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114Teaching Liberal Values: The Case of Promoting ‘British Values’ in SchoolsIn Julian Culp, Johannes Drerup, Isolde de Groot, Anders Schinkel & Douglas Yacek (eds.), Liberal Democratic Education: A Paradigm in Crisis, Brill Mentis. pp. 47-66. 2022.I analyse the 2014 policy to promote 'British values' in schools from the perspective of the two main positions in contemporary liberal theory, comprehensive liberalism and political liberalism. I highlight in what ways comprehensive and political liberal defences of the policy are unsatisfactory, before briefly sketching a possible alternative position – ‘thin comprehensive liberalism’ – and discussing its potential for justifying a substantive education in liberal values. In light of this theo…Read more
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465'Filling the Ranks': Moral Risk and the Ethics of Military RecruitmentAmerican Political Science Review. forthcoming.If states are permitted to create and maintain a military force, by what means are they permitted to do so? This paper argues that a theory of just recruitment should incorporate a concern for moral risk. Since the military is a morally risky profession for its members, recruitment policies should be evaluated in terms of how they distribute moral risk within a community. We show how common military recruitment practices exacerbate and concentrate moral risk exposure, using the UK as a case stud…Read more
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30LGBT‐Inclusive Education in Liberal Pluralist SocietiesJournal of Applied Philosophy 40 (3): 550-568. 2023.What should be the aim of LGBT-inclusive, state-mandated curricula in liberal, pluralist societies? In this article, I identify two distinct aims that such curricula might have. The first, LGBT Respect, aims to teach that LGBT individuals have equal political status and rights. The second, LGBT Approval, aims to teach a positive attitude towards LGBT relationships, including that there is nothing wrongful about these forms of relationship. I examine what arguments in favour of these different ai…Read more
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29Winning in philosophy: Female under-representation, competitiveness, and implications for inclusive high school philosophy competitionsJournal of Philosophy in Schools 9 (1): 47-67. 2022.Women are currently under-represented in academic philosophy. This paper first considers ways in which the competitive atmosphere of philosophy might help explain this lack of diversity. For example, women are stereotyped as less competitive and as less capable of exhibiting what are considered ‘winning behaviours’ in philosophy, leading to a more stressful, less rewarding experience; lower assessments of merit by themselves and others; and potential under-performance. Second, this paper draws o…Read more
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7Truth in Science and ‘Truth’ in Religion: An Enquiry into Student Views on Different Types of Truth-ClaimIn Berry Billingsley, Keith Chappell & Michael J. Reiss (eds.), Science and Religion in Education, Springer Verlag. pp. 123-139. 2019.Using focus groups, this small-scale, qualitative study investigated the way that students tend to think about religious truth-claims as compared to other types of truth-claim. All the student participants conceived of religious truth-claims as ‘opinions’, to be contrasted with the certain, indisputable ‘facts’ of science. For many students, it was the lack of empirical verification, as well as the existence of disagreement, which meant religious beliefs were relegated to this position. If these…Read more
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23Dietary double-thinkThink 18 (52): 75-80. 2019.This article discusses how difficult it is to be morally consistent when choosing what to eat. Applying a moral justification in a consistent manner may result in some unorthodox diets. I distinguish two ways in which we might be inconsistent in our approach to food. We might fail to apply our morals in a consistent way, or we might fail to put our morals into practice at all. I argue that the latter represents a greater failing. Given the complexity of making food choices, the former is more ex…Read more
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56The Cognitive Reflection Test is purported to test our inclination to overcome impulsive, intuitive thought with effortful, rational reflection. Research suggests that philosophers tend to perform better on this test than non-philosophers, and that men tend to perform better than women. Taken together, these findings could be interpreted as partially explaining the gender gap that exists in Philosophy: there are fewer women in Philosophy because women are less likely to possess the ideal ‘philos…Read more
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24Educating in Respect: Against Neutral Discourse as a Norm for Respectful Classroom DiscussionPhilosophy 93 (2): 187-210. 2018.Since 2014, British schools have been required to ‘actively promote’ the value of ‘mutual respect’ to the children in their care. This is relatively unproblematic: liberals are agreed that good citizenship education will involve teaching mutual respect. However, there is disagreement over how ‘respect’ should be understood and what it should imply for norms of respectful classroom discussion. Some political liberals have indicated that when engaging in discussion in the classroom, students shoul…Read more
Coventry, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
Areas of Specialization
Feminist Political Philosophy |
Philosophy of Education, Misc |
Ethics of Childhood |
Children and Politics |