Department of Philosophy

James Lenman

Qualifications

BA (Oxford), MPhil, PHD (St Andrews)

Graduate Admissions

I am director of Graduate Admissions in the Philosophy Department. Anyone interested in postgraduate study in Philosophy at Sheffield is encouraged to contact me.

Biography

I am a Professor in the Department of Philosophy at the University of Sheffield. Before coming here, I was a schoolboy in Dundee, Scotland; then an undergraduate student at St Catherine's College, Oxford University reading Philosophy, Politics and Economics; then a graduate student at St Andrews University studying for an M.Phil. and then a PhD in Moral Philosophy; then a Lecturer at Lancaster University and lastly a Lecturer then Senior Lecturer at the University of Glasgow. In 2002-2003 I was a Faculty Fellow at the Center for Ethics and the Professions at Harvard University. When not at work, I can sometimes be found wandering around the Peak District. (There are some pictures here.)

Research Interests

I work mainly on ethics and especially metaethics. My recent work has dealt with issues relating to moral realism, moral expressivism, moral psychology, moral epistemology, and moral responsibility, compatibilism, consequentialism, contractualism, constructivism and contingency.

I find some other bits of philosophy quite interesting too.

Professional Activities and Distinctions

• Secretary, British Society for Ethical Theory, 1996-2002.
  
• President, British Society for Ethical Theory, 2002-2008.
  
• Peer Review College Member, Arts and Humanities Research Council
• Editorial Board, Ethical Theory and Moral Practice

Current Projects

• Moral Epistemology and Constructivism
• Routledge Philosophy Guidebook: Plato on Knowledge

Key Publications

• “Consequentialism and Cluelessness” in Philosophy and Public Affairs, Vol 29, 2000 (actual publication date of the issue containing this paper: Autumn, 2001), pp. 342-370.
• “On Becoming Extinct” in Pacific Philosophical Quarterly Vol. 83, 2002, pp. 253-269.
• “Disciplined Syntacticism and Moral Expressivism” in Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 66, 2003, pp 32-57.
• “Compatibilism and Contractualism: The Possibility of Moral Responsibility” in Ethics 117, 2006, pp. 7-31 .
• “What is Moral Inquiry?” in Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society, Supplementary Volume 81, 2007, pp. 63-81.
  
• “Contractualism and Risk Imposition” in Politics, Philosophy and Economics 7, 2008, pp. 99-122.
  
• "Against Moral Fictionalism" in Philosophical Books 49, 2008, pp. 23-32.
• "Naturalism Without Tears" in Ratio 22, 2009, pp. 1-18.

Postgraduate Students

PHD

• Jonathan Smith, Moral Realism
  (AHRC funded)
• Heather Arnold, Justice and the Family
  (AHRC funded)
• David Ekstrand, Political Justification
• Lindsey Porter, Moral Standing and Children
  (AHRC funded)
  
• Jules Holroyd, Autonomy
  (AHRC funded)
  Completed, 2008.
• Paul Sludds, Wellbeing and Death
  (AHRC funded)
  Completed, 2008.
  
• Anna Wilkinson: Moral Naturalism
  (AHRC funded)
  Completed, 2007.

Office Hours

Tuesdays 11.10-1.00
(During termtime)

Contact

j dot lenman at sheffield dot ac dot uk

Publications in Detail

See detailed list.