2021 OoxfordphilosophyP oxford philosophy 2021

2 From the Chair of the Faculty Board

Chris Timpson 4 News 5 Returning to Oxford Again WelcomeWe all missed the joys, John Tasioulas smaller and larger, of our 6 New People From the Chair of the Faculty Board 8 West Meets East: Indian Philosophy in Oxford usual modus vivendi. Jessica Frazier t has been, of course, a topsy-turvy year. Last I wrote, our finalists – and examiners – were girding 12 400 Years of the White’s Chair Ithemselves for that foray into the dark unknown Hilary term’s reversion to a state of fuller lockdown was 14 Legally Oxford which was online, open-book, examinations. The former dispiriting, and brought considerable extra demands. group were under injunction from the latter even more But by now our habits of online teaching were well Ruth Chang fierce than usual to answer the actual question posed, established, and Hilary prelims were able to go ahead the hope thereby being to reduce any temptations to online, as in any case had been planned. Spring and the Alex Kaiserman cut-and-paste material prepared earlier, or worse still, steady march of the vaccination programme eventually Maximilian Kiener hastily downloaded. Meanwhile, examiners had carefully brought the welcome in-person return of students, 18 Enslaved to One’s Nature been over their questions to weed out any which might first graduate students, and then, by part-way through easily be addressed by means of a quick web-search. Trinity, the great majority of students. We now have Ursula Coope the peculiar, but welcome, circumstance of Freshers’ In the event, the examiners pronounced themselves Dinners, or other familiar autumnal social events, busily 20 Text and Context in the Heidegger Controversy (in so far as that redoubtable band would ever admit being organised only a few weeks before Trinity prelims. to being in such a state) largely satisfied with how

Mark Wrathall students had approached the exams, and with how they We have felt great appreciation of, and (at a distance) This academic year marked the centenary of the 24 Interview with Anneliese Dodds MP had done. I think students and examiners alike are to no little pride in, the marvellous work our Medical establishment of PPE in Oxford. Many of our be commended for how they dealt with the trying and Science colleagues have been doing (both clinical and celebratory plans had to be abandoned, but colleges 26 New Books unusual circumstances. research) in response to the pandemic. Philosophy held, or are holding, an number of online events, and has had its own part to play too, with colleagues in the the year started with an interesting panel discussion Following detailed planning, Michaelmas began in Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics taking a leading role alongside publication of an enjoyable report on the a highly organised, but constrained, fashion. The in discussion of the multi-faceted and urgent ethical history and development of PPE over the years (https:// oxford philosophy advantages to Oxford of the college system, and of our questions the pandemic response has raised. Julian www.humanities.ox.ac.uk/article/report-and-panel- high-powered and accomplished Medical Sciences Savulescu, Dominic Wilkinson and Jonathan Pugh discussion-marks-100th-anniversary-of-ppe#/). Faculty of Philosophy Division, were readily evident. As inevitable, Covid have been closely involved in the UKRI Pandemic We look forward to the next hundred flourishing years Radcliffe Humanities cases rose with the influx of students at the beginning of Radcliffe Observatory Quarter Ethics Accelerator Project, whilst Jo Wolff has also for PPE! Woodstock Road term, but quarantining and isolating in pre-designated been extensively involved in ethical discussions around Oxford, OX2 6GG UK small groups (‘households’) as organised by colleges resource distribution, and balancing individual liberties We were sad not to be able to hold the traditional dinner email: [email protected] meant that numbers quickly started dropping again. The with public health. to mark the occasion of Anita Avramides’ retirement, to tel: +44 (0)1865 276926 university’s bespoke ‘Early Alert’ testing service meant thank her for all her contributions to the Faculty over www.philosophy.ox.ac.uk monitoring was highly efficient, whilst isolating student Much more prosaically, the end of March saw, after the years, but we are glad that she continues as a Senior Editorial groups could much more easily be looked after within months (years!) of preparation, the Faculty’s submission Research Fellow at St Hilda’s. We were delighted to Editor: Paul Lodge the small and manageable settings of colleges. So far to the government’s Research Excellence Framework welcome a good number of new colleagues, particularly Art direction & Design: Keiko Ikeuchi www.keikoikeuchi.com as we know, there were no cases of transmission from trundle off. It seems a moderate-sized van was required in such a trying year in which to move institutions. We Printed by Oxuniprint students to staff. Lectures and large-group teaching to transport the necessary boxes and boxes of hard-copy wish them all well, and as one we look forward, fingers were online, but we were able still to give tutorials and materials from the Radcliffe Humanities building. We crossed, to a much more ordinary year next year. Photography Keiko Ikeuchi (Cover, pp 3, 5,6, 7, 9, 21, 23, Back Cover) graduate supervisions, and smaller class teaching, in hope that the assessors on the REF subject panel for Chris Timpson George Reszeter (p 25) reproduced courtesy of Oxford Mail person (if bemasked, and distanced). Still, we all missed philosophy enjoy their reading! Professor of the Philosophy of Physics Shutterstock (pp 8, 19) the joys, smaller and larger, of our usual modus vivendi. Tutorial Fellow in Philosophy, Brasenose College Creative Commons (pp 10, 11, 24)

Acknowledgements The Faculty would like to thank the following people for their kind help and assistance: Jo Kay, Lizzy Diggins, Pete Gavan, Chris Honour, and Elina Cotterill.

Views expressed in this publication are not necessarily those of the Faculty of Philosophy or the University of Oxford.

