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609Astrobiology and Society in Europe Today (edited book)Springer. 2018.This book describes the state of astrobiology in Europe today and its relation to the European society at large. With contributions from authors in more than 20 countries and over 30 scientific institutions worldwide, the document illustrates the societal implications of astrobiology and the positive contribution that astrobiology can make to European society. The book has two main objectives: 1. It recommends the establishment of a European Astrobiology Institute (EAI) as an answer to a serie…Read more
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458The WroNGNeSS oF SeX WiTh ANiMALSPublic Affairs Quarterly 25 (3): 241-256. 2011.For sexual purposes, animals are off limits. But if we regard attributions of species membership as unimportant in familiar ethical contexts, then it may be difficult to explain why this is the case. Someone who is unimpressed by appeals to species membership as a basis for favoring humans over non-humans may remain similarly unimpressed by such appeals when sex becomes an issue. Species barriers may seem to be beside the point. Peter Singer’s attitude toward human sexual relations with non-huma…Read more
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143AfterwordIn Klara Anna Capova, Erik Persson, Tony Milligan & David Duner (eds.), Astrobiology and Society in Europe Today, Springer. pp. 55-60. 2018.
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94The duplication of love's reasonsPhilosophical Explorations 16 (3). 2013.If X loves Y does it follow that X has reasons to love a physiologically exact replacement for Y? Can love's reasons be duplicated? One response to the problem is to suggest that X lacks reasons for loving such a duplicate because the reason-conferring properties of Y cannot be fully duplicated. But a concern, played upon by Derek Parfit, is that this response may result from a failure to take account of the psychological pressures of an actual duplication scenario. In the face of the actual los…Read more
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91False emotionsPhilosophy 83 (2): 213-230. 2008.This article sets out an account of false emotions and focuses upon the example of false grief. Widespread but short-lived mourning for well known public figures involves false grief on the part of at least some mourners. What is false about such grief is not any straightforward pretence but rather the inappropriate antecendents of the state in question and/or the desires that the relevant state involves. False grief, for example, often involves a desire for the experience itself, and this can b…Read more
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57The Ethics of Space Exploration (edited book)Springer. 2016.This book aims to contribute significantly to the understanding of issues of value which repeatedly emerge in interdisciplinary discussions on space and society. Although a recurring feature of discussions about space in the humanities, the treatment of value questions has tended to be patchy, of uneven quality and even, on occasion, idiosyncratic rather than drawing upon a close familiarity with state-of-the-art ethical theory. One of the volume's aims is to promote a more robust and theoretica…Read more
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54Stuart P. Green, Lying, cheating, and stealing: a moral theory of white-collar crime: Oxford University Press, 2006, 284 pp, Hardback, £40, ISBN 0-19-926858-4Criminal Law and Philosophy 1 (3): 333-336. 2007.
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53Iris Murdoch's mortal asymmetryPhilosophical Investigations 30 (2). 2007.Iris Murdoch holds that the best sort of life is a figurative death of the self. This figurative death is informed by an acceptance of real mortality. A recognition of mortality is supposed to help redirect our attention away from self and towards others. Yet these others are also mortal but (unlike the self) remain worthy of love, care and consideration. That is to say, the significance of mortality for Murdoch depends on whose mortality is at issue, whether it is the mortality of the self or o…Read more
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51Whimsical desiresRatio 20 (3). 2007.To desire is to want, but not necessarily to be disposed to do anything. That is to say, desiring does not necessarily involve having any disposition to act. To lend plausibility to this view I appeal to the example of whimsical desires that no action could help us to realise. What may lead us to view certain desires as whimsical is precisely the absence of any possibility of realizing them. While such desires might seem less than full-blooded, I argue that we can have full-blooded desires conce…Read more
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50Dependent companionsJournal of Applied Philosophy 26 (4): 402-413. 2009.My primary concern will be to cast light upon the relation between animal guardians ('pet owners') and pets as a deep relation. I will proceed with a degree of indirectness by explaining why animal guardians can have an epistemically-privileged position when it comes to end-of-life decisions concerning pets. My contention is that they are best placed to grasp the relevant narrative considerations upon which end-of-life deliberation in marginal cases ought to depend. Such narrative-appreciation i…Read more
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49The implausible time machineThink 5 (14): 63-72. 2007.Are time machines philosophically possible? Is there something fundamentally illogical about the very notion of time travel? Tony Milligan introduces some of the key arguments in this amusing dialogue
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42Iris Murdoch and the borders of analytic philosophyRatio 25 (2): 164-176. 2012.Iris Murdoch's philosophical texts depart significantly from familiar analytic discursive norms. (Such as the norms concerning argument structure and the minimization of rhetoric.) This may lead us to adopt one of two strategies. On the one hand an assimilation strategy that involves translation of Murdoch's claims into the more familiar terms of property-realism (the terminology of ethical naturalism and non-naturalism). On the other hand, there is the option of adopting a crossover strategy an…Read more
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41Murdochian humilityReligious Studies 43 (2): 217-228. 2007.The following paper sets out a view of humility that is derived from Iris Murdoch but which differs from a strict Murdochian approach in two important respects. Firstly, any association with self-abnegation is removed; and secondly, the value of a limited form of pride (recognition pride) is affirmed. The paper is nevertheless strongly continuous with her work, in the sense that it builds upon her rejection of universalizability on the specific grounds that we have varying moral competences. A l…Read more
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38Exile from perfection in Iris Murdoch's philosophical textsHeythrop Journal 51 (1): 22-33. 2010.
