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Samuel Gavin Curriculum Vitae

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Samuel Gavin Curriculum Vitae Samuel Gavin Curriculum Vitae Department of Philosophy, University of Pittsburgh 1017 Cathedral of Learning, 4200 Fifth Ave, Pittsburgh, PA 15260 1 (412) 608-4709, [email protected] spgavin.wordpress.com Employment Visiting Lecturer, University of Pittsburgh August 2019-present Education PhD in Philosophy, University of Pittsburgh 2019 MA in Philosophy, First Class Honours, University of Auckland 2010 BA(Hons), Major in Philosophy, Minor in History, University of Auckland 2009 AoS Metaethics, Ethics AoC History of Modern Philosophy, Applied Ethics Dissertation Constitutivism and Natural Normativity in Ethics This project reconciles two schools of thought about the foundations of morality and rationality: constitutivism and neo-Aristotelian ethical naturalism. I present an account of constitutive norms as generic generalizations and show that such an account is superior to other constitutivist accounts because it can explain how it is possible for constitutive norms to be violated without giving up on their status as constitutive of the kind of thing they govern. This account converges with the neo-Aristotelian account of natural norms, committing constitutivism to the neo-Aristotelian doctrine that moral norms are grounded in the features of humans as a species of living thing. Committee: Michael Thompson (chair), Stephen Engstrom Jennifer Whiting, Karl Schafer (UC Irvine) Publications “Constitutivism and Generics”, Philosophia (online first) 2019 Presentations Peer-reviewed “Constitutivism and Generics” May 2018 Saint Louis Annual Conference for Reasons and Rationality “How is Concern for Non-Human Animals Possible in a Neo-Aristotelian Aug 2015 Virtue Ethics?” Neglected Virtues: Conference in Honor of Rosalind Hursthouse, University of Auckland “Types of Significance” July 2011 Australasian Association of Philosophy Conference, University of Otago “The Challenge of Biologism for Neo-Aristotelian Ethical Naturalism” Dec 2010 Australasian Association of Philosophy Conference, University of Waikato Invited Comments Comments on Benjamin Cook, “Realism Vindicated: A Neo-Aristotelian Mar 2018 Response to Street’s Dilemma” Pitt-CMU Graduate Conference, Pittsburgh Fellowships Rescher Summer Dissertation Fellowship (University of Pittsburgh) 2019 and Awards Charlotte W. Newcombe Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship 2017-2018 (Charlotte W. Newcombe Foundation) University of Auckland Masters Scholarship 2010 Summer Research Scholarship (University of Auckland) 2010 for the research project “Getting Over Determinism” Faculty of Arts Honors Scholarship (University of Auckland) 2009 Teaching Independent Teaching (University of Pittsburgh) Ethical Theory: Metaethics Spring 2020 Concepts of Human Nature Spring 2020 Philosophy and Public Issues Fall 2019 Introduction to Ethics Summer 2017 Teaching Assistant University of Pittsburgh Concepts of Human Nature Spring 2019, Fall 2018, Fall 2016, Fall 2012 History of Modern Philosophy Spring 2017 Introduction to Ethics Spring 2015, Spring 2013 Introduction to Philosophical Problems Fall 2014 University of Auckland Kant and Hegel 1st Semester 2011 Schopenhauer and Nietzsche 2nd Semester 2010 Other Training and Experience Achievement in Pedagogy Spring 2018 (Graduate Student Teaching Initiative, University Center for Teaching and Learning, University of Pittsburgh) Concentrations: Pedagogy, Professional Development, Online Teaching University of Pittsburgh Graduate Peer Mentor 2016-2017 University of Pittsburgh Philosophy Undergraduate Mentor 2015-2016 Graduate Coursework: (A = Auckland, P = Pittsburgh, * = audited) Ethics, Action, Political Philosophy Metaphysics and Epistemology Ethics Core Seminar (P) M&E Core Seminar (P) Philosophy of Action (P) Perception and Experience (P) Metaethics and Grounding (P) Religious Epistemology (A) *Political Philosophy (P) Ethical Naturalism (A) Ethics of Love (A) Logic and Language Nietzsche and Virtue Ethics (A) Advanced Logic (P) Philosophy of Language (P) Ancient Philosophy *Early Wittgenstein (P) Aristotle’s Ethics (P) Logical Pluralism (A) Studies in Plato: Protagoras, Euthydemus (P) Philosophy of Language Directed Study: *Understanding Aristotle’s Teleology (P) “Types of Significance” (A) Medieval Ethics (A) History of Logic (A) Modern Philosophy Kant (P) Other Kantian Ethics (P) Philosophy of Science Core Seminar (P) *Studies in Kant: Kant and Physics (P) Philosophy of the Arts (A) *Kant’s Third Critique (P) Phil. of Religion: Conceptions of God (A) Kant’s Critique of Pure Reason (A) Honours Dissertation: “The Eudaimonist Thesis European Continental Philosophy: Wagner as of Virtue Status” (A) Philosopher (A) Service Librarian, Adolf Grünbaum Philosophical Reading Room 2012-2019 (University of Pittsburgh) Referee, Pitt-CMU Graduate Conference 2013, 2014, 2017, 2018 References Michael Thompson Stephen Engstrom University of Pittsburgh University of Pittsburgh [email protected] [email protected] Karl Schafer Jennifer Whiting University of California, Irvine University of Pittsburgh [email protected] [email protected] Dmitri Gallow (teaching reference) University of Pittsburgh [email protected] Longer Dissertation Abstract This project reconciles two schools of thought about the foundations of morality and rationality: constitutivism and neo-Aristotelian ethical naturalism. Constitutivism takes inspiration from Kant and Hume and accounts for the demands of morality and reason by identifying them as constitutive of rational agency. Meanwhile, neo-Aristotelianism makes sense of morality and reason by identifying them as part of human nature. However, if rational agency is part of human nature then these two schools need not be divided. In fact, constitutivism in its strongest form can be shown to rely on the same foundational theory of normativity as neo-Aristotelianism. In this dissertation, I articulate and justify that common theory of normativity and the form of constitutivism based upon it. I begin with constitutivism’s basic concept: constitutive norms. These are norms that concern what it is to be the kind of thing they govern, such as an agent. The very idea of such norms is threatened by the problem of violability: if morality is constitutive of agency, for instance, how is it that agents can in fact violate moral norms? If this question cannot be answered, we cannot explain how constitutive norms are normative in the broad sense of providing any kind of standard of evaluation. I argue that a solution can be found in the neo-Aristotelian theory of natural normativity, which analyzes norms as violable generic generalizations about a species of living thing. I go on to address an important objection that not all generic generalizations are normative. I show that generics pertaining to living things can be formally distinguished from other generics in a way that shows why the former are normative. An important upshot of this account is that it commits constitutivism to the neo-Aristotelian doctrine that norms must be grounded in the features of a particular species of living thing. This opens up new avenues of research in metaethics into the possible species of rational life and the nature of our own life form. I conclude my argument by addressing the question of how constitutive norms on my account can be normative in the strict sense of providing an agent with reasons. I show that well-known challenges for strict normativity faced by neo-Aristotelianism and constitutivism (such as John McDowell’s ‘rational wolf’ and David Enoch’s ‘Schmagency’ objection) are versions of the same challenge and that solutions from both schools can be combined in defense of my combined approach. All rely on an appeal to practical reason and its operation through knowledge of its own norms. .
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