2 oxford philosophy oxford philosophy 3 News The Inaugural Dr Joyce Mitchell Cook Memorial Lecture xford University has been Returning Oxford part of my life for almost to In May 2021, St Hilda’s College launched the Oas long as I can remember. annual Joyce Mitchell Cook Lectures. Professor I first learnt of its existence from Cook, a St Hilda’s alumna, was the first Black American woman to receive a PhD in philosophy my late father, during one of the in the United States. many intense conversations I used to have with him as a boy sitting in The College was delighted to welcome, Professor his old Hillman. I was around six Anita L. Allen, JD, PhD of the University of years old and I was interrogating Pennsylvania as the first Lecturer. my father about where students go again The lecture and discussion, chaired by Anita after they’re finished with school, Avramides, is available on YouTube and then with high school, and On returning for a second time, as the he mentioned institutions called first Director of the Institute for Ethics ‘universities’. The conversation then took a Sheldon Cooper-esque in AI, John Tasioulas reflects on the Alex Kaiserman Wins Journal of turn in which I pressed him on significance of Oxford, culturally Applied Philosophy Prize the names of the universities in and personally. Melbourne, and their relative Alex Kaiserman (Associate Professor and academic standing, and then on Tutorial Fellow at Balliol College) has been which were the best universities in the prejudice that a given option is I believe that a culture in a shared community, and that awarded the annual prize for the best paper in not in the relevant sense genuinely it also tends to promote better The Journal of Applied Philosophy. the world. ‘available’ to the young person in of participation in decisions. One can of course Co-authored with Helen Beebee (Professor of My father, a Greek immigrant to question. But it wasn’t simply a deliberation and appreciate this proposition in the Philosophy at The University of Manchester), Australia, had not himself had matter of the supply of information. abstract, but this appreciation ‘Causal Contributions to War’ approaches the the benefit of formal education It was also the reverential tone decision-making is becomes much more vivid after question of whether civilians on the unjust beyond primary school, but he was in which my father spoke about valuable in itself, having experienced the rigid side of a conflict are legitimate targets of highly intelligent and unusually universities. This was a tone very defensive attack by developing a novel theory an aspect of equal hierarchies, micro-management of the causal contributions that they make. well-informed, and listed the usual different from that which he used and faux corporate mind-set that places – ‘Oxford, Cambridge, when, as a man of the left, he would standing in a shared prevail in other universities. In Harvard, Berkeley...’. ‘Yes, but speak of the various manifestations community. saying this, of course, I don’t wish which of these is the best?’, I of institutionalised power. The to suggest that Oxford is immune insisted. ‘Probably Oxford’, he picture he conveyed was of to these systemic deformations. Uehiro Centre Leads on Pandemic Ethics replied. I immediately silently universities as oases devoted to the Key, I believe, to Oxford’s success Nor to deny that it remains COVID-19 policy-makers often claim to be formed the ambition to study disinterested search for truths that is the way in which the aspiration vitally important to scrutinize science-led, but many decisions turn on at Oxford one day, an ambition benefit all humanity, free of the for academic excellence, and the the material pre-conditions that values. Throughout the pandemic, The Oxford that would intermittently surface grubby deceptions, self-seeking, intellectual and moral virtues Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics has been at enable Oxford’s enviable academic the forefront of promoting ethics in pandemic to consciousness over the years and dishonourable compromises bound up with its fulfilment, is culture to endure, something that responses through a series of initiatives with when I would ask myself what was that disfigured politics and other fostered by the heavily democratic I personally had to grapple with UK Research and Innovation, the Arts and the point of the hard work I was aspects of life. Of course, this was and dispersed nature of decision- early on, in the decision to accept Humanities Research Council, and the World doing at school. This ambition was an idealised portrait, but not for making in Oxford. Like other a Rhodes Scholarship. But this is Health Organisation, in collaboration with eventually fulfilled when I came democrats, I believe that a culture national and international collaborators. that reason entirely lacking in the main reason I am delighted to Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar truth. And of the various great of participation in deliberation to be back at Oxford – because it The Centre’s academic, policy, and public in 1989. Nine years after that, I universities I have been fortunate and decision-making is valuable in is the closest thing I have known engagement outputs are available online at: became a fellow of Corpus Christi to be associated with, none comes itself, an aspect of equal standing to the ideal of a self-governing https://www.practicalethics.ox.ac.uk/article/ College, something that surpassed closer to it than Oxford. covid-19-pandemic-ethics#/ community of scholars devoted to even the demanding albeit ill- the disinterested pursuit of truth. defined aspirations of my six year- old self. John Tasioulas Professor of Ethics and Legal Privacy Is Power one of The This anecdote illustrates various Philosophy and Director of the Economist’s Books of 2020 truths. One of them is the obvious Institute for Ethics in AI dependence of ambitions on @JTasioulas Privacy Is Power (Bantam Press) by knowledge of available options. Carissa Veliz (Associate Professor and Tutorial Fellow at Hertford It has always struck me that one College), which examines ethical of the most crushing forms of issues surrounding data collection, disadvantage is the simple lack of was chosen by The Economist as awareness of alternative ways in one of the best books of the year for which a life might be lived. Often, 2020. The judges commented: ‘Her solutions, such as banning the trade the failure to inform is driven by in personal data, may be extreme, but she galvanises an urgent conversation.’

John and his father in 1991, two years after he became a Rhodes scholar 4 oxford philosophy oxford philosophy 5 New People

Louise Hanson St Hilda’s Mark Wynn Oriel Mark joins the Faculty as the Nolloth Professor of the Louise joins the faculty from the University of Durham, Philosophy of the Christian Religion from the University and prior to that, the University of Cambridge. She did of Leeds, where he was Professor of Philosophy and her undergraduate degree at King’s College London, Religion (2013-20). He has also held appointments at the followed by the BPhil and DPhil at Oxford. University of Exeter, the Australian Catholic University, and KCL, as well as a Gifford Postdoctoral Fellowship at Louise’s research spans metaethics, aesthetics, and the University of Glasgow. He has a BA in Philosophy and epistemology, as well as analogies and overlaps between Theology and a DPhil from Oxford. these domains. She has written on moral realism and related debates including evaluative testimony and Mark’s current research interests include philosophical evolutionary debunking arguments, and topics in perspectives on ritual and liturgy, and the interactions aesthetics including artistic value and conceptual art. between representations of the sacred and accounts Louise is currently writing a book on robust realism of human wellbeing. His publications include Spiritual about beauty. Traditions and the Virtues: Living Between Heaven and Earth (OUP, 2020), and Renewing the Senses: A Study of the Philosophy and Theology of the Spiritual Life (OUP, 2013).

Nick Jones St John’s Nick re-joins the Faculty from the University of Birmingham, where he taught for seven years as a Carissa Veliz Hertford Birmingham Fellow, Senior Lecturer, and then Reader. Carissa joins the Faculty after being a Research He holds a BA and MA from the University of Leeds, a Fellow at the Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics and PhD from Birkbeck, London, and was a Research Fellow the Wellcome Centre for Ethics and Humanities at at both King’s College London and Merton College. Oxford.

Nick’s research interests lie at the intersection of Carissa completed her DPhil at Christ Church. metaphysics with the philosophy of logic and the Her research interests are in practical ethics and philosophy of language. Much of his current work political philosophy. Her main focus is on privacy and concerns the metaphysical status of the languages of the ethics and governance of technology (especially higher-order logic, as well as applications of those AI). She is the author of Privacy Is Power (Bantam languages to the problems of mainstream metaphysics, Press 2020), and the editor of the forthcoming especially problems about the nature of particulars, Oxford Handbook of Digital Ethics. universals, propositions, and possibility.

Kate Kirkpatrick Regent’s Park Kate joins the faculty from King’s College London, where she was Lecturer in Religion, Philosophy and Culture from 2018–2020. Before that she held positions at St Peter’s College and the University of Hertfordshire. She has a Milo Phillips-Brown Jesus doctorate from Oxford. Milo joins the Faculty from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he spent eight years, first as a Kate’s research interests are broad, encompassing French PhD student and then as a Distinguished Fellow in phenomenology, feminism and philosophy, and the Ethics and Technology. philosophy of religion. Her publications include Sartre on Sin (OUP 2017), Sartre and Theology (Bloomsbury Milo’s main research interests are in the ethics of 2017), and, with George Pattison, The Mystical Sources of technology, philosophy of language, and philosophy of Existentialist Thought (Routledge 2018). She is also author mind. His main focus right now is on the nature of bias of a a highly acclaimed biography, Becoming Beauvoir: within computer systems – in particular, within search A Life (Bloomsbury 2019). Her current project is a engines – and on the relationship between desire and philosophical commentary on Beauvoir’s The Second Sex, decision theory. supported by a British Academy Mid-Career Fellowship.

