Past Events
Defending the Motivational Account of Exclusionary Reasons
14 May 17:00
Presenter: Shasha Sun (Oxford, Law)
According to Raz, an exclusionary reason is a reason not to act for certain reasons. The concept of exclusionary reasons plays a significant role not only in explaining authoritative directives but also in elucidating the nature of decisions, obligations, and rules in general. However, many theorists challenge the existence of exclusionary reasons, arguing that it is not possible to refrain from acting for a reason for an exclusionary reason. In this paper, I defend the existence of exclusionary reasons understood in the motivational sense and demonstrate how, on this account, such reasons can appropriately guide agents’ actions. I argue that exclusionary reasons guide agents’ actions by directing them to act for the right reasons, and that agents are capable of complying with these reasons by exercising epistemic guidance control and agency over their beliefs and motivations.
Academic Commentator: Ulrike Heuer (UCL, Philosophy)
Student Commentator: Anya Dvorishchina (LSE, Philosophy)
Realism, Normativity, and the Benacerraf Problem: A Metasemantic Way Out
26 February 17:00
Presenter: Thomas Bullemore (Oxford, Law)
In this paper, I argue that normative realism faces a characteristic set of underdetermination puzzles. These puzzles question the possibility of ascribing determinate and stable contents to normative predicates. Failure to meet these challenges not only undermines the theory’s overall semantic plausibility but also brings about revisionary consequences for its metaphysics.
The goals of this paper are threefold: 1) to identify and articulate some salient semantic challenges facing normative realism, 2) to discuss a prominent metasemantic solution advanced on its behalf, and 3) to assess the merits of this purported solution.
Academic Commentator: Kevin Toh (UCL, Law)
Student Commentator: Benjamín Ruiz García (Surrey, Law)
PLP Conversations: Conversations on War
3 February 17:00
For our inaugural PLP Conversation, we were joined by David Enoch (Hebrew/Oxford), Helen Frowe (Stockholm), Jeff McMahan (Oxford) and Marcela Prieto (USC Gould) to address crucial questions posed by war. The discussion was structured around four questions:
1. How ought States to weigh the interests of their citizens, or their pro tanto duties to their citizens, against the interests of or their pro tanto duties towards non-citizens (and, in particular, those they are at war with). Is there a tension here and, if so, how can State officials resolve such tension?
2. Can ethical training help combatants come to know what morality requires of them, teaching them how to act in difficult situations? If so, does it make sense to expect that ethical training of military might help them avoid the war crimes?
3. When other countries are at war, are there any moral constraints or limitations to how non-involved States should support the warring parties?
4. What, if any, should be the role of academics and, in particular, moral and political philosophers in the context of war?
Duties to Criminalize: Moral Obligations and Overinclusive Offences
16 December 17:00
Presenter: Anna Peters (Cambridge, Law)
This paper argues that states bear duties to criminalize certain moral wrongs because they are obligated to uphold individuals’ rights. Further, as a result of epistemic limits and resource constraints, some of these wrongs must be criminalized overinclusively – i.e., proscribing acts only some tokens of which cause, or threaten to cause, the wrong that the law targets – if they are to be criminalized substantively. Legal officials bear moral duties, therefore, to implement overinclusive offences, contra the wrongness constraint.
Academic Commentator: Massimo Renzo (KCL, Law)
Student Commentator: Levin Guever (UCL, Law)
Against Treason: An Argument from Political Obligation
20 November 17:00
Presenter: Felix Westeren (LSE, Political Science)
This paper identifies the distinct moral wrong of treason in an undermining of the ability of the traitor and their co-nationals to fulfil political obligations. There has been increasing scepticism in some jurisdictions about the morality, relevance, and contemporary meaning of treason legislation. Relatedly, there is scepticism about treason as a distinct moral wrong. Objections to treason as a distinct wrong tend to appeal to, among other things, the idea that the wrong-making component is in fact found in the substantive acts that are treasonous, or the view that treason as a distinctive wrong reflects a conception of the relationship between the individual and the state that is no longer relevant. I defend treason as a distinctive wrong. Instead of relying on the intuitively attractive idea that treason involves a betrayal, I argue that, on some popular and attractive non-anarchist accounts of political obligation, treason is distinctively and seriously wrong because it undermines our ability to fulfil important political obligations. I draw out some implications of this view.
Academic Commentator: Cécile Fabre (Oxford, Philosophy)
Student Commentator: Juliet Paiva (Oxford, Politics)
Uncertain Action
29 May 17:00
Presenter: Pablo Hubacher (Cambridge, Philosophy)
Pablo Hubacher Haerle is a PhD student in philosophy at the University of Cambridge. His thesis is on the epistemology and metaphysics of the mind. He is especially interested in the theory of action, inquiry and desire. He holds an MPhil in Philosophy from Cambridge and an MSc in Economics from the University Pompeu Fabra in Barcelona. His undergraduate studies were in philosophy, economics, art history and comparative literature at the University of Zurich, where he grew up.
