Notes on Jennifer Lackey’s ‘Credibility and the Distribution of Epistemic Goods’

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  • Notes on Jennifer Lackey’s ‘Credibility and the Distribution of Epistemic Goods’

    Talking to a friend in the history department recently, she asked me what my research process is. Do I use Obsidian? Or Scrivener? Or some elaborate system of index cards like Mr Casaubon in Middlemarch? Which made me realise that I have no system—or at least the haphazard series of disjointed activities that I do…

  • Does public reason liberalism lead to anarchy? Moral disputes and attitudes to risk

    Is it ever legitimate for the state coerce you; and, if so, when? That is, when, if ever, is it legitimate for the state to impinge upon your freedom by forcefully preventing you from doing one thing or forcefully ensuring that you do another? According to the public reason liberal, such as the Gerald Gaus…

  • Enoch on adaptive preferences and autonomy

    I’m writing this on the train as I travel back from two fascinating days in Zurich at a workshop on structural injustice, adaptive preferences, and moral responsibility, and the deep and deeply original philosophical conclusion I’ve reached is that adaptive preferences really are puzzling. So now I’m writing about them to try to clear my…

  • Who are universities for?

    This is the text of my brief introductory remarks for a session discussing my co-authored book, Who are universities for?, with Karen O’Brien and Simon Marginson at the Mansfield College Public Talks series on 31st January 2020. Often, a large part of a progressive or radical social movement involves defamiliarising a part of our society…

  • Radical epistemology: reading Amia Srinivasan’s ‘Radical Externalism’

    A recent profile piece in the Financial Times highlighted the breadth of Amia Srinivasan’s thought. It is not surprising, then, that the new Chichele Professor of Social and Political Theory at Oxford has written one of the most interesting recent papers in epistemology. It’s also a sign that philosophy in the analytic tradition is beginning…

  • REF2021 and fractional superstars

    Yesterday, HEFCE released the REF2021 Decisions on staff and outputs. There’s a lot to chew over here, including information about whose outputs can be submitted where (portability), and how many outputs and impact case studies are required for a Unit of Assessment. But I want to focus on a rather niche issue that arose in…

  • The prejudice you aren’t aware of (and what to do about it)

    (Cross-posted from OUPblog) Employment, education, healthcare, justice, housing. These are some of the central services in society because they help people live the best life they can. But it will come as no surprise to most people that access to these services and treatment at their hands differs greatly depending on whether you are a…

  • How should I feel about my own death? I – Does my death harm me?

    Some people fear flying; some fear buttons; and many, many people fear their own death. We might try to argue a friend out of their fear of flying or their fear of buttons by showing them that the fear is irrational. We might point out to the koumpounophobic that buttons cannot harm them; and we…