6 oxford philosophy oxford philosophy 7 of the Vedantic tradition that, over two thousand methods for understanding it, while Buddhism’s years, devised ever-new ways of explaining the successive waves of scepticism questioned first basic ontological substrate of reality. In the face concrete identities, then the constitution of of fierce critique, it argued that there must be a personal subjectivity, and finally all determinate West unified material, efficient, and formal cause of essences or ontological foundations. Conversation everything based on the coherence and causal flourished in an ‘argumentative’ India (to borrow interaction we see in the world. I wasn’t alone Amartya Sen’s phrase) where no view was in my fascination: Spinozists, Hegelians and silenced. As a result every philosophy thrived panpsychists have often felt drawn to Indian according to its merits – from the substance- thought, as have those attracted to problems of monists to theistic atomists, to ontological powers, grounding and ‘goo.’ But at the other nihilists and hedonist materialists. For a western meets end of the spectrum, many prefer the bold analogy, one might imagine Humeans and East radical scepticism of the Madhyamaka tradition: Spinozists, Heidegger, Wittgenstein, Strawson, Jan Westerhoff, who led half of the classes this Chomsky – and Nietzsche – all debating furiously Indian Philosophy in Oxford year, is a key proponent of Madhyamaka’s anti- in a single cafe, overlooked by eagle-eyed foundationalist model of a world freed from epistemologist arbitrators. essences or foundations. In 2020 the Faculty introduced a When I was a student in Cambridge my own new undergraduate paper in Indian lecturers loved Indian thought for its notorious Philosophy. Jessica Frazier, one ‘holistic’ philosophy of meaning, and its novel of its architects, tells us about the form of philosophical theism – and more recently paper and the history of Indian India’s distinctive ‘direct-realist’ account of Philosophy in Oxford. reference, its yoga-influenced attempts to change the phenomenological structure of experience, and its emergence-based explanations of mind, have all moved into the spotlight. ‘The arguments of the ancients are sinuous…’ potential contained in distinctive Indian theories India’s philosophical history is incredibly diverse wrote Bimal Krishna Matilal in 1986 in his of identity, mind, matter, causation, scepticism, – a fact shaped by two powerful forces: On the room at All Soul’s, ‘but they contain important idealism, aesthetics, and ethics. They found that one hand, Hinduism’s three-thousand year philosophical insight.’ A former student of much is familiar, but much is also surprising in old Vedic tradition was metaphysically multi- Peter Strawson and Michael Dummett, Matilal this ‘looking glass world’ where whole cultures curious, generating atomisms, hylomorphisms, had also gained a traditional Tarkatirtha lived out philosophies as yet undreamt of in monisms and phenomenologies that grew ‘Master of Reasoning’ degree in classical Indian western thought. No prior knowledge was under the demanding tutelage of sophisticated Epistemology from the University of Calcutta. needed: in this course students are introduced to logical, semantic, and epistemic traditions. But He predicted a time when philosophical terms the ideas then encouraged to run a fine toothed on the other hand, around the fourth century derived from Sanskrit would be as central to comb through their arguments, weighing their BCE these were challenged by the scepticism of contemporary philosophical analysis as those that success and pinpointing flaws, hunting out new Buddhism, Jainism, and ‘materialist’ traditions. have grown out of Greek. insights and making contributions of their own. Together, these two ‘metaphysical’ and ‘sceptical’ This year, Oxford’s first undergraduate course in There are many philosophical roads to India. strands refined each other over the centuries. Indian Philosophy has opened up a wealth of such When I first came to the subject through an The Hindu schools of thought developed ever- ideas to students in the Faculty of Philosophy. interest in German thought, what attracted me more sophisticated theories of reality and our Together students explored the philosophical to Indian philosophy was the rich metaphysics

8 oxford philosophy oxford philosophy 9 Max Muller Contemporary philosophy has made (photo by Lewis Carroll, 1857) immense progress but it has sometimes found itself hitting the same dead-ends, using the same ill-defined ideas historically rooted in Greek thought.

The philosophical yield of this was astoundingly In England, Hume and Locke both made Here in Oxford, interest of Eastern Religions and rich, and western philosophers have long been reference to Indian ideas, whilst in Germany in India began with the Ethics at All Souls in 1977. fascinated with it – Arthur Schopenhauer was Indophile and Sanskrit scholar Friedrich Schegel establishment of the Boden Educated both by logicians instrumental in promoting Indian philosophy’s revered India’s metaphysical and moral holism Chair of Sanskrit in 1832. working in the Indian willingness to think in terms of ‘representations’ or ‘Allheit,’ which incorporated mind and matter, Initially, it was aimed tradition and Western rather than ‘things’. In his 1818 preface to The fact and value, and what we call ‘good’ and ‘bad’ primarily at converting analytic thinkers like World as Will and Representation he wrote that into a complete theory. Hegel would take up this and controlling the Indian Willard van Orman Quine, access to Indian philosophical sources is ... idea and read Hinduism’s Vedantic monism as subcontinent; but academic Matilal had done his PhD ‘pure being without any concrete determination’ appointments have a on innovations in early- the greatest advantage which this as a stab at the kind of system that he himself curious way of subverting modern Indian logic. He still young century has to show sought to develop. their original intentions. Over the subsequent worked hard to inspire a culturally neutral form over previous centuries, since I decades, Sanskritists began to extol the value of of analytic philosophy that drew on all relevant surmise that the influence of Sanskrit India’s own culture to a global audience. Max sources, regardless of where they came from. literature will penetrate no Muller, one of the most prolific early translators His massive output embraced logic, language, less deeply than did the revival of of Sanskrit texts, was an apologists for both sides, epistemology, and ethics, and his students were Greek literature in the fifteenth century. upholding the special dispensation of Christian part of a new wave of global Indian philosophers culture whilst shouldering severe criticism for who today can be found in Universities around championing an Indic worldview over church the world. orthodoxy. In an 1879 preface to his The Sacred Contemporary philosophy has made immense Books of the East, he wrote of Indian works that: progress but it has sometimes found itself hitting Plato is strange till we know him… so the same dead-ends, using the same ill-defined it is with these ancient sages… [T]o the ideas historically rooted in Greek thought, and patient reader these same books will, in making the same assumptions generation after spite of many drawbacks, open a new generation. Untapped traditions also exist, full view of the history of the human race, of ideas. They point to new directions, offer new of that one race to which we all belong, tools, and turn past assumptions on their heads. with all the fibres of our flesh, with all the Whilst the pandemic was changing world history hopes and fears of our soul. this year, Oxford Philosophers were changing the world in their own way, showing that Of course most translators lacked the they’re ready to see what can be done with fresh philosophical training for a rigorous analysis; and material. most philosophers lacked the textual resources for detailed study, or their prejudices got in the Jessica Frazier University Research Lecturer in Theology and Religion way. But the paradigm shifted with the arrival of Fellow of the Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies 18th-century Sanskrit manuscript of Harivamsa from the Indian epic Mahabharata. Bimal Krishna Matilal as the Spalding Professor

10 oxford philosophy oxford philosophy 11 y George L Mervyn ( Holders of the Chair nr idd rd RM e e ha ) H ll ic H R a r 1621 William Price e 1630 Thomas Ballow 1634 Edward Fulham 1638 George Gisbey MDCXXI 1643 John Berkenhead Celebrating 400 Years of 1648 Edward Copley 1649 Henry Wilkinson 1811-1898 (Chair 1845-1846) 1919–2002 (Chair 1966-1983) 1654 Francis Howell As well as serving as Oxford’s Famous for his ‘prescriptivism’, Hare Vice-Chancellor, Liddell co-edited moved the focus of academic moral the Liddell and Scott Greek-English philosophy toward meta-ethical 1657 William Carpender Lexicon which was published in theory, and became one of the the 1843 and is still widely used by dominant forces of his generation in 1660 Francis Palmer White’s Chair students of Greek today. anglophone moral philosophy. 1664 Andrew Crisp of Moral Philosophy 1668 Nathaniel Hodges s Hill (TH) nard Willia a Gr er m om e B s 1673 Abraham Campion h e T n 1708 Edward Thwaytes 1829 William Mills MMXXI 1834 Renn Hampden 1836 William Sewell 1841 Charles William Stocker he 400th anniversary of the White’s Chair areas of graduate study in philosophy at Oxford, this of Moral Philosophy is being marked across gives them oversight of a significant number of the 1842 George Johnson the University this year. In a university of Faculty’s doctoral students each year. They also chair 1845 Henry George Liddell 1836 – 1882 (Chair 1878-1882) 1929-2003 (Chair 1990-1996) Oxford’s long-standing, 400th anniversaries research seminars such as the high-profile Oxford T The founder of British Idealism, Green Widely regarded as one of the most 1846 John Matthias Wilson are celebrated surprisingly regularly. But this one Moral Philosophy Seminar, at which virtually every was also leading light in the radical original anglophone philosophers of liberal politics of the day and helped the post-war period, Williams also 1874 John Richard Turner Eaton has extra meaning: when the White’s Chair was first major anglophone moral philosopher in the ‘analytic’ found the City of Oxford High School for worked on royal commissions and established in 1621, it became Oxford’s first professorial traiditon has spoken over the last couple of decades. Boys. After his untimely death in 1882 government committees, including aged 45, his funeral was attended by on drug abuse, gambling, social 1878 Thomas Hill Green post in philosophy and it has since come to be regarded over 2000 local people. inequality and obscenity. 1882 William Wallace as one of the most prestigious positions in moral Alongside this institutional workload, holders of the philosophy in the world. Chair have made significant contributions to the biggest 1897 John Alexander Stewart gshaw (J hn Broom an L) Jo e challenges facing humanity. L Au n s 1923 William David Ross h t The long list of White’s Professors have shaped the field o i J n of philosophy over four centuries. Their names ring out The anniversary will be marked in various ways over 1928 Harold Arthur Prichard today as touchstones of rigorous, humane and urgent the course of the year. The Faculty will hold a small 1937 Herbert James Paton philosophical enquiry. They have stoked revolutions in internal celebration – in person if Covid-19 measures 1952 John Langshaw Austin our philosophical and moral understanding, and have allow, online if not. A series of articles will be published trained generations of research students to the highest on the Faculty and Humanities Division websites, 1960 William Calvert Kneale of standards. including an article by the current White’s Chair Jeff 1966 Richard Mervyn Hare McMahan on his work. And philanthropic support is 1990 Bernard Williams The White’s Chair has a broad job description. The being sought for a range of opportunities connected occupiers lead the study and development of moral to the Chair and the Faculty, including new graduate 1911–1960 (Chair 1952-1960) 1947- (Chair 2001-2014) 1996 James Griffin philosophy within Oxford, and play a key role in scholarships. Austin was a central figure in the An economist by training, Broome 2001 John Broome ‘ordinary language philosophy’ has made seminal contributions to developing the next generation by supervising doctoral movement that was dominant in the field of population ethics and the Oxford at the time. He is best known ethics of climate change. He served 2014 Jeff McMahan students and students on the two-year BPhil graduate Here’s to the next 400 years! for his theory of ‘speech acts’, which as a lead author on the report of degree. As moral philosophy is one of the most popular is highly influential to this day. the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) as featured in the 2014 edition of Oxford Philosophy.