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33Lockean puzzlesJournal of Philosophy of Education 41 (3). 2007.In analytic moral philosophy it is standard to use unrealistic puzzles to set up moral dilemmas of a sort that I will call Lockean Puzzles. This paper will try to pinpoint just what is and what is not problematic about their use as a teaching tool or component part of philosophical arguments. I will try to flesh out the claim that what may be lost sight of in such Lockean puzzling is the personal dimension of moral deliberation—for example, moral problems differ from technical problems in the se…Read more
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32Animal Rescue as Civil DisobedienceRes Publica 23 (3): 281-298. 2017.Apparently illegal cases of animal rescue can be either open or covert: ‘open rescue’ is associated with organizations such as Animal Liberation Victoria and Animal Liberation New South Wales; ‘covert rescue’ is associated with the Animal Liberation Front. While the former seems to qualify non-controversially as civil disobedience I argue that at least some instances of the latter could also qualify as civil disobedience just so long as various norms of civility are satisfied. The case for such …Read more
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29Wild JusticeEthics, Policy and Environment 14 (2). 2011.Ethics, Policy & Environment, Volume 14, Issue 2, Page 243-245, June 2011
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25Love and Its Objects: What Can We Care For? (edited book)Palgrave-Macmillan. 2014.This volume brings together a collection of essays on the philosophy of love by leading contributors to the discussion. Particular emphasis is placed upon the relation between love, its character and appropriateness and the objects towards which it is directed: romantic and erotic partners, persons, ourselves, strangers, non-human animals and art. It includes contributions by Aaron Ben Ze’ev (‘Ain’t Love Nothing but Sex Misspelled?’), by Angelika Krebs (‘Between I and Thou – On the Dialogical Na…Read more
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24Valuing love and valuing the self in Iris MurdochConvivium: revista de filosofía 26. 2013.Acknowledgements: thanks go to Margarita Mauri who arranged for an earlier version of this paper to be delivered at the Faculty of Philosophy, University of Barcelona in 2011. I have incorporated several useful and improving comments made by Margarita and colleagues.
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24Environment and SustainabilityIn Klara Anna Capova, Erik Persson, Tony Milligan & David Dunér (eds.), Astrobiology and Society in Europe Today. pp. 25-30. 2018.There are strong links between astrobiology and environmental concern. Astrobiology is the study of the origin, evolution and distribution of life in the universe—including Earth. Understanding life, and in particular the basic conditions for life, is important for our ability to create a sustainable future on Earth. The connection goes both ways, however. The preservation of biodiversity and of pristine environments on Earth is of the greatest importance for our ability to study life, its origi…Read more
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19Animal Ethics: The BasicsRoutledge. 2015.Animal Ethics has long been a highly contested area with debates driven by unease about various forms of animal harm, from the use of animals in scientific research to the farming of animals for consumption. Animal Ethics: The Basics is an essential introduction to the key considerations surrounding the ethical treatment of animals. Taking a thematic approach, it outlines the current arguments from animal agency to the emergence of the ‘political turn’. This book explores such questions as: Can …Read more
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18Nobody owns the moon: the ethics of space exploitationMcFarland & Company. 2015.Space exploration and off-world commercial activity engage both skeptics and its enthusiasts. What does seem clear, however, is that such activity has increased and is set to expand further during the present century. This book explores some of the emerging ethical issues of the space frontier and evaluates the prospects for the medium-range future.
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18Thought Experiments and NovelsStudia Humana 8 (1): 84-92. 2019.Novels and thought experiments can be pathways to different kinds of knowledge. We may, however, be hard pressed to say exactly what can be learned from novels but not from thought experiments. Headway on this matter can be made by spelling out their respective conditions for epistemic failure. Thought experiments fail in their epistemic role when they neither yield propositional knowledge nor contribute to an argument. They are largely in the business of ‘knowing that’. Novels, on the other han…Read more
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17Robert Garner: A Theory of Justice for Animals: Rights in a Nonideal WorldEnvironmental Ethics 37 (2): 249-252. 2015.
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16Is Space Expansion the Road to Dystopia?Ethics and International Affairs 37 (4): 470-489. 2023.This review essay contrasts two of the most notable recent contributions to literature on space and society: Daniel Deudney's Dark Skies (2020) and Brian Patrick Green's Space Ethics (2022). The Green volume is a course textbook, geared to giving students an overview of some of the key ethical issues concerning space and how the arguments on these matters are shaping up. Its aim is to provide an overview rather than a specific line of argument. Deudney's text, by contrast, is an example of a boo…Read more
Areas of Specialization
Applied Ethics |
Normative Ethics |
Areas of Interest
Applied Ethics |
Normative Ethics |
Social and Political Philosophy |