The Oxford Handbook of Moral Realism

Paul Bloomfield, Editor

“Moral realism” is a family of theories of morality united by the idea that there are moral facts--facts about what is right or wrong or good or bad--and that morality is not simply a matter of personal preferences, emotions, attitudes, or sociological conventions. The fundamental thought underlying moral realism can be expressed as a parity thesis. There are many kinds of facts, including physical, psychological, mathematical, temporal, and moral facts. So understood, moral realism can be distinguished from a variety of anti-realist theories including expressivism, non-cognitivism, and error theory.

The Handbook is divided into four parts, the first of which contains essays about the basic concepts and distinctions which characterize moral realism. The subsequent parts contain essays first defending the idea that morality is a naturalistic phenomenon like other subject matters studied by the empirical sciences; second, that morality is a non-natural phenomenon like logic or “pure rationality”; and the final section is dedicated to those theories which deny the usefulness of the natural/non-natural distinction. The twenty-five commissioned essays cover the field of moral realism in a comprehensive and highly accessible way.

Alexandra Stamson: Recent Conference Presentations

Congratulations to one of our graduate students, Alexandra Stamson, for her paper, “Moving Beyond-And-Within Binary Embodiment,” being accepted for presentation at the Hypatia’s Promise: Opening the Archives, Charting Feminist Futures conference.

Alex will also be presenting her paper, “Gender-Neutral or Gender-Forward? Considering Imaginative Engagement and Resistance in Gendered Fictional Narratives,” at the National Women’s Studies Association conference, as well as moderating two panels:

  1. Norms and Antinorms of Transnational Creative Resistance
  2. Creative Resistance in Mainstream Media: Norms and Antinorms in Fiction

Congratulations Alex!

Professor Emerita Margaret Gilbert: New Book, Podcast Interview and APA Pacific Division President

Congratulations to Professor Emerita Margaret Gilbert for her accomplishments as the 2023 – 2024 President of the APA Pacific Division, publishing her new book this year, and being interviewed on The Phi Beta Kappa Society podcast!

Check out Dr. Gilbert’s new book, Life in Groups: How We Think, Feel, and Act Together here!

How We Think, Feel, and Act Together

Listen to The Phi Beta Kappa Society’s podcast where Dr. Gilbert is featured with Michael Bratman as winners of the APA Lebowitz Prize in 2019.

Two Philosophers Ponder What It Means to Act Together

Katrina Kish: Recent Conference Presentations

Congratulations to one of our graduate students, Katrina Kish, for her recent presentation at the Trust, Hope, and Rationality: Lung Early Career Conference where she presented her paper titled “The Role of Care in Trust.”

A week later, Katrina presented her paper “Good Will Hunting: Reconsidering Annette Baier’s Account of Trust” at the Salzburg Conference for Young Analytic Philosophy.

Congratulations Katrina!