12 oxford philosophy oxford philosophy 13 Philosophical work on welfare and Many philosophy students come to convened by Cecile Fabre (Politics), individual well-being makes no real philosophy as a pit stop on their way Kate Greasley (Law), Alison Hills dent in behavioural and welfare to law school and legal academia, (Philosophy), Cecile LaBorde economics. Social philosophers and an Oxford law doctorate may be (Politics), and myself. have long complained about the the right advanced degree for those inadequacies of theories in law seeking an academic career at the Fourth, in an attempt to spark and politics that pay no heed to the nexus of philosophy, law and politics. new conversations at the nexus of normative implications of existing philosophy, law, and politics, Amia social structures and cultural norms, Second, there is a newly-instituted Srinivasan and I are co-editing but their complaints fall mostly on interdisciplinary graduate course, a volume that brings together deaf ears. Philosophical insights into ‘Philosophy, Law, & Politics’, which scholars from all three fields and the nature of value that trace back to is open to graduate students from across different generations to write Aristotle continue to be ignored by the philosophy and law faculties and papers in pairs that constitute a rational choice theorists and decision from the department of politics and kind of conversation about a topic LegallyLegalLy theorists, whose basic models still international relations. It is great of general interest to all three fields. presuppose the existence of homo fun – and quite unique at Oxford That volume will soon be coming out economicus. – to have students from all three with OUP. disciplines engage with one another. Since arriving at Oxford, I have Fifth, there is a seven-institution- worked with others to institute a Third, there is the Oxford wide Philosophy, Law & Politics Oxford number of initiatives that attempt Colloquium in Philosophy, Law, & Graduate Forum, which will be run to enrich the intellectual nexus of Politics. This Colloquium invites online by graduate students from philosophy, law, and politics. distinguished visitors from across a Oxford, Cambridge, UCL, Queen Three members of the Faculty discuss their research and recent number of disciplines to share their Mary, Kings, LSE, and Surrey. First, as of this year, there is a new, work with students and faculty at The idea behind the Forum is to innovations in the philosophy of law at Oxford. explicit progression from the BPhil Oxford and beyond. Starting this provide a venue for our leading in Philosophy to the DPhil in Law. year, the Colloquium will be co- doctoral students from any of the three fields to present papers to of Jurisprudence in 1952, he had judges should decide cases, whether an interdisciplinary audience for only one article published in the cost-benefit analysis can justify feedback and commentary. We philosophy of law, and when Ronald governmental regulation, which have asked faculty from all seven Philosophy, Dworkin took it up in 1969, he had metrics hospitals should use to institutions to commit to participate only two. Things improved when apportion health care, the right way and have an impressive list of Law, & my immediate predecessor, John to think about affirmative action, scholars throughout the south of Politics at Gardner, took up the post in 2000, how to approach climate change England who have agreed to do so. having already published important in a way that respects competing Oxford articles in the field that Hart and values, and how we should design Finally, beginning in Trinity Dworkin helped to establish. With AI. Foundational work of this kind Term 2022, there will be a new, Ruth Chang my appointment, Oxford has now also has potential implications for endowed DPhil dissertation prize, reverted to its bad old ways. downstream theoretical matters, the Berggruen Prize for Best DPhil such as how we should think dissertation in Philosophy, Law, Fortunately, the excellent research about egalitarianism, democracy, & Politics. This prize mirrors the and teaching of my colleagues in individual freedom, and fairness. famous $1 million dollar Berggruen s the new Professor of the philosophy of law ensures that Philosophy & Culture prize, but Jurisprudence, I may be a Oxford’s global preeminence in My hope in coming to Oxford is with fewer zeros. The winning bit of an outlier. I have the the field will continue well into to make space for philosophical dissertation, drawn from any of the legal credentials necessary the future. Because of this existing investigation of foundational issues three faculties, will receive £1,000 to train budding lawyers, advise strength, I see my appointment as an that have interesting implications and plaudits from both Oxford Aclients about their rights and duties, invitation to open up and encourage for downstream issues in philosophy, and the Berggruen Institute in and argue cases in various US courts. new directions of research. law, politics, and beyond. Currently Los Angeles. Nicolas Berggruen, However, I have spent the last twenty this type of work is scattered across the generous benefactor, shares years as a philosophy professor in My own research explores these three fields with little cross- our vision of creating a space for a US philosophy department. And I foundational topics such as the disciplinary interaction. Work in law philosophy that is transformative for have yet to publish any work squarely structure of normativity, the ground on political legitimacy and authority, thinking about issues in philosophy, in the philosophy of law. of value and reasons, and what it is to for example, remains relatively siloed law, politics, and beyond. be a rational agent. While this work from work on these very subjects in I take some solace in the fact that is quite abstract, it has implications political philosophy. Ruth Chang when Herbert Hart took up the Chair for concrete matters, such as how Professor of Jurisprudence Professorial Fellow, University College