Academic Commentator: Mark Dsouza (UCL, Law)
Student Commentator: Luiza Tavares (Queen Mary, Law)
(Re)constructing ‘Vulnerabilities’ in Crisis
7 February 14:00
Presenter: Ellen Allde (Queen Mary, Law)
Ellen is a PhD candidate in Law at Queen Mary University of London, researching the in-accessibility of law for women in European spaces of bordering. Her work relates to the study of (im)mobility and law, utilising intersectional and decolonial theories. Ellen’s research is funded by the Queen Mary University of London Leverhulme Trust Doctoral Scholarship programme. Ellen previously completed her LLM in Human Rights Law at Queen Mary University of London and her BA in Law and International Relations at SOAS, University of London. Ellen is currently a Teaching Fellow on the LLM module for International Refugee Law.
Academic Commentator: Barbara Havelkova (Oxford, Law)
Student Commentator: Lauren Bursey (LSE,Law)
Contractual Deflationism and the Politics of Personal Detachment
6 December 17:00
Presenter: Kenta Sekine (UCL, Philosophy)
Kenta Sekine is a PhD candidate and teaching assistant in the Department of Philosophy at University College London (UCL). Kenta’s research interests lie primarily in topics in moral psychology, metaethics and political philosophy, though more recently these have led to an interdisciplinary year spent working on private law theory at UCL Laws. His thesis explores the political dimensions of the relationship between norms, fault and hard feelings of various kinds.
Academic Commentator: Veronica Rodriguez-Blanco (Surrey, Law)
Student Commentartor: Anna Stelle (UCL, Law)
Going Properly Hybrid About Reasons
8 November 17:00
Presenter: Facundo Rodríguez (Cambridge, Philosophy)
Facundo Rodriguez is a Philosophy PhD student and Gates Cambridge Scholar at the University of Cambridge. He holds an MPhil in Philosophy (Distinction) from the University of Cambridge, as well as a BSc in Politics & Philosophy (First Class) and an MSc in Political Theory (Distinction) from the London School of Economics. Facundo works mostly on meta-ethics, moral psychology and Kant's practical philosophy.
Academic commentator: Ruth Chang (Oxford, Law)
Student commentator: Pía Chible (Oxford, Law)
Compensation for Derivative Harm
13 March 14:00
Presenter: Ran Wu (KCL, Law)
Academic Commentator: Tony Zhou (Queen Mary, Law)
Student Commentator: Jan Wasserziehr (LSE, Government)
Legal Exemptions for Religious/Conscientious Reasons
3 July 14:00
Presenter: Kim Leontiev (UCL, Philosophy)
Academic Commentator: Paul Billingham (Oxford, Politics & International Relations)
Student Commentator: Jingzhi Chen (Oxford, Law)
Taking a Cut: Resale Rights
8 May 14:00
Presenter: Anna Bartsch (Oxford, Philosophy)
Academic Commentator: Sarah Fine (Cambridge, Philosophy)
Student Commentator: Anna Stelle (UCL, Law)
The Concept of Care: A Thick Concept
6 March 19:44
Presenter: Ira Chadha-Sridhar (Cambridge, Law)
Academic Commentator: Jonathan Herring (Oxford, Law)
Student Commentator: Anna Milioni (KCL, Philosophy)
Must Global Democracy be Liberal?
16 January 14:00
Presenter: Max Afnan (LSE, Government)
Academic Commentator: Andrea Sangiovanni (KCL, Philosophy)
Student Commentator: Filippa Ronquist (UCL, Philosophy)
Criticisms of the Quarantine Model of Criminal Punishment
12 December 14:00
Presenter: Andrew Field (Surrey, Law)
Academic Commentator: María Álvarez (KCL, Philosophy)
Student Commentator: Daniel Peixoto Murata (Surrey, Law)
Unilateral Executive Power: What is It and What is Wrong with It?
31 October 14:00
Presenter: Sonia Cruz Dávila (KCL, Law)
Academic Commentator: Jeff King (UCL, Law)
Student Commentator: Vincent Harting (LSE, Government)
Theorising the Role of the Law in the Constitution of Social Identities for Trans- and Non-Binary Parents
7 September 17:00
Presenter: Rachel Erin Frith (QMUL)
Academic Commentator: Barbara Havelková (Oxford)
Student Commentator: Anna Milioni (KCL)
What do We Owe to Agressors?
6 July 17:00
Presenter: Jonas Haeg (KCL)
Academic Commentator: Cécile Fabre (Oxford)
Student Commentator: Penny Oderberg (QMUL)
Normative Conflicts in the Legal Domain
4 May 18:00
Presenter: Daniela Gueiros-Dias (Cambridge)
Academic Commentator: Christoph Kletzer (KCL)
Student Commentator: Stephanie Classmann (LSE)
Justice & Class Consciousness: Towards a Theory of Political Transition
9 March 17:00
Presenter: Cain Shelley (LSE)
Academic Commentator: David Miller (Oxford)
Student Commentator: Sonia Cruz Davila (KCL)
Privacy, Damages and the Concept of Loss
19 January 17:00
Presenter: Jeevan Hariharan (UCL)
Academic Commentator: Sandy Steel (Oxford)
Student Commentator: Forest Yu (Cambridge)
Normative Powers: Realism, Reductionism, or Eliminativism
8 December 18:00
Presenter: Calvin Chan (Oxford)
Academic Commentator: Noam Gur (QMUL)
Student Commentator: Filippa Ronquist (UCL)
Truth-Telling, Promises and the Shape of a Character
6 October 17:00
Presenter: Daniel Peixoto Murata (Surrey)
Academic Commentator: Dori Kimel (Oxford)
Student Commentator: Calvin Chan (Oxford)
