Simon Kirchin

Profile

Simon Kirchin’s research interests are mainly in metaethics and normative ethics, although he is increasingly interested in aesthetics, and has longstanding secondary interests in medical ethics, metaphysics, political philosophy, and epistemology. He is presently working on a project about thick evaluative concepts, which he began during AHRC-funded research leave during 2006-2007, and material on error theory and evaluative nonnaturalism.
He is organizes too many conferences and workshops for his own good. For a list of some of these see ‘research’. Simon is organizing a large international conference on Thick Concepts for July 3rd -5th 2009, partly funded by The Mind Association.
He is the President of the British Society for Ethical Theory, which is the leading society in the UK for moral philosophy. He is also an Associate Editor of Ethical Theory and Moral Practice.

Simon is also Director of Learning and Teaching for the School of European Culture and Language. If students have anything – good and bad – to say about their modules and degree programmes, they should approach their module convenors, their course representatives, the Heads of Section of their subject and, if they feel inclined, Simon himself.

Research

Publications

Edited Collection

Arguing About Metaethics (ed.) (with Andrew Fisher) Routledge. Read more HERE.

Forthcoming Books

Metaethics
(Forthcoming with Palgrave-MacMillan, 2010). This argumentative essay will survey many of the main competitors in modern metaethics and will argue for a mind-dependent version of nonnaturalism.

Thick Evaluation
This monograph will pull together much draft material written over the past three years in which I argue, overall, for a nonreductionist, cognitivist account of thick concepts. If you wish to see any draft material, please email me.

Forthcoming Edited Collection

A World Without Values: Essays on John Mackie’s Moral Error Theory (ed.) with Richard Joyce (Springer: final edition to be sent by Summer 2008). This volume celebrates the 30th anniversary of J. L. Mackie’s Ethics. It will include an Editors’ introduction, and papers by John Burgess, David Copp, Dan Demetriou and Graham Oddie, Jamie Dreier, Richard Garner, Richard Joyce, Don Loeb, David Phillips, Charles Pigden, Walter Sinnott-Armstrong, Michael Smith, and myself.

Recent Papers

In moral philosophy:

‘Moral Particularism: An Introduction’, Journal of Moral Philosophy, April 2007, vol. 4, no. 1, pp. 8-15. From a special edition on moral particularism.

‘Particularism and Default Valency’, Journal of Moral Philosophy, April 2007, vol. 4, no. 1, pp. 16-32. From a special edition on moral particularism.

‘What is Intuitionism and Why be an Intuitionist? A Critical Discussion of Ethical Intuitionism: Re-evaluations (ed.) Philip Stratton-Lake, Social Theory and Practice vol. 31, October 2005.

‘Ethical Phenomenology and Metaethics’ Ethical Theory and Moral Practice, vol. 6,
no. 3, September 2003, pp. 241-264.
‘Particularism, Generalism and the Counting Argument’,European Journal of Philosophy, vol. 11, no. 1, April 2003 pp. 54-71.
‘Quasi-Realism, Sensibility Theory and Ethical Relativism’, Inquiry, vol. 43, No. 4, December 2000 pp. 413-428.
In medical ethics:

‘Research Ethics Committees: Differences and Moral Judgement’, Bioethics, vol. 18,
September 2004, pp. 408-427 (with Sarah Edwards and Richard Ashcroft).

‘Altruism, Paternalism and RECs’ Journal of Medical Ethicsvol. 30, February 2004,
pp. 88-91 (with Sarah Edwards and Richard Huxtable)
‘Rationing, Randomising and Researching in Health Care Ethics’, Journal of Medical Ethics, 2002, vol. 28, pp. 20-23 (with Sarah Edwards).

Reviews and Encyclopaedia Entries

Review: Contextualism in Practical Reason by A. W. Price, Philosophy (forthcoming)
Review: Beyond Moral Judgement by Alice Crary, Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews posted January 2008. Read it HERE.

Review: Ethics and the A Priori by Michael Smith, Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews posted April 2005. Read it HERE.

Review: Forms of Justice: Essays in honour of David Miller (eds.) Bell and de-Shalit, Philosophical Quarterly vol. 55, January 2005 pp. 147-149.
Review: Natural Goodness by Philippa Foot, Philosophical Books vol. 44, April 2003 pp. 179-181.

Encyclopaedia Entry: ‘Philippa Foot’, Encyclopaedia of Twentieth Century British Philosophers, (Thoemmes Press).

Conferences Forthcoming and Organized

2009: Thick Concepts, July 3rd-5th, Kent. Keynote speakers: Jonathan Dancy, Daniel Elstein, Allan Gibbard, Chris Hookway, Tom Hurka, Simon Kirchin, Jerry Levinson,
A. W. Moore, Michael Smith, Alan Thomas, Pekka Vayrynen , Nick Zangwill.

2008: The 10th Anniversary of Ethical Theory and Moral Practice. Amsterdam, 19th-20th March 2008. Organizing committee.

2007: Kendall Walton and the Aesthetics of Photography and Film, November 2007. Organizing committee.

2004: Moral Particularism, one-day conference (December), co-organised with Alan Thomas, Kent. Speakers: Roger Crisp, Jonathan Dancy and Mike Ridge as well as speakers from Kent’s faculty.

2004: British Society for Philosophy of Science annual conference (July).

2004: Joint Session of the Aristotelian Society and Mind Association annual conference
(July).

2004: British Society for Ethical Theory annual conference (July).

2004: Kant’s Practical Philosophy Reconsidered, one-day conference (March), co-organised with Alan Thomas. Speakers: Robert Louden, Adrian Moore and Philip Stratton-Lake as well as speakers from Kent’s faculty.

Simon is also one of the co-founders of the National Postgraduate Analytic Philosophy Association, which has evolved into the British Postgraduate Philosophy Association. See HERE for more information.

Teaching

Undergraduate Teaching
PL300:              Self and Society
PL568:              Normative Ethics
PL569:              Metaethics
See HERE for a link to WEbCT and, from there, the module booklets and other information.

Postgraduate Teaching and Supervision
Simon is currently supervising three PhD students:
(i)         Shaun Carey     sc257@kent.ac.uk
            ‘The concept of vulnerability in medical and animals research’
(ii)        Lisa Grover       lh249@kent.ac.uk
            ‘Moral narrative and moral psychology’
(iii)       Joel Rickard      jr275@kent.ac.uk
            ‘Moral Coherentism and moral psychology’

Simon also supervises a number of MA students on various topics, typically in aesthetics, ethics, metaphysics, and political philosophy.

Students: see below for some good links to reliable philosophical content on the web.

University of Kent

Philosophy
School of European Culture and Languages

Section navigation

Philosophy