14 oxford philosophy oxford philosophy 15 A second problem with accomplice kill V, intuitively, but his action responsibility in the criminal law, liability is it makes the guilt of clearly contributed to V’s death. The divided into answerability and the accomplice parasitic on the right thing to say seems to be that D liability. Following Duff, I define Degrees of guilt of the principal. Suppose D is partially, but not fully responsible The Legal answerability as an obligation to Responsibility encourages P to kill V. If P is found for V’s death. Yet the law lacks the Turn explain one’s (harmful) conduct to have committed murder, then conceptual resources to make sense to others and liability as being D can be found guilty of murder of this distinction. appropriately subjected to legal as an accomplice. But if P can’t be redress or moral criticism. I Alex Kaiserman Over the past few years, I have tried Maximilian Kiener convicted of a crime, for example hypothesise that, once we adapt whether philosophers should make to develop a systematic account of if he is below the age of criminal answerability and liability to greater room for the idea that taking the ways in which responsibility responsibility, then D cannot moral contexts in particular, moral responsibility (either retrospectively comes in degrees and begun to be found guilty of murder as an philosophers can benefit from Duff’s or prospectively) could be a genuine explore what this might mean ere’s something you accomplice either, for the simple hilosophers have gone to scheme in at least two ways. normative power, i.e. that one can for how we should organise our might not have known reason that no murder has been great lengths to explain take responsibility for something systems of criminal and private law. To begin with, being answerable about our criminal justice committed. Yet again, this seems the concept of moral simply by communicating the The project started when I was a in Duff’s view, unlike in its system: every year, like the wrong result. responsibility. They intention to do so, just as one can graduate student ostensibly working philosophical equivalents (e.g. in thousands of people are convicted developed a plethora of different (via consent) give permission for Hof murder without killing a soul, of In recent work, I have argued on the metaphysics of causation. My Ptheories and approaches and even David Shoemaker’s work), does not something simply by communicating on these and other grounds that transition into philosophy of law already imply being an appropriate theft without pilfering a penny, and reached out to other disciplines the intention to do so. of dangerous driving without ever accomplice liability should be was unexpected, and wouldn’t have to supplement their views, such target of so-called reactive attitudes, leaving the passenger seat. abandoned. But this raises the been possible without the kindness as neuroscience or physics. Yet, e.g. disapproval, and could therefore Finally, when philosophers discuss question of what should replace of all the lawyers who gave up their legal scholarship was not among allow us to disentangle various moral responsibility, they almost Yet this is no miscarriage of it. And the problem here is time to patiently explain basic legal those other disciplines. In fact, ethical questions that have so far exclusively focus on a single person, justice; it’s black-letter law. Via the that, whereas those who help or concepts to me (starting with the philosophers have given very short been grouped together. Moreover, i.e. the person whose responsibility mechanism of accomplice liability, encourage others to cause harm lawyer at a conference in Austin who shrift to the law and how people Duff’s scheme explains numerous is in question. By contrast, in the defendants can be convicted of seem to bear partial responsibility first told me about Palsgraf, still my are held legally responsible. If connections between answerability law, questions of responsibility crimes they helped or encouraged for those harms, liability in the law favourite legal case and proof that not ignored, legal responsibility and liability and could therefore are often part of wider social or others to commit, even if they did is typically all-or-nothing. This real life is often wilder than even has been seen as a contingent lead us to a richer understanding political practices. These practices not commit the crime themselves. difficulty manifests itself in different the most recherché of philosophers’ construct, subject to peculiar of responsibility more generally, include settlements outside of court, examples). There are several problems with this ways throughout the legal system. constraints inherent to the law, compared with current philosophical liability insurances, and immunities. Consider a different kind of case, and therefore unable to advance debates, where answerability and Hence, in a third strand of inquiry, way of criminalising accomplices. I’m grateful to them, and to the this time not involving complicity. our understanding of responsibility liability (or some equivalent term) I ask whether these practices could One problem is its lack of sensitivity proper legal theorists featured Suppose D non-fatally stabs V, who more generally, let alone moral are mostly presented as distinct tell us something important about to different degrees of involvement here for continuing to tolerate an subsequently refuses the blood responsibility. ‘types’ of responsibility without moral responsibility too, namely in the commission of a crime. If D imposter in their midst! knowingly helps or encourages P to transfusion that would have saved a similarly detailed explanation that moral responsibility, like legal In my current research on John commit a crime, D is guilty of that her life and dies. With what crime Alex Kaiserman concerning their connections. responsibility, should be understood Associate Professor of Philosophy Hyman’s ERC Project ‘Roots of crime, however minor or trivial D’s should D be charged: murder, or more practically and socially, Tutorial Fellow in Philosophy, Responsibility’, I suggest that Secondly, legal theorists explicitly assistance or encouragement was. just grievous bodily harm? Neither rather than just metaphysically and Balliol College the philosophical neglect of legal discuss the possibility of negotiating Recent case law has confirmed that option seems quite right. D didn’t individually. responsibility is misguided. More responsibility, e.g. in the context D is guilty of theft if she holds P’s precisely, I pursue the hypothesis of plea deals or when people These three points suggest baby while he steals cash from a of a legal turn, i.e. the idea that an agree to take on certain liabilities. that an inquiry into legal register; of supplying class A drugs inquiry into legal responsibility can Accordingly, (legal) responsibility responsibility could in fact advance if she points to the location of a bag in fact guide, in some important is not just a fact to be discovered, our understanding of moral of heroin during a drug transaction; respects, an inquiry into moral not even after some harmful event responsibility too. But if so, the and of working without a permit if responsibility and not just the other happened, but also, at least partly, debate on moral responsibility needs she attends a concert by a musician way around. Three aspects receive something that people negotiate and a legal turn. who has outstayed their visa. This particular attention in my work. take at will. Philosophers have not Maximilian Kiener strikes many people as deeply thought about moral responsibility Junior Research Fellow in Philosophy, unjust. Firstly, I investigate Antony in this way. But I wonder whether The Queen’s College Duff’s bipartite scheme of legal they should. In particular, I ask

