Exploring New Methods for Applied Ethics
In recent years, more and more philosophers working in areas other than applied ethics – areas such as metaphysics, epistemology, philosophy of mind, philosophy of language, and philosophy of science – have turned their attention to publicly debated issues, including issues around gender, race, power, climate change, epistemic injustice, conspiracy theories, fake news, and post-truth. Since the tools and methods employed in these different disciplines vary greatly, both between themselves and in relation to the traditional methods of applied ethics, there are interesting methodological questions that this new body of work gives rise to. This summer school aims to foster a conversation about methodology between applied ethicists and philosophers from other areas who work on real-world challenges.
Submissions may – but do not have to – focus on the following topics:
a) the methodology of applied ethics
- the strengths and weaknesses of existing methods in applied ethics (top-down vs. bottom-up, monism vs. pluralism, reflective equilibrium, specificationism, and so on)
- methodological reflections on specific examples of work in applied ethics
b) the application of tools and methods from other areas of philosophy to issues of public concern, for example
- the use of epistemological concepts and tools in accounts of fake news, post-truth, epistemic injustice, and conspiracy theories, among others
- the use of metaphysical concepts and tools in accounts of sex, gender, race, pregnancy, and birth, among others
- the use of concepts and tools from the philosophy of language in accounts of sexist and racist speech and pornography, among others
- the use of mathematical models in accounts of social dynamics like inequity and the spread of misinformation, among others
- the use of decisioשn-theoretic tools in policy-oriented work on climate change and artificial intelligence, among others
- the tools and methods of ideal and non-ideal political philosophy, respectively, and how they differ
- the alleged value-neutrality of “theoretical disciplines” such as metaphysics, epistemology, and philosophy of mind
c) connections between topics in a) and b)