanding People: Normativity and Rationalizing Explanation (review)Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews 2005 (8). 2005.
Hallvard Lillehammer
Birkbeck College, University Of London
Birkbeck, University of London
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Birkbeck College, University Of LondonDepartment Of PhilosophyProfessor
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Sheffield, South Yorkshire, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
Areas of Interest
Meta-Ethics |
Normative Ethics |