16 oxford philosophy oxford philosophy 17 Enslaved that he would rather not have. Similarly, you are not acting as you wish when you act in pursuit of a goal you would reject if only you had a better understanding of your own interests. To By contrast, the sage is guaranteed never to make such mistakes. He does not have unruly passions or cravings that might lead him to act contrary to his best interests. He has perfect knowledge of what is good, so never finds himself One’s acting unwittingly against his own interests. He alone has the capacity to act as he wishes, because he alone has the capacity to correctly identify what he really wishes. On Plotinus’ view, a free Nature Second, the sage cannot be dominated by others. The Stoics’ argument for this depends partly on their view about what is entity just is a kind of self- Some ancient puzzles truly valuable. Virtue, they hold, is the only true good. Other determining activity. This people can deprive you of external things. They can imprison about freedom you and they can take away your belongings. But they cannot activity is not enslaved to deprive you of what is truly good: they cannot prevent you its nature, because it itself Ursula Coope tells us about her from being virtuous. The sage understands this, and so cannot be coerced by threats into doing something he does not want is identical with, and recent work on approaches to to do. For the sage, any such threats will be empty. determines, this nature. freedom in ancient philosophy. Of course, there is much to disagree with here. One might object to the Platonic account of ‘acting as one wishes’. And one might object to the view that only virtue is truly valuable. Both of these would be ways of objecting to the Stoic claim ow is freedom related to goodness? And what are that sages – and only sages – succeed in meeting the two the kinds of condition that constitute a threat to conditions on freedom. But there is a rather different way Hone’s freedom? The Stoics had a perfectionist view of criticizing the Stoics. This is a criticism of the claim that of freedom: all and only those who are perfectly wise and these two conditions – acting as one wishes and not being character, and hence not really free. Thus, being free requires are free only to the extent that they succeed in uniting good are free. If you are perfectly good, then there is nothing dominated by others – are sufficient for freedom. Certain not only being able to act as one (truly) wishes and being able themselves with such free intellectual activity. that can threaten your freedom. Perfectionist views of ancient philosophers argued that even if we agree that the to resist the domination of others; it also requires a kind of freedom are sometimes criticized as being a kind of cheat. The Stoic sage is someone who acts as he wishes and cannot be freedom from one’s own character or nature. These two lines of thought raise several questions that are charge is that such views conflate freedom with goodness. dominated by others, this is still not sufficient for showing taken up by later philosophers. Does it make sense to worry They thus provide a spurious justification for paternalistic that the Stoic sage is free. Something is missing from this The second suggestion comes from the Neoplatonist that an entity might be ‘enslaved to its own nature’? If so, policies. The advocates of such policies claim not merely to be account of freedom. Two different ancient suggestions about philosopher, Plotinus. He also raises the worry that a perfect how might such ‘enslavement’ be avoided? If we are to allow making you better, but also to be making you freer. But why what is missing are made by philosophers in the 3rd century being would fail to be free if such a being were constrained by for the possibility of freedom, does this constrain the range of should we suppose that becoming good necessarily makes you AD. According to the first, being free requires having the (or ‘enslaved to’) its own nature. But he gives a very different metaphysical positions we can accept? Modern philosophers free? The Stoic sage is, by definition, wise and good, but is he capacity to act otherwise; according to the second, being free answer to this worry. He rejects Alexander’s suggestion that in the analytic tradition will be familiar with the suggestion thereby free? requires being an entity that makes itself what it is. being free entails having the ability to act otherwise. By that a free entity must have the ability to act otherwise, providing a perfect being with the ability to act otherwise, and that nothing could have such an ability if the world The Stoics have an answer to this question. Being free, they The first suggestion can be found in the works of the we would be providing it with the ability to act imperfectly. were deterministic. But ancient philosophy also suggests an suggest, requires meeting the following two conditions, both Aristotelian philosopher, Alexander of Aphrodisias. Alexander We would not be enhancing its freedom, but instead would alternative way in which metaphysics might be constrained by derived from the contrast between freedom and slavery: first, finds fault with the Stoic view that the actions of a sage are be opening up the possibility that it might fail to act in accord the need to make room for freedom. For the Neoplatonists, to be free is to have the power to act as you wish (unlike fully determined by the sage’s character together with the with its true wishes, and hence might fail to be free. Thus, a free entity must be self-determining. A metaphysics slaves who must do their master’s bidding and rarely get to circumstances in which he finds himself. This view, he thinks, Plotinus rejects the claim that one can only be free if one’s that makes room for freedom need not be indeterministic, act as they wish); second, to be free is to be someone who undermines the Stoic claim that the sage is free. If the sage nature (together with one’s circumstances) does not fully but it must allow for the possibility of self-causation. The is not vulnerable to being controlled by others (unlike a slave is free, then he must not only be able to act as he wishes and determine how one will act. How, then, does Plotinus answer Neoplatonists attempt to provide such a metaphysics. We are who is under a master’s control). The Stoics argue that the be able to resist the attempts of others to dominate him; he the worry that a perfect being would be enslaved to its own left, then, with two questions. Are the Neoplatonists right sage, and only the sage, meets these two conditions. must in addition be able to act otherwise than he in fact does. nature, and hence fail to be free? His answer has two parts. to think that such a metaphysics is needed? And do they Thus, Alexander insists that if the Stoic sage is to be free, First, a free entity must be identical with its nature. Second, succeed in explaining how a kind of self-causation might be First, the sage, and only the sage, acts as he wishes. To justify then his character together with his circumstances cannot this nature is itself a kind of self-determining activity. On this possible? this, the Stoics appeal to a Platonic view about what it is to fully determine how he acts. A sage might even choose to view, a free entity just is a kind of self-determining activity. act as one wishes. On this view, we all have an overriding demonstrate his freedom by refraining from acting in the way This activity is not enslaved to its nature, because it itself Ursula Coope Professor of Ancient Philosophy wish for the good; we do not really ‘act as we wish’ when we it would have been reasonable to act. Alexander’s thought is identical with, and determines, this nature. For Plotinus, a Professorial Fellow, Keble College pursue things that are not in fact good. A drug addict does seems to be that unless the sage has this kind of capacity to paradigmatic free entity is not a virtuous human being, but not act as he wishes when he acts so as to satisfy a craving act otherwise, he will be trapped or constrained by his own rather a kind of intellectual activity. Virtuous human beings

18 oxford philosophy oxford philosophy 19 One may accept some, or all, of this There is then no small irony in the fact philosophy without fear of being that Heidegger’s biography and character committed to, or moved into proximity have become, for many, a Rosetta stone for with, fascism. More precisely, my interpreting his philosophy. This is perhaps not Text and Context claim is that one may accept any of in the Heidegger Controversy surprising, given the public and spectacular Heidegger’s philosophy, and ... preserve, character of his personal failings. Heidegger’s without inconsistency, a commitment to support for the National Socialist movement, and orthodox liberal democracy. his use of Nazi and anti-Semitic language and Mark Wrathall discusses the tropes, has been amply documented and exposed. Others have pushed the extreme opposite view. complexities of Heidegger’s It is no longer possible to doubt that, as Julian For instance, Emmanuel Faye argues that it is notorious relationship to Young puts it, Heidegger was ‘a real Nazi: his ‘impossible to dissociate [Heidegger’s work in National Socialism. involvement was a matter of conviction rather its entirety] from his political commitments,’ than compromise, opportunism, or cowardice.’ and that Heidegger ‘dedicated himself’ to ‘the He was undeniably antisemitic and strongly introduction into philosophy of the very content n the introduction to his 1924 lecture course supported Hitler and the Nazis from 1930 until at of Nazism and Hitlerism.’ Indeed, Faye goes so on The Basic Concepts of Aristotelian least 1934. It is also now clear that, after the war, far as to contend that ‘Heidegger’s work is not Philosophy, Heidegger claimed that ‘with I Heidegger repeatedly lied or distorted the record at all a “philosophy”,’ that in his work ‘the very regard to the personality of a philosopher, the to conceal the character and depth of his political principles of philosophy are abolished.’ only things of any interest are: he was born on activities in support of the Nazi movement during such and such a date, he worked, and he died. Claims that Heidegger’s work is not the Hitler regime. Moreover, he never publicly The character of the philosopher and such things philosophical or ‘destructive of philosophy’ and explicitly renounced his support for National will not be addressed.’ The view expressed here are belied by the fecundity of his thought for Socialism. On the rare occasions when he has grows out of Heidegger’s phenomenological ongoing philosophical research. Over the last called to address the Holocaust, he deflected method. As Heidegger practiced philosophy, the century, his arguments and phenomenological attention away from the question of German purpose of philosophical description is to help insights have laid the ground for an explosion guilt by, for instance, equating the Shoah to the the reader achieve her own direct intuition of of rich and important philosophical work in a repressive Soviet occupation of East Germany. the phenomenon in question. Consequently, in variety of fields, including the phenomenology interpreting the arguments of other philosophers, But while the basic facts of the Heidegger case are of perception and action, the philosophy of Heidegger’s primary questions were: ‘how are not open to dispute, there are widely disparate mind, the philosophy of artificial intelligence the intended subject matters viewed, in what interpretations of the significance of these facts and cognitive science, ontology, the philosophy context are they addressed, in what way are they for an understanding of Heidegger’s philosophy. of time, the philosophy of art, the history of defined’? The descriptum, not the describer, Young, for instance, maintains that Heidegger’s philosophy, and moral psychology. has priority in determining the meaning of a philosophical works can be ‘de-Nazified’ – that At the same time, the suspicions raised by philosophical text. Thus, Heidegger dismissed the Heidegger’s philosophical thought does not ‘stand Heidegger’s Nazi past are too important to be biography, personality, and character traits of the in any essential connection to Nazism.’ Moreover, ignored by scholars and students of his work. It philosopher as irrelevant to understanding the Young argues, is entirely legitimate and appropriate to ask if work in question.

20 oxford philosophy oxford philosophy 21 his philosophical views were influenced by Nazi ideas and ideology, or whether Heidegger’s anti- Semitism or Naziism contaminated some part (or even the whole) of his life’s work. But even those who answer such questions in the affirmative have to concede that the case for influence essentially historical and social in character. or contamination is circumstantial at best. However, Heidegger’s understanding of the For example, Sidonie Kellerer argues that the concept of community is unclear at best; he While the basic facts of the Heidegger philosophical works that Heidegger published in neither defines it explicitly nor discusses it any case are not open to dispute, there are his lifetime need to be ‘decoded,’ that Heidegger further in the remainder of the book. To what widely disparate interpretations of ‘employ[s] a cryptic language’ to conceal the sources should we look in interpreting this the significance of these facts for an true aim of his thought, which ‘has to do with concept? Faye turns immediately to Mein Kampf, understanding of Heidegger’s philosophy. his long-standing anti-Semitism, blood-and-soil and he concludes accordingly that ‘[i]t is clear nationalism, and racism, not with a genuinely that Heidegger is promoting that totalizing form philosophical project.’ Cracking the code, they of political organization’ that Hitler referred to as let alone discussed, in Being and Time – one insist, requires us to read Heidegger’s published the Volksgemeinschaft. The social and political ought to look to the philosophical works that by considering that context we come philosophical works in the proper context – which context of revolutionary politics in Weimar Heidegger does in fact cite. To help explain to see not only that other philosophers means for them, reading Heidegger against the Germany is thus made the dominant context for the historical constitution of a community, for committed themselves to the Nazi social and political background of Nazi Germany, understanding Heidegger’s concept. example, Heidegger invokes Dilthey’s concept cause, but that they did so for a and through the lens of Heidegger’s personal of the ‘generation.’ One ought also to turn to number of different and mutually How else might one go about contextualizing correspondences, private notebooks, and a few other passages in Heidegger’s corpus where incompatible philosophical reasons. the concept of community in this passage? To other lectures and manuscripts that date from the he discusses the concept of community – for This ... undermines the idea that there most Heidegger scholars (and, I believe, to Nazi era. instance, one might look to Heidegger’s roughly was a specific link between Heidegger’s most historians of philosophy in general), the contemporaneous claim that the ‘genuine ground’ particular philosophy and National Those who defend the continuing philosophical fundamental starting point ought to be the of a community is ‘true love.’ Socialism. relevance of Heidegger’s work likewise insist that philosophical project of which this passage is a his philosophical writings have to be properly part. Being and Time is a work in ontology; its This is not to entirely dismiss the relevance of the According to Sluga, Heidegger thus turns out contextualized, but they disagree on what this explicit aim is the elucidation of the meaning political context – when properly used, situating to be just one example of the wide ‘diversity of requires. Situating a text in the appropriate of being. It contains no discussion of political Heidegger’s work in that context can provide vital philosophical schools, movements, and ideas’ context is the bread and butter of historical work organization at all. Thus, the very first question illumination to our understanding of his work. that ‘were willing to put themselves at the service in philosophy, and it is usually done without which ought to be asked is: how does the concept For instance, Hans Sluga’s masterful study of of the regime.’ It goes without saying that this much in the way of reflection. The Heidegger of community contribute to an understanding philosophy in Nazi Germany has helped correct fact does nothing to exonerate Heidegger. But controversy, however, calls for reflection on of the ontology of human existence? Faye makes misjudgments about the relationship between it does serve as a reminder that there is unlikely method because it demonstrates just how much no effort to situate the passage in question in the National Socialism and philosophy in general. to be a simple and straightforward account of can turn on decisions about how to contextualize context of the broader work. As Sluga (and subsequently others) have shown, the relationship between a philosopher and her a text. a surprisingly heterogeneous cross-section of social, political, and historical context. Of course, it is standard operating procedure philosophers joined the Nazi party in the 1930s. Consider one example – Heidegger’s use of the in scholarship in the history of philosophy to ‘By 1940,’ Sluga notes, ‘almost half of Germany’s Mark Wrathall concept of community (Gemeinschaft) in Being interpret philosophical concepts in the context Professor of Philosophy philosophers were members of the Nazi party.’ Tutorial Fellow in Philosophy, and Time. Heidegger invokes the concept in of other texts. But rather than turning first to Corpus Christi College Sluga thus observes that: the course of arguing that human existence is Mein Kampf – a book Heidegger never cited,

22 oxford philosophy oxford philosophy 23 Lots of different types of From Oxford experiences are helpful in PPE the political arena. to Since leaving Oxford, the kind for Oxford East of logical thinking philosophy MP requires has made me more upfront about recognising contradictions Mansfield PPE student Efa Bowen talks to Anneliese Dodds (St Hilda’s, 1996), or ambiguities in arguments. Importantly, I think it’s helped me Chair of the Labour Party and MP for Oxford East. recognise times where there’s been insufficient evidence for some claims, Can you tell us about your complete Oxford original. I remember this book, he’d said that the concepts or when an argument needs backing memories of studying philosophy she was a chain smoker, and in my are the furniture, and they’re just up. I work with people such as trade at Oxford? interview, she asked me if she lacked arranged in different ways for different unionists who spend a lot of time Anneliese at a willpower because she couldn’t stop ideologies. Everybody that I knew who negotiating, testing their arguments, demonstration I started at St Hilda’s in 1996. My smoking. As a little 17-year-old from was taught by him all remember this spotting counterarguments, and against the introduction memories of studying philosophy Aberdeenshire, I was terrified to phrase about the ‘furniture’, and it building up responses to support of student fees in 2000. there are very happy ones, and I think answer her! The intimidation I felt became an oft-repeated catchphrase of their case. In this sense, I don’t this is due to my incredible tutors. stemmed from the fact that she was an his students. think philosophy has to be a purely incredible woman. She worked in the academic pursuit. It’s applicable in Anita Avramides was one; I remember But there are many different philosophy of mind, did a lot of work Were there aspects of philosophy day-to-day life. student, but in the outskirts. I’ve also she’d done a lot of work on Cartesian types of political engagement. in Russian psychology, and made huge you particularly enjoyed? got a picture of how the local economy thought. She was frighteningly Obviously, there is political contributions behind the Iron Curtain. Do you think it’s a good thing that works, which isn’t as obvious as a clever, and someone you really engagement with a capital ‘P’, namely There’s a plaque commemorating her I loved all of it really! It’s fascinating in so many politicians are ex-Oxford student. wanted to do well for. I the party-political clubs. But it always on the city walls in Dubrovnik, actually, all its variety. I enjoyed the discipline PPEists? was also interviewed moves me when I see Oxford students which I managed to see when I visited of philosophy, where there can be One thing that is evident as a resident, and taught by Kathy I don’t think it is, though that getting involved in community many years later. no ambiguity, nowhere to hide, and and which I think students sense efforts and movements which help Wilkes, who was a you have to be crystal-clear in your probably sounds a bit strange given quite acutely as well, is the inequality the vulnerable, which we might call There was also Stephen Blamey from arguments. I did always enjoy studying that I am one myself. I think we within the city. There’s the high cost of political involvement with a lowercase Teddy Hall who taught logic. He was the philosophy of mind, and I think need to have a much more diverse housing, which underlies a lot of the ‘p’ – this form of involvement should completely ambidextrous and wrote a big part of this was due to Kathy Parliament. Lots of different types other issues. There are large disparities not be downplayed. sentences with both his hands, starting Wilkes being such an interesting tutor. of experiences are helpful in the in disposable income because of them in the middle of the blackboard political arena. Parliament needs to In my finals, my strongest subject this cost, as well as a vast gulf in life Finally; is there something you’ve and stretching out to either side, which be more representative of society, ended up being ethics, which I had expectancy across the city. read recently that you’d recommend was very impressive. For the ethics side across income groups, ethnic, and always found interesting as well. to our readers? of the course, I was taught by Roger disability status, and obviously, we’re However, I haven’t come to feel that Has studying philosophy shaped very far away from having this kind Teichmann, a lovely man who taught there’s an oppositional relationship Charles Foster’s book, Being a Beast, your life since leaving Oxford or of representation. Within Oxford Kantian ethics amongst other between the University and the rest is one I’ve read recently that was affected your political discourse in University itself as well, despite things. He lived at the bottom of Oxford; and I think this is partly particularly interesting. Everybody some way? attempts to rectify this, it ultimately of Cowley Road, across from because so many people in the city are who’s studied philosophy is familiar where I lived as a student remains the case that for some people employed by the university in different When I said that I wanted to study with Thomas Nagel’s question about in my second year. I who want to study at Oxford and ways. However, I do think there is philosophy originally, my dad laughed what it’s like to be a bat. Foster lived in what could would greatly benefit from it, there are tension due to housing in the city, and told me the story about Bertrand refers to this quote and discusses two be called a party enormous barriers. and this is something that needs to be Russell being arrested. Russell was put avenues that have been followed in house, and it was rectified. in jail after a protest and apparently You’re now the MP for Oxford East. trying to understand it: either you very funny – we’d the warden asked him what he did. He How has that impacted your sense Do you have any advice for anthropomorphise the animal, or you occasionally see him said that he was a philosopher and was of the relationship between the young philosophy students who abstract it completely, focusing on the around, and we’d really asked by the jailer what that meant. University and the rest of Oxford? want to make positive political human talking about it rather than on try to behave ourselves when Russell is supposed to have replied ‘I contributions? the animal itself. Foster suggests that we did! think for a living’, to which the jailer I certainly have a very different picture you need to behave like that animal to understand it, and he lived as a Did you study philosophy responded, ‘Well, could you think of the city now compared to when I Concentrate on your work – do better badger in the Welsh countryside for throughout your three years of PPE? about sweeping the floor over there?’ was a student. I’ve lived in Oxford, at it than I did! But more seriously, My dad was trying to make a joke on and off, for quite a long time, let’s not underplay the extent to months, sleeping in a sett and all. It’s a I did, yes. I took the paper in post- about the usefulness of philosophy and in a number of different parts of which philosophy is important for curious read, but he brings up all kinds Kantian continental philosophy where beyond academic study, but I think my constituency – at the bottom of politics; there is a clear and strong of interesting ethical observations I covered a lot of work by Sartre and the discipline of philosophy has been Cowley Road, on Abingdon Road, on relationship between the two. Views to reflect upon. For example, some Nietzsche, ethics, and philosophy of very useful in my life. In Oxford, I was Iffley Road, and now in Rose Hill. It’s on human dignity, for example, are species of animal seem to show no mind. I also did the political theory always encouraged to apply different definitely home for me. One thing I’ve often underwritten by different forms empathy (if that’s the right word to paper, and was taught by Michael theories to real-life examples. Putting learned as a result is that the large of ethical philosophy. Beyond ethics, use) towards other injured animals, Freeden, who had written a seminal theories into practice under different mass of the city’s population lives other areas of philosophy too can relate whereas other species do display book in the field. I remember that in contexts to test them is always helpful. not in the centre of Oxford, where to politics and the way we treat fellow empathetic behaviour. It’s really the hustle-and-bustle tends to be as a human beings. fascinating and I highly recommend it.

24 oxford philosophy oxford philosophy 25 Determinism, Lectures on the Moral Uncertainty The Ascetic Ideal: Autonomy, Listening to Reason in Leibniz’s Key Freedom, and Moral Philosophy of OUP, Open Access Genealogies of Rationality, and Plato and Aristotle Philosophical Responsibility: Essays Mathematics William MacAskill, Life-Denial in Contemporary OUP Writings: A Guide in Ancient Philosophy MIT Krister Bykvist, and Religion, Morality, Bioethics Dominic Scott OUP OUP Joel David Hamkins Toby Ord Art, Science, and OUP Open access Paul Lodge and Lloyd Susanne Bobzien Philosophy Jonathan Pugh Focusing on the Republic Strickland In this book, Joel Very often we’re uncertain OUP and the Nicomachean Determinism, Freedom, David Hamkins offers about what we ought, Stephen Mulhall Personal autonomy is Ethics, Dominic Scott Paul Lodge and Lloyd and Moral Responsibility an introduction to morally, to do. We don’t often lauded as a key compares the views of Strickland (Manchestester brings together nine the philosophy of know how to weigh the In The Ascetic Ideal, value in contemporary Plato and Aristotle on the Metropolitan University) essays on determinism, mathematics that is interests of animals Stephen Mulhall shows Western bioethics. Though persuasiveness of moral assemble a collection of freedom and moral grounded in mathematics against humans, how how areas of cultural life the claim that there is an argument: in particular, leading experts on the responsibility in antiquity and motivated by strong our duties are that seem to be either important relationship how far did they think philosophy of Leibniz as by Susanne Bobzien. mathematical inquiry to improve the lives of essentially unconnected to between autonomy and it could reach beyond a guides to those unfamiliar The essays present the and practice. He treats distant strangers, or how evaluative commitments rationality is often treated narrow circle of believers with his philosophy. Each main ancient theories of philosophical issues as to think about the ethics (science and philosophy) as uncontroversial in and influence people chapter focuses on one determinism, freedom, they arise organically in of bringing new people or to involve non-moral this sphere, there is also more generally? The book of Leibniz’s central texts and moral responsibility mathematics, discussing into existence. But we still values (aesthetics) are considerable disagreement shows that both Plato and provides relevant ranging from Aristotle via such topics as platonism, need to act. So how should in fact deeply informed about how we should cash and Aristotle offered background and a detailed Epicureans and Stoics to realism, logicism, we make decisions in the by ethico-religious out the relationship. In arguments in ethics that analysis of its content. Alexander of Aphrodisias structuralism, formalism, face of such uncertainty? commitments, for better particular, it is unclear they thought are beyond Following a chapter in the third century CE. infinity, and intuitionism Though economists and for worse. The book whether a rationalist the reach of most people. introducing Leibniz’s life Historically unified, in mathematical contexts. and philosophers have develops a reading of view of autonomy can Nonetheless, Scott argues and works, individual philosophically profound, He organizes the book by extensively studied the Nietzsche’s concept of be compatible with legal that they both believed contributions focus on and methodologically mathematical themes — issue of decision-making ‘the ascetic ideal’, which judgments that enshrine that there was another well-known writings such rigorous, Bobzien’s numbers, rigor, geometry, in the face of uncertainty he used to track the a patient’s right to refuse level of argument, which as The Monadology and discussions show that in proof, computability, about matters of fact, evolution, mutation, and medical treatment, could have a much Discourse on Metaphysics, classical and Hellenistic incompleteness, and the question of decision- expansion of the system regardless of whether the wider appeal, especially major correspondences philosophy these topics set theory — that making given fundamental of slave moral values, reasons underpinning if supplemented by the with figures such as were all debated without give rise again and moral uncertainty has associated primarily the choice are known appropriate rhetoric. Samuel Clarke and reference to freedom to again to philosophical been neglected. William with Judaeo-Christian and rational, or indeed Antoine Arnauld, and do otherwise or to free considerations. MacAskill, Krister Bykvist, religious belief through whether they even exist. lesser-known writings will, and that the latter Throughout Hamkins and Toby Ord try to fill diverse fields of Western Jonathan Pugh brings such the Confessio two notions were fully offers a clear and this gap European culture—not just recent philosophical work Philosophi and Discourse developed only later. engaging exposition religion and morality, but on the nature of rationality on the Natural Theology that is both accessible aesthetics, science, and to bear on the question of of the Chinese. and sophisticated, philosophy. Mulhall also how we should understand intended for readers offers an interpretation of personal autonomy in whose mathematical Nietzsche’s genealogical contemporary bioethics. backgrounds range from method that aims to novice to expert. rebut standard criticisms of its nature, and to emphasize its potential for enhancing philosophical understanding more generally. New Books

26 oxford philosophy oxford philosophy 27 oxfordphilosophy 2021